  We argue that, in many situations, fits to elastic scattering data that were
historically, and frequently still are, considered `good', are not justifiably
so describable. Information about the dynamics of nucleon-nucleus and
nucleus-nucleus scattering is lost when elastic scattering phenomenology is
insufficiently ambitious. It is argued that in many situations, an alternative
approach is appropriate for the phenomenology of nuclear elastic scattering of
nucleons and other light nuclei. The approach affords an appropriate means of
evaluating folding models, one that fully exploits available empirical data. It
is particularly applicable for nucleons and other light ions.
