On [[Escape Character Proposal]], we discussed whether a general escape character is necessary for Creole.  After a long [[Talk.Escape Character Proposal|discussion]], I would say that we reached the conclusion that it was necessary and there is now a decision as to which character to use: the backslash {{{ \ }}} or the tilde {{{ ~ }}}.

==== Backslash ====

=== Advantages ===

* already used in computer languages

=== Disadvantages ===

* somewhat conflicts with the line break {{{ \\ }}}
* possible conflicts with regular uses of backslash, such as in file paths

==== Tilde ====

=== Advantages ===

* very few possibilities of conflicts, since it is hardly used
* used as escape character on JSPWiki (other wikis too?)

=== Disadvantages ===

* hard to type on some keyboards, (not too important since the escape character should rarely be used)
* conflict with automatic signatures on MediaWiki