fence vs fence? is it hand railing?

The wiki photos show the problem exactly. Example 3, 6, 7 do not look they fit the definition. They are more like a fence. For others, the tag mixes up railings with tops you can hold, and additional handrails attached to the side of a wall, fence, or other obstacles. In https://github.com/gravitystorm/openstreetmap-carto/issues/4297 the usage reviewed seems to suggest most of them are more of a railing.

A lot of fence_type= duplicates material= and occupies the tag, which the fence:type= proposal had hoped to resolve (inactive, author not free). The wiki currently suggests considering such an alternative. Removing the conflict allows tagging =railing, =bars, and other forms to describe the structure better.

Sorry it looks like the links went awry, they should be

Handrail https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:barrier%3Dhandrail

Fence https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:barrier=fence

Fencetype https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:fence_type

I think the explanations reasonably answer all your points but of course one could nit pick forever.

I've placed these links in the main text

my issue is that there there are two fence options. both lead to https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:barrier=fence seems like wrong link is used. one shows a regular fence icon, the other shows a fence with vertical bars. so I think last mentioned is a handrail. that's how I've been using it as, but tags are wrong.

barrier=fence fence_type=railing

but if I use the tags for hand railing, I see the link is wrong, it too links to fence: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:barrier=fence but I see there is hand railing listing, but does not have its own icon. and link is wrong. so seems like there is a mix up. handrailing icon is at the second fence listing. but hand railing is listed as a barrier without a handrailing icon.

so link to hand rail should be https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:barrier=fence