[WikiEN-l] The Community vs. Scholarly Consensus

[Ken Arromdee]

On Wed, 17 Dec 2008, Thomas Dalton wrote:
> NOR is a list of things you can't do, not a list of things you can.
> Noting that two things are the same when there is no way a reasonable
> person could fail to reach the same conclusion after seeing both
> sources is not on the list of unacceptable things, thus (unless
> prohibited by other policy) it is acceptable.

"You can do it as long as anyone reasonable can reach that conclusion"
1) is not so much a rule as it is a pragmatic statement about not getting
caught violating the rule, and
2) is heavily subject to the heckler's veto; someone who's either out to
cause trouble or (more likely) simply too anal and literal-minded about
rules says "I'm sorry, I don't accept that" and forces you to take it out.
Completely at random.