I'm not sure how workable it is either, but it would very often be nice, I can only agree. What's 'common knowledge' is such a vague concept that it's impossible to establish any firm practice in this area, but for example 'references', when an obscure fact is plucked out of the air, can be very handy. When it comes to debates that are just plain too obscure for most people to follow (or doubtless, be interested in) more thorough web-resources might help somewhat, and hopefully the ideas floated for a new 'newbies' list will at least help scaring the horses with them.
Cheers,
Alex.
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