I'm Still Trying

You can format text with Compatibility mode off, but you have to use HTML formatting elements

This should be a new line with a blank line above.
This should be a new line immediately below.

There should be two blank lines above.

The editing window looks like this:

Compatibility mode off. This should be a new line with a blank line above. This should be a new line immediately below. There should be two blank lines above.

The editing window looks like this:

Yep,

that's what I expected to happen

Ok, this may be interesting. My previous post was on IE11 with "compatibility view" mode on. This post is done with compatibility mode off and I see none of the normal Rich Text editing options at all. There should be a line break above this line, but I suspect it's all going to be a wall of text.

When you say "paragraph break" do you mean the extra blank line which is inserted when you press "enter"?

If this is the case, you can suppress this by holding the shift key when you press "enter"

This is what happens when you press "enter"

and continue typing.

This is what happens when you press "shift/enter"
and continue typing.

I tried posting a test post using IE11. It did not add paragraph breaks, but it added punctuation where I put them. Your extra spaces before and after your punctuation are there because of your typing.

I have less issues with Chrome than I did with IE, but Chrome seems to be a memory hog at times.

You've got extra spaces before one period and one question mark. The other period ( after "Hmmm) looks fine.

Did you mean to include a paragraph break? If so, it didn't come through.

Hang in there. I think you're getting close. The idea of cleaning your keyboard is worth trying. Turn it upside down, give it a good shake, and see if anything falls out. (If something with wires attached to it falls out, you've got a bigger problem.)

NOPE !