Quote from: casascius on December 31, 2017, 03:29:49 PM

Presumably, B could be said to look like an 8,

It could.

Quote from: casascius on December 31, 2017, 03:29:49 PM

and that's the only reason I can imagine that "b" is on the list of exclusions. But since the spec strongly encourages the usage of lowercase except where technical constraints dictate otherwise, it would seem like allowing "b" is a far better choice for a spec that clearly spells out visual dissimilarity as a valued attribute in the chosen character selection.

Except that (especially when crowded by a number of random characters on each side) "b" can look a LOT like "lo". Even more so with certain typeface selections.