Great post, ravs and a well thought out list. I tend to think in terms of visual qualities of a map before I even begin to think of the geography depicted (am I alone in that?)--so that a well-drawn, creative, moodful map will cause me to "buy" ridiculous fantasies. I wonder if that should be placed on your list, or if it's more about cartography than world contruction.

For example, we at one time had a cartographer here creating modern-world styled fantasy maps; they were beautiful in their technical, real-world visualizations. Now, I would expect from that map that no crass and blatant geographical oddities would exist, because the map is so complete and scientific. Whereas a moodier, hand-drawn/scrawled map makes me more willing to accept bizarrities. This may be just me though.

I also think Neon has a good point in where the "rules" are being broken. We will accept some places more than others. But even in these I would say the visuals dictate the dubious mindset of the viewer.