[Imports] edit import guideline wiki page

Glen Barnes barnaclebarnes at mac.com
Thu Nov 7 01:23:25 UTC 2013


Realised I only sent this directly to Martin previously:

“should" and “must” are very different in the English language in terms of tone and meaning. A quick Google came up with this explanation which is better than what I could come up with:

"A must-do is an unavoidable requirement; a should-do is no more than a desirable goal.”

So I understand the original posters sentiment - People read the guidelines and think they don’t have to follow them but should probably take a look at them. It is the same with guideline vs policy. Guideline = should, policy = must.

If we do change these terms then we should also note that exceptions can be made but only after discussing on the imports list. You will never cover 100% of cases with policy.

Thanks,
Glen
On 7/11/2013, at 2:16 pm, Greg Troxel <gdt at ir.bbn.com> wrote:

> 
> Martin Koppenhoefer <dieterdreist at gmail.com> writes:
> 
>> Actually it didn't look to me as if you had substantial changes proposed. A
>> "should" has IMHO the same implications in this context than a "must", and
>> whether this is called "policy" or "guidelines" doesn't seem to change
>> anything either, that's why I didn't reply on your first mail.
> 
> I agree with Jason.  Perhaps this is a nuance of English words.
> 
> "Guideline" is a suggestion, and you aren't wrong if you choose not to
> follow it.   If DWG is going to revert for not following a guideline,
> then it's policy.
> 
> And should is a strong suggestion, much like guideline, while must
> specifies policy.
> 
> So the key question for each guideline/policy is: is it ok for people
> not to follow it (if they think there's some reason why not following it
> is ok)?  For things like document the import, mail to imports@, my sense
> is that no, it's not ok.
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