@@ -830,10 +830,25 @@ The bullets need not be flush with the left margin; they may be
830830indented one, two, or three spaces. The bullet must be followed
831831by whitespace.
832832
833+List items look best if subsequent lines are flush with the first
834+line (after the bullet):
835+
836+ * here is my first
837+ list item.
838+ * and my second.
839+
840+But markdown also allows a "lazy" format:
841+
842+ * here is my first
843+ list item.
844+ * and my second.
845+
846+### The four-space rule ###
847+
833848A list item may contain multiple paragraphs and other block-level
834−content. Subsequent paragraphs must be preceded by a blank line
835−and indented four spaces or a tab. The list will look better if
836−the first paragraph is aligned with the rest:
849+content. However, subsequent paragraphs must be preceded by a blank line
850+and indented four spaces or a tab. The list will look better if the first
851+paragraph is aligned with the rest:
837852
838853 * First paragraph.
839854
@@ -858,9 +873,9 @@ one tab:
858873 + brocolli
859874 + chard
860875
861−Markdown allows you to write list items "lazily," instead of
862−indenting continuation lines. However, if there are multiple paragraphs
863−or other blocks in a list item, the first line of each must be indented.
876+As noted above, markdown allows you to write list items "lazily," instead of
877+indenting continuation lines. However, if there are multiple paragraphs or
878+other blocks in a list item, the first line of each must be indented.
864879
865880 + A lazy, lazy, list
866881 item.
@@ -871,6 +886,20 @@ or other blocks in a list item, the first line of each must be indented.
871886 Second paragraph of second
872887 list item.
873888
889+**Note:** Although the four-space rule for continuation paragraphs
890+comes from the official [markdown syntax guide], the reference implementation,
891+`Markdown.pl`, does not follow it. So pandoc will give different results than
892+`Markdown.pl` when authors have indented continuation paragraphs fewer than
893+four spaces.
894+
895+The [markdown syntax guide] is not explicit whether the four-space
896+rule applies to *all* block-level content in a list item; it only
897+mentions paragraphs and code blocks. But it implies that the rule
898+applies to all block-level content (including nested lists), and
899+pandoc interprets it that way.
900+
901+ [markdown syntax guide]:
902+ http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax#list
874903
875904### Ordered lists ###
876905