Sigh posting on phone, this is the correct post.

It makes sense if you were aware of how allowing said links affects the forum.

As for Google they remove or prevent links ftom showing up on their search engine on request.

Hoping wrote on 2023-06-05, 20:07:

In the case of the drivers that are the necessary part for the hardware to work correctly and the software that accompanies them and that are only useful for the hardware for which they were created, it could be said that they are directly linked. That is to say, if you don't have, for example, a Sound Blaster 16, its drivers and software are not interesting or useful to you, but if you do have one without its drivers and software, it could not be used either. And also the drivers and software corresponding to a piece of hardware were distributed together with it, so downloading an ISO of a CD of those drivers and software would be the same as downloading your own backup.
One example, although there are many others from the time, the case of the Rebel Moon Game for the 3D Blaster, is not very useful if you don't have that graphics card, which I think only exists in that version. But if you are the lucky owner of one of those cards, would it be piracy to use an ISO downloaded from the internet because you don't have the original CD that came with the graphics card?
It is only a question and opinion, without the intention of offending, my apologies if it is so.

Problem there is things like this https://bert.org/2023/01/06/chatgpt-in-dr-sbaitso/ which is one of the many reasons the other thread was closed since I read that site a week or two ago but it was mainly closed for the link that was posted in it and the typical game request type of post.

I can see how a person could consider software that is not provided by a publisher (be it digital or otherwise), even if said software was never once available in a retail form, as being classified as "abandonware". I actually don't personally disagree with the definition.
Having said that, I can also completely understand why Vogons moderators don't want to give free reign to any all for posting disk images or links to sites with images of software that hasn't any form of policing. That would be a massive undertaking trying to wade through that quagmire, and a never ending and largely thankless task.

If someone wants a software and isn't willing to pay for it, they will find a way to get it.
Likewise, if someone wants a software and can't find a way to purchase it, I'm sure they can find a place to download it without resorting to Vogons.

DosFreak wrote on 2023-06-05, 21:17:

Sigh posting on phone, this is the correct post.

It makes sense if you were aware of how allowing said links affects the forum.

As for Google they remove or prevent links ftom showing up on their search engine on request.

So if you get a request to remove a link, remove the link. I hardly think the authorities anywhere are monitoring VOGONS too closely, you're pretty far under the radar, no offense.

Or maybe just remove the link and put a reply in there saying why the link was removed instead of closing the thread outright.

Would the thread have been closed if the person had posted a link to the same thing that linked to vogonsdrivers?

The reason I made the OP a more open question is because I wanted an actual definition of what is allowed and what isn't allowed.

Makes more sense to me than to have people wonder if a link they post or a question they ask will just get their thread closed.

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2023-06-04, 15:32:

Sometimes software can be in copyright limbo and nobody could claim it. For example, No One Lives Forever, by all definitions, is abandonware. It happens sometimes during company bankruptcies and mergers.

There are no concrete definitions about abandonware yet, but in this case it may be considered as one... IANAL, however. Even so, some old games that appeared to be in this kind of state did manage to end up in GOG.

But I think there are already some established boundaries. Back then some abandonware/ROM sites would openly refuse to host anything that is protected under the ESA umbrella, in order to avoid getting into trouble.

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2023-06-04, 15:32:

And after certain period of time, it will become public domain.

The big ones can push more laws to extend the copyright length so as to make sure their works never ever fall into the public domain, if desired. They did not recover copyrights that have already entered public domain, but the acts affected all copyrights that are still in effect, not just theirs.

At present, no new laws have been made to extend copyright even further yet, so since 2019 works once again begin entering public domain, but who knows what could happen in the future...