Occam's razor is one of those things that's hard to argue with--sort of like
Christianity. Take a look at the precepts, and it looks pretty good. Now, once you're familiar with the concept, you begin to notice how people actually apply (
misapply) it. Based on years of observations, I have arrived at a description of its common use:
Pick the explaination that causes minimal change to your belief system. An ego preservation heuristic.
To rant just a bit on the common usage: "I have a
closed mind--only ideas that fit through the mail slot are accepted. Any larger ideas will be rejected without inspection. You may, however, attempt to describe the parcel via individual letters, but keep in mind that the letters must meet our established protocols.. blah blah blah.. "