Why markdown?

Markdown saved as a plaintext file is my preferred format for writing and storing documentation, posts, tech info etc because it's the best compromise we have available today.

1. Markdown is human readable, and can be opened with any text editor. I'm not tied to a particular wordprecessor or editor, and what I'm seeing is easily understood even when I'm at my foggiest.
2. One of the unfortunate side-effects of our over-reliance on blogging platforms like Wordpress is that our posts are either locked away in a database file or cloud platform. If the database or platforms goes, our posts go with it.
3. Text files are easier to own. You can see them, count them, move them, etc, and they work on any computer regardless of age or type.
4. Text files can be stored in a version control system like git, and on a site like Github or Bitbucket (where I keep the very file I'm writing this in). You can use source control to help you track your changes. Version control systems are not just for code, and the trepidation many people have for using them is unfortunate, as it deprives them of a very useful collaborative and management tool.
5. Markdown focuses on content structure that matters, and has sane amounts of formatted and styling. There are limits to markdown, and I can live with these, as the help me focus on just writing content. Headers, paragraphs, block-level images, bullet lists, and simple tables, that's all you need. WYSIWG gives you more freedom, but that freedom almost always seems to lead to mess and sprawl.