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> Markdown was from the beginning intended as a markup syntax for web CMSs.

As a matter of history you're right, just as JSON was intended as nothing more than the literal syntax for JavaScript programs. But it turned out to be a lot more widely applicable.

> To say it is a lightweight representation of HTML is correct.

No, it's a representation of writing. It represents the input not the output.

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The comparison JSON is apt.

The first few years after I released Markdown, it was far less popular than I expected and hoped it would be. But it grew, and then for a years it was as popular as I’d expected. But then it kept growing, and now it’s far more popular and widely used than I’d ever thought possible. I genuinely now think it’s used in many cases where it shouldn’t be, and exposed to non-technical users who should be using something WYSIWYG, not markup.

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