John, although you apparently already gave up on the idea, I believe the `visually very unappealing` kind of problem is not solved by removing the ability to create headings, but simply by changing the CSS template or the HTML generator settings of this site to produce a less obtrusive heading look. 

Currently the site defaults for using `<h2>` for
<h2>Headings</h2>
created by a "markdown underline" `-----` under the text, although formatting using HTML tags or `###` also allows for less obtrusive `<h3>`
<h3> Headings </h3>
already. Maybe `<h3>` should simply be made the default for markdown-created headlines since the overly large font along with the huge spacings (*font-size:140%;margin-bottom:7px;line-height:1.3*) indeed break the flow of text a whole bit too much.

As a side note, I do not see at all how the `<h2>` and `<h1>` formatting fits into the visual design of the site and I would like to see it changing into something entirely different altogether (smaller font sizes, less margins, and setting apart of `<h3>` using different means instead - e.g. a different font family, underlining or italization)