I think my tags explain what I mean far more that a hyperlink alone can. If I strip out the tags and just leave the link, what does it mean? A link is just a structural element with no semantic content, implied or otherwise.

There is a “grand plan” but it’s not at all under my control whether it becomes a reality. I plan to write experimental Firefox plug-ins that understand my tags (especially is:money) but browsers are not my target audience - people are - and people don’t all use Firefox. I must primarily work within what the web standards say I may do and should expect all browsers to support.

Thank goodness validators aren’t standards, then! I’m glad you poked me for the failed validation - it made me reassess that what I was doing was acceptable. On the other hand, you’ll note that nowhere on my site do I claim that anything will be valid to any standard. I’m a mad inventor prone to mistakes. I don’t want to be seen to be a hypocrite without defense.

Unless you have some "Grand Plan" for browsers to all be reconfigured to do something with the tags?

And, no, you are right, there is no pleasing validators.