I think specifications should be either really loose or really strict. The ones that fall in the middle are harmful. It just leads to a million kind-of-simila

I think specifications should be either really loose or really strict. The ones that fall in the middle are harmful. It just leads to a million kind-of-similar things but because there's insufficient similarity you can't reap the benefits of having the spec (think automated documentation tools, pluggable APIs, client/server tools, etc). It turns into a religion and a word that everyone ends up using but hardly any two people agree on exactly what it is. If there's a spec for something it should have a corresponding verification tool that takes your stuff as input and basically validates it down to a yes/no answer. Your API is either compliant or not end of story. It shouldn't be a shade of grey that leaves room for arguments and lengthy blog posts about the philosophy of the spec. The spec can still accommodate and allow for some uncertainty and flexibility but in a controlled manner and while maintaining an unambiguous specification.