@slowsmile:
That's how I read this discussion and maybe I'll add my two cents.
I really often get files to correct/clean up where the text can look like this:
Code:
<p><em>This</em><em> </em><em>is</em><em> </em><em>an</em><em> </em><em>italic</em><em> </em><em>sentence.</em></p>
If I had used option
Convert <i>, <b>, <em, <u>, <s> and <strong> tags to span styling. I would have got a nasty surprise:
Code:
<p><span style="font-style: italic;">This</span><span style="font-style: italic;">is</span><span style="font-style: italic;">an</span><span style="font-style: italic;">italic</span><span style="font-style: italic;">sentence.</span></p>
...which in the preview looks like this:
Code:
Thisisanitalicsentence.
Of course, the text should be cleaned before cleaning by this plugin, but – as I have shown in the example – the danger of 'messing up' the text nevertheless exists.