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I've gone through the threads on the Oxford comma and I am wondering why it is a stylistic choice rather than a standard practice, particularly with 3/+ items connected with "and"?

My point of contention is that since it prevents confusion (as agreed by many on the forum, many posts point people to this response) and thus, providing precise meaning, why isn't it considered a standard practice?

Adding a CNN article here saying that the lack of an Oxford comma cost a company USD$5 million to prove my point.

Jacob.C
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    Prescriptivism vs usage, perhaps. – user 66974 Nov 22 '22 at 08:46
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    You are a new contributor to this site so some points on how this site works. First, it is a question and answer site, and as such there are no threads. Comments on a question can be made by different people, so it is common sense, common courtesy and site practice to address any responses using people's handles so they are alerted to the response. Likewise a mention in an answer. People may respond after days or weeks. (The poster or answerer will be alerted automatically without a handle.) And you can't leave spaces in a handle. – David Nov 22 '22 at 12:24
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    Hello, Jacob. Have you carefully read that answer which shows that (a) in some cases an Oxford comma disambiguates but that (b) in some cases deliberately omitting an Oxford comma disambiguates? It is judicious choice, not a rule of thumb, that the Gricean submaxim of clarity demands. And Kessler's summary in the answer you link to states this. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 22 '22 at 16:20

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All punctuation is a stylistic choice.

Admittedly, "ending sentences with a full stop, query, or exclamation mark" is more universal than the Oxford comma - but it still a stylistic choice.

There is no body which has the power to mandate the rules of English punctuation, so we have to fall back on "what do people whose writing we respect do?" And in practice we observe that different people do different things.

Further, the Oxford Comma can add ambiguity. Consider a book dedication to "my mother, Ayn Rand, and God": is it dedicated to two entities (and parenthetically clarifying that Ayn Rand is the author's mother), or to three? You either have to re-order the dedication (possibly thereby subtly altering the sense), or change the punctuation.

Let me end by saying that I am fan of the Oxford Comma, and use it all the time.

Martin Bonner supports Monica
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