You can't see the result of applying flashing text.

[rawles]

In the following video, Bruno St-Gelais remarks that you can't see the result of applying the flashing text control code, and that all you can see are the dashes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SamOoijfBjQ&t=10m45s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SamOoijfBjQ&t=13m22s

I agree. Displaying flashing text rather than the hashing would close the gap between what you see on the screen as you're editing and what the finished product is.