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steve v wrote:
Reason 4: "Block was inline with IAR (ignore all rules)" - IAR trumps real policy?
Well, err, yes, when appropriate[*]. IAR, NPOV, and DBAD are the three primary rules of Wikipedia ("policy trifecta", I've heard them referred to), from which all other written documentation of policy, or "real policy" as you put it, is derived, essentially. These written-down forms are mere temporary instantiations of overall policy, imperfect (as all written things are) and at any time wrong, though generally only in very slight a subtle ways by the time they've been around long enough. As David puts it (and, after some reading to find out what on Earth he was talking about ;-), I've come to agree him), Wikipedia policy is a game of "Calvinball"; 'tis not writ in stone.
I was mildly discouraged to see IAR be described as non-policy (meaning, I assumed from the wording used, that it doesn't apply, rather than that it operates as super-policy). I consider this to be a mis-appreciation of what it actually means.
* - "When appropriate" being the entire reason that we have any policy at all but the trifecta - people often have quite some difficulty understanding what is and is not all right, so extensive policy documentation is written, saying "here is an example of what is not all right"; it is not, however, complete, and is not in any way intended to be.
Yours sincerely, - -- James D. Forrester Wikimedia : [[W:en:User:Jdforrester|James F.]] E-Mail : james@jdforrester.org IM (MSN) : jamesdforrester@hotmail.com