User talk:MPS/It's ok to use your brain

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[edit] summarizing this essay

This essay is well written... but is it needed? It can be summarized into one simple sentence: "WP:NOR does not apply to discussions on talk pages." But to be positive instead of negative about this ... it might be helpful to discuss where it is not appropriate to use your brain (such as including a novel synthesis in an article ... the synthesis may be absolutely logical, but including it in an article would violate the WP:SYN section of WP:NOR). Blueboar 13:36, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

• Having read it, I think there's slightly more - but a lot of it is When is it okay to use original research? there's also an attempt to graft on the question I'm asking What makes a synthesis novel?. WilyD 13:40, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

Good points... I will consider how to improve it. MPS 19:00, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] another pracitcal application: linkfarm debate

I was discussing link farms today on the policy page and discovered an opportunity to cite this essay. It seems to me (IMHO) that people keep citing policies without thinking about why those policies exist in the first place. What tends to happen in this particular case is that one person will come to the village pump and try to explain a systematic problem, contradiction, or dilemma within the wikipolicy universe and they can't relate their frustrating experience because somone else will come in and say, "no silly, that suggestion would violate WP:XYZ guideline, end of discussion." That other person is usually some sort of dedicated wikipolicy enforcer who spends a lot of time discussing that policy or putting that policy into effect. These people talk past each other due to a lack of using the WP:BRAIN. I reread the essay and it applies to this situation as well. WP:PG clearly says that guidelines are not policies and that there is wiggle room. I think all of the wikipedia ethos screams for people not to just use rules blindly but also apply common sense to a particular situation. This essay is an attempt to step outside the wikilaw box and encourage people to think for themselves and involve the brain in the application of policy and style. Just a thought for future development. MPS 19:00, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

(edited above post more on May 31) MPS 17:25, 31 May 2007 (UTC)