Does it still make sense to use HTML comments on blocks of JavaScript?

In the past people used to wrap HTML comment tags around blocks of JavaScript in order to prevent "older" browsers from displaying the script. Even Lynx is smart enough to ignore JavaScript, so why do some people keep doing this? Are there any valid reasons these days?

<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
//some js code
//-->
</script>

Edit: There is ONE situation I did encounter. Some code editors, such as Dreamweaver, get confused by quoted HTML inside a JavaScript string when in "design view" and try to display it as part of your page.

Solution 1:

No, absolutely not. Any user agent, search engine spider, or absolutely anything else these days is smart enough to ignore Javascript if it can't execute it.

There was only a very brief period when this was at all helpful, and it was around 1996.

Solution 2:

There isn't a good reason to do this anymore, as the browsers which required this have by and large disappeared from the web.

In fact, doing this can actually cause unintended problems with certain older browsers' attempts to interpret the page if it uses XHTML - from developer.mozilla.org:

• Mozilla 1.1+/Opera 7

  Do not apply CSS or execute the JavaScript.

• Netscape 7.0x/Mozilla 1.0.x

  Do not apply CSS but does execute the JavaScript.

• Internet Explorer 5.5+

  Can not display the document.

That site also links to examples of the several problems mentioned above.