I would generally avoid XML, but the alternatives aren't perfect either, which is to say I sympathize to a degree with people who are familiar with XML and dissatisfied with the shortcomings of the alternatives. YAML and TOML are both pretty complex in their own rights--really what I want is JSON with comments and multiline strings for the "human reader/writer" use case. Never the less, I've never been so pained by these deficiencies that it made sense to use XML.