Is it necessary to have tech expertise to file a bug? I don't. All I can do is report what I see.

One person will need tech expertise to judge whether this isn't a template problem instead.
Nobody said that needs to be the bug reporter. :)

When a template param does not start in a new line, than a passed asterik (or other syntax which needs a newline before it, like table or :) gets parsed as plain text. This is also true when not using template syntax. Just begin {{{2}}} in Template:Editing exercise in a newline or pass some text before the asterik to get a new line into 2=

I don't want to insert leading text in these—but to go straight into bullets. I had of course tried the "new line" option: no luck. Now I've used {{-}}, but still no luck. I've tried <!--text-->, nope. You have to write obstructive text.

But it works on the equivalent on en.WP.

Oh well, I just won't write any more learning patterns on Meta.

en.wp uses a <div> an it contains a new line.

When there should be no newline in the template, use <nowiki />

{{editing exercise
|1=Text
|2=<nowiki />
*test
}}

or write into a empty <div>

{{editing exercise
|1=Text
|2=<div>
*test
</div>
}}

Then there is text which gets not stripped (like the html comment)

Umherirrender—that you SO much! That has solved the problem, which is important, since hidden steps in learning patterns that can be click-expanded in stages has considerable potential as a device.