[norswap]

Why use base 36 and not base 26?

[lambertsimnel]

We certainly could, but we already use 0-9 and then letters for hexadecimal. Using all 26 letters for base 36, but not base 26, is just an extension of that.

[quuxplusone]

Or base 27, so you have space/hyphen as well. https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/convert