When they make that decision based on whether or not they like it *as* developers, that's when the system gets overtaken by geeks and loses usability.
Take a look through the former (and many current) OpenACS admin pages to get a sense of what I'm talking about.
I'm not arguing whether or not the HTML default area should be default; just that postulating (and I think Roberto meant "positing") something because a small elite doesn't like it often results in bad decisions.
talli