On one hand you two are saying that a small patch of corrosion on the aileron is a defect and must be written up and will ground the aircraft.
On the other, you claim that it is possible to an open item on a MR.
I think you are truly failing to understand that entering a defect or damage on an MR does not necessarily ‘ground’ the aircraft. 404 explained it for you.
You clearly do not know how this is being enforced (20.18) out in the field by FOI / AWI/s, if its open, and not on the MEL, the aircraft is grounded, irrespective of the item being a defect, observation or wish list to santa claus.
Titan, the legislation deals with defect, what about items that are not defects ?, how can they be relayed to the company, so they can be looked at before becoming a defect ? ( have you read the last four or so pages of this thread ?).
A snag is not in the legislation, because snags are not defects.
To state that anything worthy of note is a defect, if you truly believe this, stay in your sheltered workplace, I think the real world might be a bit scary for you.