It's never about the rules, it's always about the perceived authority of the moderator or the decision maker. This is very much so for small communities who do

It's never about the rules, it's always about the perceived authority of the moderator or the decision maker. This is very much so for small communities who don't have the infrastructure to litigate issues in a legalistic manner... but, even in areas like public law, the rules don't really matter, it's the perceived authority and impartiality of the courts that keep a legal system up and running. (think of any controversial Supreme Court decision -- do people really care what the law actually says and whether the legal reasoning is sound... or do they just speculate about the political leanings of the judges?) Since most people writing up CoCs aren't good lawyers or experts in drafting (and finding loopholes in) rules... having a smaller "attack surface" actually makes a lot of sense. That said, if the community is large or important enough that it already retains some legal advisors, then maybe yeah, make the rules more specific or something.