On 12 Nov 2006 at 12:41, Steve Summit <scs(a)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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