So, I never tried to make text diagrams and the thought of doing it (by hand, I assume) haunts me:

How is it considered easy to build a simple table (or diagram) by having to hit keyboard keys and navigate the cursors to seemingly random places to place characters, while keeping the spacing, proportions, etc correct?

I don't like word processors but at least they recognize that if I drawing of building a table I need a different interaction model.

Maybe someone in this thread could highlight use cases where making text-diagrams (that may be later converted using these tools) is better than picking a richer text editor.