[WikiEN-l] Rewriting the MOS in English

[Steve Bennett]

On 5/22/07, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
> But, rather than being a guideline for thoughtful application by
> editors seeking guidance in writing effective encyclopedia entries,
> it's become a sequence of programming instructions for bots.

The bigger problem is the MoS's uncertainty over its own authority.
IMHO, it's a rulebook. To others it's a guide, to be
ignored...whenever. I feel that the encyclopaedia benefits when we
have cast-iron layout rules that every article must follow, with rare
and notable exceptions. To others, the MoS is a restriction on freedom
of expression, to be watered down so that even vastly different
approaches to layout are apparently all supported.

Steve