From The RT System itself

I think I would have to disagree. The correct implementation for a given
POD translator will of course be specific to the keyword (the format-type
indicator) that follows the =begin or the =for. If its "html" for example
I'd expect the translator to do whatever is appropriate for dealing with
raw html. But if its "text" I don't think its safe to assume that the
resulting text must therefore be verbatim.

HTML and other markup languages would assume that only to the extent
that it knows the raw text in question may contain markup commands
to effect the format of the output, so that its appearance would
indeed be different from the raw text associated with an '=for html'
block. But pod2html and pod2man don't really do any formatting, they
just do translation to another markup format.

This is _not_ the case with pod2text. It is responsible for doing the
actual formatting and most of the presentation. Suppose I want a
paragraph that shows up *only* in the pod2text version of the document
but I want it to be formatted/wrapped just like any other textblock
seen by pod2text?

If =for/=begin are always taken as verbatim, then this is not possible.
If OTOH the non-markup conventions of "leading indentation indicates
verbatim" can still be in effect (even though pod commands and sequences
are not). The program that does the formatting/displaying of the output
still needs to be able to do its job (otherwise it would be akin to forcing
text inside of =for/=begin html to be treated as <PLAINTEXT> or <FORMAT>
IMHO).

So in the case of pod2text and Pod​::Text, I would submit that treating
the text in "=begin/=for text" as literal output that is untouched by
the program that formats the result would be treating it differently
from the other non-text formats, and that non-indented text inside such
section should still be formatted whereas only indented text inside such
sections should be treated as verbatim.

Of course, I could be persuaded into believing something else ;-) But
I'd be dissatisfied with anything that didn't give me a way to let Pod​::Text
provide both text-formatting *and* verbatim text for sections that happen
are part of "=begin/=for text" commands.
--
Brad Appleton <bradapp@​enteract.com> http​://www.enteract.com/~bradapp/
  "And miles to go before I sleep." -- Robert Frost

@iabyn - Status changed from 'stalled' to 'resolved'