The following is an excerpt of a conversation from Waterpoint, a MOO that I hang out on. It doesn't reflect my view of XML, but it was funny at the time.

Ben | I like the corollary more: "XML is like violence. If it's not working, you're not using enough of it." James says, "inefficient, messy, universally available, last resort of the incompetent, first resort of the seriously f***** in the head ..." Ben says, "but do you want sax violence or dom violence" Ford says, "there's too much sax and violence these days .." James says, "also similarly to violence, it has standards set by international treaty organizations but which everyone comes up with an excuse not to follow" Chris says, "xml is also used by lesser minds as a solution to problems solved a long time ago" James says, "also, someone will often use it because 'it's the only thing those people understand'"