OP probably uses a standalone program (like MS Word) to author articles, then copies them over to the web CMS which picks up some of the formatting.
EDIT: Damn HN, easy on the down votes. Didn't realize you had to be "right" in order to have a worthwhile comment.
No i just have a really crappy WP layout and for some reason i have it set in my CSS to do no whitespace between paragraphs. So the lazy solution, instead of fixing my css, is to do br nbsp br between paragraphs. I know, i should fix it.
Ah, that makes sense. But I wouldn't call it a lazy solution. You're doing more work. Edit CSS once vs space & new line every paragraph every post.