[WikiEN-l] fancruft

[Michael Hopcroft]

You know, I haven't really seen a good working definition of the term 
"fancruft", yet I seem to have run afoul of the concept more often than 
I have failed to. Mind you, the areas of my expertise (animation and 
RPGs) are especially vulnerable to such claims, but I seem to be running 
into it far more often than most other editors.

I would say that I have an objection to some of the ways the policy has 
been applied, particularly to my own articles, but since I do not know 
what the policy actually entails (all things considered) it is difficult 
for me to form a rational response or objection to the times when I feel 
it is applied unfairly or unwisely.

Could someone give me a non-judgmental (because it usually seems to be 
applied to content that those who cite find objectionable for other 
reasons, as in the case of the possibly offensive Archbishop Tutu joke 
that Mr. wales cites) explanation of just what the term 'fancruft" means 
and entails as a matter of Wikipedia policy?  (The apparently 
contemptuous nature of the term 'fancruft" itself also sticks in my craw 
as inherently judgmental, but that is neither here nor there.)