given that i use an augmented "Requirements Language" section, the only reason that i am not 100% with melinda is that i am often caught between clean design and ops reality; so the SHOULD issue looms larger for me than for most, e.g. scott. i would not mind asking for a reason for the escape clause; but am quite willing to go without if it avoids opening yet another process can of worms. we should not open this pandora's box just to remind us to ask authors to explain the SHOULD. randy