It seems to me that there is a progression of 3 stages in regards to WILD and the necessity of SP.

1. (The 'classic' view) SP is an inevitable, and needed, stage in a WILD that acts as 'gateway' to an LD. Reach SP and you'll have an LD, all efforts should be directed towards reaching this state.

2. (Intermediary view) SP is neither necessary nor inevitable, you may experience this phenomenon when you WILD or you may not, aim for the LD when you WILD and don't focus on SP.

3. (The 'radical' view) SP is a myth of the LDing community, most of the phenomena classically assigned to SP since the literature of LaBerge is in fact NREM phenomena experienced through falling asleep consciously. The term sleep paralysis should be reserved for its original clinical usage. The state described is more properly called REM atonia, and a dreamer will already be dreaming before REM atonia kicks in, dreamers who have a predisposition for isolated sleep paralysis may experience it during a WILD attempt. Guides based on reaching SP are founded upon misinformation.

Perhaps it is not needed to outline these positions, they are all already fairly evident to anyone who has engaged in the SP debate, but this thread has raised the issue that a consensus has not been reached (is a consensus even possible when it comes to such subjective experience?).

The great efforts by dreamguides and other members in WILD threads is going a long way to shake up the omnipresence of SP and as a community we're ahead of the game in even questioning it.