> I don't feel the same ease with JSON or YAML though.

I imagine the same is true for people that don’t like XML. There’s just many more people that find it easy to read JSON, even though there are a few that find it easy to read XML.

Yes! I find JSON so, so hard to read compared to XML. I thought I was the only one :-)

Your not alone: it's verboden requiring " around anything that is a string. Commas to separate array elements. It's a technical format without the technical foundation. It's the civil engineering equivalent of building the Golden Gate Bridge out of wooden beams as that is what you have, not what you need.

You are not alone.