Oh, no question. But by "getting the idea" I mean the intent. Reasonable people are always going to differ on the precise meaning of these terms. That doesn't need to be a problem. If everyone makes a good-faith effort to avoid gratuitous negativity however they best understand that, HN will be fine.

I agree. The primary benefit is not to establish objective decidable rules, but rather to remind people to try to be genuine and fair.

>But by "getting the idea" I mean the intent.

I'm suspicious of the intent. That's why I want a more formal criteria.

I don't know of any way to formalize things like this and am skeptical that it's doable. Simple principles, plus a request to the community to do its sincere best with them, seem likely to produce the best outcome.