[WikiEN-l] Avoidance, was Re: WP:COI violation

Sun Nov 12 18:03:47 UTC 2006

On 12 Nov 2006 at 12:41, Steve Summit <scs at eskimo.com> wrote:

> If I read, "You should avoid doing X", I would assume the writer
> meant, "you should generally not do X" or "you should do X only
> under exceptional circumstances" or "you shouldn't do X unless
> you know what you're doing".  (I'd assume those interpretations
> anyway, but I'd *especially* assume them in an environment that
> includes WP:IAR.)  If X really was forbidden or prohibited,
> I would expect the policy to say, "you should not do X", or
> "you must not do X", or "X is forbidden", or "X is prohibited",
> or "X is illegal".

The Internet RFCs have a very specifically defined set of terms for 
use in such contexts; they define what SHOULD means versus MUST, and 
similarly SHOULD NOT vs. MUST NOT.  (The all-caps words are used to 
emphasize that they have specific meanings when used in RFCs.)

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