Markdown has been extremely popular since far before GitHub existed.

stouset • last Sunday at 5:19 PM • 2 replies • view on HN

thrdbndndn • last Sunday at 6:54 PM

I'm sure Markdown was already popular, but I agree with the OP that GitHub made it orders of magnitude more popular.

Previously its popularity was somewhat similar to RST.

epolanski • last Sunday at 5:20 PM

Sure, but it became kind of the default with GitHub taking a lead position in code repository services.

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