your right the code /<(([^ >]|\n)*)>/ / does not remove those two.
But the one code i posted
$value =~ s/<(([^ >]|\n|\s\w)*)>/ /gso; will remove the <a href="http://perlmonks.org" class="link">
and if you added |\s\/ will remove the <br />.

Like.

$value =~ s/<(([^ >]|\n|\s\w|\s\/)*)>/ /gso;
I just came up with it and its not 100% tested. But it does the trick. :D

Updated: Could try $value =~ s/<(([^ >]|\n|\s\/|\s\S\S)*)>/ /gso;
But Escaping is Much Better!