At 11:56 PM 9/19/2001, Jiwoong Lee wrote:
If a statement has the requirement level of 'MUST NOT' while it has an
exceptional case, and while
the exceptional case does not elucidate its requirement level, what is the
appropriate requirement level of this exceptional case ?
in such a case, I should think the right thing to say is "should not".
My rule (mine personally, not the rule documented in 2119) is that "must"
means "something will break if you fail to do this", and "must not" means
"something will break if you do this." I try to say what breaks in such
cases, and why.
"Should", from my perspective, means "I'd like to say 'must', but I can
think of a case where it wouldn't apply". "should not" is the reflexive of
that: "I'd like to say 'must not', but I can think of a case where you
really should." This sounds like what you're describing.
I use "MAY" to mean "I really don't care, but someone was asking about
this, so I should clarify."