Although your code might be a bit clearer to read, as a few other posts say, the functionality is not the same. Given this code:

my $str = "Line 1 has text, but next is an empty line:\r\n\r\nThird li
+ne has text\r\n";

print "Original String:\n'$str'\n\n";
print "Ovid:\n", Ovid_Clear_MakePtag($str), "\n\n";
print "mandog:\n", MakePtag($str), "\n";

sub Ovid_Clear_MakePtag{
  my $fixme = shift;           # take in our parameters
  return join "\r\n",          # join with newlines
    map  { "<p>$_</p>" }       # wrap each line in <p></p> tags
    grep { /\S/ }              # must have at least one non-whitespace
+ character
    split "\r\n", $fixme;      # break apart on the newlines
}

sub MakePtag{
  chomp(my $fixme = shift);    # take in our parameters
  $fixme=~s|(\r\n)|</p><p>|g;  # replace all \r\n with <\p><p>
  $fixme = "<p>$fixme</p>";    # Add beginning and ending tags
  return $fixme;
}
[download]

The following results are produced:

Original String:
'Line 1 has text, but next is an empty line:

Third line has text
'

Ovid:
<p>Line 1 has text, but next is an empty line:</p>
<p>Third line has text</p>

mandog:
</p>ine 1 has text, but next is an empty line:</p><p></p><p>Third line
+ has text
[download]

--Jim