I understand how comforting it can feel to see some bright line delineating exactly what is OK and what is not in every situation, and unfortunately I cannot offer that to you here. I know the vagueness of some of the rules and the perceived or actual inconsistencies in moderation can be frustrating at times, but the lack of prescriptiveness is deliberate: it allows community norms to evolve organically over time instead of ossifying around some bible-like rulebook; it offers community members more freedom to experiment, make mistakes, and learn by experience instead of by rote; and it frees moderators from dealing with the sort of rules lawyering that appears to be happening here.
The long and short of it is: if the lack of an exhaustive rulebook with explicit dos and don’ts is going to make you upset, this probably is not the right place for you.
To answer some of your follow-ups:
Plasma wrote on 2022-07-14, 06:07:So I can post a direct link on archive.org to a certain commercial compiler that rhymes with Morland? Is there any case where archive.org links are not allowed?
I am sorry if my previous answer was unclear, here it is again: Since there is an open question regarding whether IA is operating fully inside the law in the way they acquire and lend copies of software, direct links to software hosted there are still typically removed, simply for avoidance of doubt.
In other words: you probably should not do that.
Plasma wrote on 2022-07-14, 06:07:If Vogons is concerned about copyright lawsuits, why are there over 100 references to WinWorldPC "inducing copyright violation"? You could easily find and remove them. But they stay up because apparently the mods farts were blowing in the other direction that day? I don't see the reasoning.
The safe harbour provisions of US and EU law do not require proactive monitoring for infringing content, but they do require action once it is known. Not all instances of discussions here involving WinWorldPC are infringing, and it is not tractable for volunteer moderators to review every single post on VOGONS (which is why those safe harbour provisions exist). If you would like to understand more, I might suggest reading the relevant laws and/or speaking to an IP attorney. Again, to be clear: I am not interested in engaging in rules lawyering on this, so please don’t come back and say “well the law only requires exactly X” or whatever, it will not be a productive use of your time.
Plasma wrote on 2022-07-14, 06:07:I would also like clarification on whether linking to ebay items is allowed. I don't sell anything on ebay. People have asked "Where can I get X?" I post an ebay link. Gets deleted for "promotion" even though it's obviously not mine. But I regularly see other people posting ebay links.
I don’t know for sure, but the implication in this message is that you feel you are somehow being targeted or persecuted. If so, I assure you that this is not the case. Moderators are extremely disinterested in dealing with any possible fallout from auction sales gone bad, nor does anyone want this place to be overrun by sellers trying to exploit it as a sales channel. Moderators have discretion to decide whether or not someone appears to be engaging in auction promotion.