I'd really rather not Answer my own Question… else, why would I have
asked?
Still, most Answers and even Comments here show first that many Users care nothing about style, order or harmony.
I stress again, I am not advocating any particular style; merely that a standard style would be helpful. Does anyone doubt that?
I have no faint idea why SE's search mechanism returns different results for "AB" and "A.B." and two facts remain:
The results are sometimes different: try it
That is not, nor could ever be helpful.
I see how - and how strongly - Valorum, et al, hold clear views about what style might be right and I stress again, those views have no place in considering whether there should be a prescribed style. Please, Valorum et al, stop flogging your horse. It died too long ago.
I happen to have worked for around 100 newspaper or magazine publishers, over a period of 30-odd years.
I do not suggest any of them had the right, nor even the best style, but I insist all their publications would have been less respected had they not used a common style.