Eliminating Blogger's Indent

You've noticed it, right? In Blogger blogs, the first line of the first paragraph starts a space over. 

It's a minor thing, but it bugs me. Why does it do that? How can I fix it? 

I don't have an answer to the first question. Not the "why?" anyway. But I do know how it's happening. 

If you open a new blank blog post, you're greeted by a blank template. Before you do anything, switch from "Compose view" to "HTML view". 

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And you'll notice there's already some code on your page: 

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It's basically gibberish. It's just some placeholders in between code that means "paragraph". If you look in your toolbar, it'll show "Paragraph" rather than "Normal". "Paragraph" means when you hit the "Enter" key on your keyboard, a gap of a whole line is left after your previous paragraph. 

(If you want to use "Normal", that line isn't left, and you have to hit "Enter" again to get that space.)

If you try to delete that code, in Compose view it'll go back to "Normal". If you hit the back button to delete that space in Compose view, things go wonky. 

So, most bloggers just leave the space in. But you don't have to.

The way to get rid of the space is to begin the post. If you start with writing, start writing. When you hit "Enter" to get a new paragraph, begin writing the new paragraph. 

Only after you have started a second paragraph can you go back to your first word and hit "Backspace" to eliminate that space. 

Yes, I know. It's an annoying extra step. But it's the only thing I've found that works. 

But what if you start with an image? 

If you upload an image using the picture icon in the toolbar, an extra line of space is added to the top of your blog post. 

I have not had luck in hitting backspace before the image to make the extra line go away. (If you have, please leave how you get it to work in the comments.) But I can make that extra space disappear by deleting the first paragraph code (in "HTML view") after I've uploaded the image. 

If you delete everything highlighted in gray, that space goes away. Be very careful to get both "p"s and the carrots on either side. 

When you go back to "Compose view", your post will be back in "Normal". But if you click on the arrow, you can switch it back to "Paragraph", and it'll stick.

Of course, if you haven't noticed this issue and it doesn't bother you, feel free to ignore this post. But things like that irritate me, so I take the time to make sure I don't have that space. 

What about you? Do you eliminate the space? Have you never noticed? Or are you on a different blogging platform and don't have the problem? (Or do you know a better way to fix this?)