What is "canon"?

[Legbreaker]

It seems that my position on this has not been sufficently explained in a manner that all can understand.

Canon, as defined by Dictionary.com is as follows (ignoring religious references):

3. the body of rules, principles, or standards accepted as axiomatic and universally binding in a field of study or art.
4. a fundamental principle or general rule.
5. a standard; criterion.
7. any officially recognized set of sacred books.
8. any comprehensive list of books within a field.
9. the works of an author that have been accepted as authentic.

In other words, the published material - books, Challenge magazines, etc, are the foundation on which everything else is built. These materials are the cornerstone of the T2K universe - change what's in the books, particularly with regard to history, and it's no longer canon T2K.

HOWEVER, just because something isn't covered in canon, doesn't mean it should not be used. Canon, as stated, is a base, a starting point. Adding additional detail is not only allowable, but vital!

All I am saying is that the GDW materials must be referred to and expanded upon, not changed wholesale and the result labelled "canon" when clearly it is not.

Everyone is, has been and always will be free to do whatever they wish, as long as their ideas either as individuals or groups is not asserted to be canon.

We now have three seperate canon timelines. Surely we already have enough variety to give everyone what they need to play the game?