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> Requiring a UTF-8 BOM just destroys the happy planned property that ASCII-is-UTF8. Why spoil that good work?

So that you know you are dealing with UTF-8. Assuming ASCII only works if you are only dealing with English texts and data.

The BOM only tells you that your are not dealing with ASCII. You could encounter anything after it.

Who is assuming ASCII?

Much code incorrectly assumes that ASCII can be rendered in any code page.