Should schema modeling rules be normative?

[jack-berg]

We have a growing list of schema modeling rules which help promote consistent data modeling.

These rules sometimes use normative words like "should", and in other cases, I've gone out of my way to avoid them using replacements like "acceptable".

Should we state that these rules are normative?

IMO, the ideal case would be that the rules are normative, but that we're free to evolve the rules. I.e. can freely upgrade "SHOULD" to "MUST" (and vice versa) without worrying that its a breaking change.