Toby-
Despite David's arguments, I see one big problem
with /requiring/ a <TOC> tag on any article with a TOC.
The problem is that articles all start out without TOCs.
My solution: Let Erik devise the best system that he can
for estimating when an article needs a TOC and when it doesn't.
(The current estimate is the number of headers; that's fine.)
And let him estimate the best place (before the first header).
Then run a conversion script to put "<TOC>" in all of those articles.
This isn't going to happen, but I might implement a <notoc> tag, which
would pretty much have the same effect with far less trouble and clutter.
For the time being, no convincing arguments have been made for either,
though, and not a single real world example has been cited except for the
Main Page, which is already auto-exceptioned. So I consider this a largely
theoretical discussion.
Regards,
Erik