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 | This page in a nutshell: Strongly Discouraged means SHOULD NOT, it does not mean MUST NOT. |
Some Wikipedia guidelines and policies use the phrase Strongly Discouraged.
The chart below maps this phrase into the standard terminology used in Request for Comments from the Internet Engineering Task Force and the Internet Society. These terms are: "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL". These terms are the Best Current Practice for writing about requirements. They were codified in March 1997 by Scott Bradner in RFC 2119: Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels.
In these terms, strongly discouraged means SHOULD NOT. In the words of the RFC, while there may exist valid reasons in particular circumstances when the particular behavior is acceptable or even useful, the full implications should be understood and the case carefully weighed before implementing any behavior described with this label.
In other terms, it does not mean "discouraged but I can do it, so its allowed and I can do it without concern."