I find that I prefer a blank line between items in plain lists.  org-insert-item doesn't do that.  The following patch remedies that under the control of a customization option.  Feel free to incorporate this into a release if you think others would find it useful.
<br><br><br>*** org.el&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Fri Sep&nbsp; 8 11:49:10 2006<br>--- /c/hirged/recentElisp/org/org.el&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Wed Sep 13 13:13:36 2006<br>***************<br>*** 463,468 ****<br>--- 463,474 ----<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; :group 'org-plain-lists<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; :type 'boolean)
<br>&nbsp; <br>+ (defcustom org-blank-before-bullet t<br>+&nbsp;&nbsp; &quot;Non-nil means to insert an extra blank before bullet items created with<br>+ \\[org-insert-item].&quot;<br>+&nbsp;&nbsp; :group 'org-plain-lists<br>+&nbsp;&nbsp; :type 'boolean)<br>
+ <br>&nbsp; (defcustom org-provide-checkbox-statistics t<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &quot;Non-nil means, update checkbox statistics after insert and toggle.<br>&nbsp; When this is set, checkbox statistics is updated each time you either insert<br>***************
<br>*** 3834,3840 ****<br>&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (open-line 1))<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ((&lt;= (point) eow)<br>&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (beginning-of-line 1))<br>!&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (t (newline)))<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (insert bul (if checkbox &quot;[ ]&quot; &quot;&quot;))<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (just-one-space)
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (setq pos (point))<br>--- 3840,3846 ----<br>&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (open-line 1))<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ((&lt;= (point) eow)<br>&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (beginning-of-line 1))<br>!&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (t (newline (if org-blank-before-bullet 2 1))))<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (insert bul (if checkbox &quot;[ ]&quot; &quot;&quot;))
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (just-one-space)<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (setq pos (point))<br><br><br>Thanks,<br>Ed<br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Ed Hirgelt <br><br>Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen<br>and thinking what nobody has thought.