Re: "plain old ASCII text is a barrier to communications"
The thing about plain old ASCII email is that it is remarkably robust and (excuse shouty) IT LOOKS THE SAME ON EVERYBODY'S SCREEN (as long as they have the sense to use a fixed width font; I like Consolas). Yes, occasionally some italics or boldface might be handy but the advantage of universality trumps all.
Use a version control system for the code, by all means. Use Git if you must. Use an issue tracker. But for accurate communication between geeks at long distances, plain text wins every time.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
