I think it's a bad UI decision to usurp both angle brackets and square brackets. Why not let angle brackets do double duty: 
  This is a link to <link to="merlyn">. --- like [merlyn]
  This is a link to <link to="merlyn" text="merlyn's home page"> --- l
+ike [merlyn|merlyn's home page]

[download]
I really hate having to remember to type special chars for brackets.

-- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker

In reply to RE: Monkifying posts is too rough (solution, not rant :) by merlyn
in thread Monkifying posts is too rough (solution, not rant :) by cwest

Title:
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