mmh.. .cant make it work :P probably missing something in your post, there are no underscores :P

Just include before the hashtag(s)!

I don't understand what you mean by that.

#banswag2016

Good tip though.

#test

EDIT: yay it works :D I will probably never remember/use it but it's cool :P

#derp

\#derp

Bump.

Not sure if that's really to explain, but:

About [[].(#): [].(#) is, as you've said, the format for a link. The first [ doesn't belong to the format then, and so it's shown simply as it is and followed by a hidden link.
About []].(#): as is doesn't fit any formatting rules, so nothing is applied and it's shown as it is.

*checks to see if this nifty thing works*

Well what do you know, it does. Thanks a ton for this. :-)

Or you could just use the standard code \escape command. :P
\#ForExample (\\ to get that single \)

[[].(#) ends up like this → [
Not sure why
[]].(#) ends up like this → []](#)
Not sure why either...

The first one has all but the first character vanish as a hidden link, ergo you only see a single character.
The second one breaks the formatting with an interjected character (same as the . you're using), and thus it's not parsed at all, with the result that all characters remain shown.

[fail](\) looks like this → <a

As noted, \ is a standard code escape command. Any code directly following it is negated.
In this case, that's likely causing the <a href> HTML link to cancel midway through.

Aw man you saved me! now I can use this emoticon (which is one of my essential pack of very useful emoticons) ! *^*

Man, somebody from the staff should see this to add it to the "comment formatting" session! Could you change the subject to "Bugs - Suggestions"?