All the author had to do with this "appeal" was present the text to be read. Instead they put it on gitlab behind javascript. Literally nothing renders without JS enabled, and even with it enabled in browsers more than a year or two old it's just spins forever: no text.
Text is easy guys. Here's my appeal: stop hiding all content behind javascript. It's not required and because if it I am unable to read the author's appeal.
That's also not a trick you need to memorize or something - if you load a markdown page on Gitlab without Javascript, it won't render, but you can still click on the button to view it raw, and that button is clearly labeled with semantic HTML that will be accessible to any web browser that can handle a link tag. You do need to be able to handle HTTPS encryption, but that's another debate - most raw text documents are also going to be served over HTTPS anyway.
And of course, from the Javascript side of things, the vast majority of Gitlab's front-end is open source and all of their Javascript is served from their own servers without any third-party trackers or ads. So no worries on that front.
I get that people get annoyed about aggressive and unnecessary useage of Javascript and some choose for ethical reasons not to run proprietary code. I am all for accommodating you. But Gitlab does accommodate you. There has to be at least a little bit of effort put in on both sides here. Otherwise sites are just going to throw up their hands and say, "well nothing pleases these people, why should we bother?"
Gitlab does a great job of accommodating people who want access to raw text while also accommodating people who want to be able to do basic layout. And the approach of sites like this have significantly encouraged devs to use markdown more - if this was a static site, or something exported out from Org-mode, or even just a rendered Markdown file, you wouldn't have access to the original raw text version.
The only reason you have access to the raw text is because the uploader chose to serve the raw text and then handle rendering clientside instead of serverside. If you want to be able to read more content in Markdown form, Gitlab is your friend, not your enemy.
Text is easy guys. Here's my appeal: stop hiding all content behind javascript. It's not required and because if it I am unable to read the author's appeal.