indicating the use of text formatting in ASCII text

["Keith Cronin" <kcronin -at- DALEEN -dot- COM>]

I've been searching the Web, and have not been able to find conclusive
answers, so I'm turning to you:

Is there some universally accepted way of indicating text formatting when
writing in a plain-text setting (such as ASCII)?

I see many of you adding _emphasis_ to your posts with *this* sort of
psuedo-tagging, but I don't know if this is merely chat-room tradition or
based on some formal methodology. I'm looking for ways to indicate
italics, bold, and underlining.

(HTML could work, but I think _this_ style would be more succinct and less
distracting than a bunch of <I> annoying</I> tags...)

Thanks in advance...

   -Keith 

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