I am beginning to gather from this SO post as well as the other HN link to ShareFile, that REST is not something that can be summed up in a paragraph on HN or SO.
This is why the arguments over it are getting heated without seeming to go anywhere. All of the descriptions of REST are met with "That's X, that's not REST. X May be part of REST, but it's not all that REST is".
Turning the SO article into a community wiki is probably the way to go, and allow the discussion to expand until someone who reads it is able to get the concept of REST even though they'll never be able to explain it in a paragraph.
This is why the arguments over it are getting heated without seeming to go anywhere. All of the descriptions of REST are met with "That's X, that's not REST. X May be part of REST, but it's not all that REST is".
Turning the SO article into a community wiki is probably the way to go, and allow the discussion to expand until someone who reads it is able to get the concept of REST even though they'll never be able to explain it in a paragraph.