Personally, I think a simple approach of presenting the textarea with a couple of the common tags already in it would guide most new users into doing the right thing. Eg: 

Your text:
+-----------------------------------------+
|<p>Your question here</p>                |
|                                         |
|<code>                                   |
|#Perl code goes here                     |
|</code>                                  |
|                                         |
|                                         |
|                                         |
+-----------------------------------------+
[preview]

[download]

But then I always favour simple solutions.

Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.
"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".
In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.
"Too many [] have been sedated by an oppressive environment of political correctness and risk aversion."

In reply to Re: newbies, <code> tags and recognizing perl by BrowserUk
in thread newbies, <code> tags and recognizing perl by pc88mxer

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
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