Only follow a best practice if you understand it

The styles should always be followed, and anything that is a style
guideline should be defensible with just "we picked this style."

The best practices are things that we've learned through experience and
teaching, and therefore cannot be conveyed completely in a pithy
guideline. They are reminders for those who understand them, not lessons
for those looking to learn.

As such, if you do not understand a best practice guideline, then you
are simply not the target audience.

best-practices/README.md

@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ A guide for programming well.
 General
 -------
 
+* These are not to be blindly followed; strive to understand these and ask
+  when in doubt.
 * Don't duplicate the functionality of a built-in library.
 * Don't swallow exceptions or "fail silently."
 * Don't write code that guesses at future functionality.