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I'm against a dogmatic approach to just about everything on here.
 
I'm not on board with pulling petty smartass question reposts to prove a point.
 
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Q: SWTOR - Ninja loot rules

PlummerI was in an FP last night, ear piece dropped that was better than the one I had, so I Need rolled. Another player got super pissed and ended up voting me out saying I ninja'd the piece. now, I'm 55 sage, he was 52 sage. This wasn't a HM run or anything, just one of the end game instances. He ...

 
@fbueckert Well then where is the fun!
 
@GnomeSlice That was my opening to this drama, so hush.
 
6:01 PM
Hah!
Okay.
 
Not everything needs to be set in stone. But if you want to buck the trend of us closing every single question that mentions piracy, period, we need to actually set up some consistency.
 
Not just, "Well, question is legit, probably, so we should allow it."
 
Venn diagrams are so cool.
 
This is all debate prep for the eventual meta, right?
 
@OrigamiRobot You're going to need to define legitimate questions a ton better than that for me to accept it.
 
@fbueckert It doesn't say 'legitimate questions' on the diagram anywhere.
 
@OrigamiRobot The problem is that we have to establish whether the question is actually relevant to legitimate users first. "Does it work differently due to the piracy involved?", for instance.
 
@BenBrocka heehee
 
6:04 PM
@fbueckert This is obviously for cases where it can be proven.
cc @FEichinger
 
If a question can mention piracy, and still be proven to be a legitimate problem for legit users, then I'd be on board with it.
 
17 mins ago, by OrigamiRobot
If it is unsure, err on the side of caution and close it.
 
@Sterno I do have things to say, yes.
 
But the burden of proof is on the supporters who want to re-open it.
 
@fbueckert I agree 100%
 
6:05 PM
So let me say this one more time. My approach to reposting that (mainly, comments in here and my "not a pirate" comment on the question) were not the best way to handle it. However, I think the fact that me reposting an identical question is fine (from an on-topic standpoint) but leaving the existing one is not shows a glaring flaw in the current system of dealing with things.
 
Did I seriously miss a discussion on Squirrel Girl? D: I am the saddest person!
 
I'm alright with closing the instant we get a whiff of piracy, and leave it to those who actually own the game to prove it's still an actual problem.
 
If you guys think it would make for a better meta discussion (when raven posts later) I can delete my question for now. But what you say is petty for me trying to prove a point I say is simply me proving a valid point.
 
Are any of you guys into Dark Electronic or Trip Hop?
 
If the problem is restricted to only piracy (ie. Update the game, and the problem no longer exists), though, it should stay closed.
 
6:06 PM
Groupees has a couple of sweet music bundles going right now. groupees.com
 
@Sterno I can tell you right now that I would have flagged your question for a mod as non-commercial spam, if I hadn't had some glimmer of hope that the ensuing Bridge discussion would make you delete it on your own.
 
@fbueckert What if updating is not the option for a non legit user?
 
Now I am going to play Devil's Advocate against myself: Should we be giving known pirates rep?
 
Besides which, since when do we close based on the answer.
 
6:07 PM
@FEichinger I am curious how it would be dealt with.
 
Or, like our technical issues. If you remove piracy from the equation, does the problem still exist? If so, then we keep it.
 
Since it clearly isn't spam.
 
@fbueckert This.
 
@OrigamiRobot Which is also something we should set in stone - should we force it into a CW at that point, perhaps?
 
@fbueckert That seems dead-on obvious to me that I'm rather baffled we've gotten this far without it being thrown out.
 
6:08 PM
@GraceNote I assume you are either typing a novel or saving it for meta later.
 
@FEichinger Can you CW a question?
 
@Sterno It used to be able to be closed as NARQ, but now I think it would be fine, actually.
 
@Sterno I've actually been in a meeting for most of this time and only vaguely watching the chat.
 
@OrigamiRobot If you can, I don't know how. I tried to CW it when I asked it today.
@GraceNote Don't ruin the mystery!
 
@GraceNote That's been my stance this entire time.
 
6:09 PM
Only moderators can mark a question as Community Wiki, and we usually don't.
 
@OrigamiRobot Only mods can now because people abused it.
 
@OrigamiRobot You never really got a chance to say it though (but I figured it was since I could read between the lines).
 
@OrigamiRobot I'm alright with that being our policy, as long as can enforce that consistently. Currently, that's never been part of our policy.
Until it is, though, I'm going to continue to VTC any question where we can no longer assume good faith.
 
@Sterno It is erroneous (and due to the situation also borderline malicious) content. It's not commercial spam, or flooding, but it definitely needs an eyeball.
 
@Wipqozn You might be interested in this. groupees.com/ds
 
6:11 PM
@FEichinger I'm not clear how it's either erroneous or malicious.
 
@fbueckert I'm assuming if/when we develop policy on meta around this, that if the underlying problem is not related to piracy, we then edit out mentions of said piracy?
 
@TrentHawkins Yes.
At least, that's the way I'd assume it works.
 
@OrigamiRobot I was referring to today, if that's a link back to February's discussion.
 
6:12 PM
Ah, I see.
No, I didn't say it today.
 
@Sterno It's erroneous because it's technically a dupe (and you don't actually face the problem yourself). It's malicious because of the reasoning with which you posted it: To "prove a point", which translates to "out of spite that the other one was closed".
 
For me to support any questions that mention piracy, though, we need a concrete policy in place. No judgement lines, no, "Well, it might be legit.". A clear, concise policy to follow.
 
Proving a point does not need to involve spite
 
@Sterno Which, actually, is something you literally said yourself.
 
I think I'll just start composing a Meta answer now.
 
6:14 PM
Anything mentioning a bug and piracy in the same question should be closed with a vengeance since they are the most likely to be problems specific to the piracy.
 
@OrigamiRobot Like the one we've been discussing? :P
 
It's funny, because the entire reason you'd flag it has something to do with the user and not the question, which is the entire thing I'm arguing against in the first place.
 
@GraceNote Will you use my Venn Diagram or should I start writing my own answer as well?
 
@OrigamiRobot We probably have overlapping answers (HAA. HAAAAA. OVERLAPPING.) but I wasn't thinking of using the Venn Diagram.
 
@GraceNote D:
 
6:16 PM
I have asked countless questions about problems that people who are not myself face.
There's even a built in system where you can post an answer at the same time!
 
A meta answer with no meta question is a sad thing.
 
@OrigamiRobot your diagram lacked freehand circles
 
@TrentHawkins I have freehand legend splotches!
 
@GraceNote har har har
 
6:17 PM
@OrigamiRobot that hardly makes up for the perfect circles in the diagram.
 
And we need to figure out how to handle questions asked by users we know are using pirated copies.
 
@TrentHawkins Only one is a perfect circle.
@fbueckert TBH, I'd be in favor of burninating any user who admits to piracy, but other may see that as harsh.
 
@OrigamiRobot I honestly don't know how we should handle it. I'm just saying it needs to be part of the policy.
 
@Sterno Which is why I put that part in parantheses, I disagree with it as well. But it is part of the problem here.
 
Here's another thing... I'm with you that it's kind of a weird area when someone says "I have this problem... how do I fix it?" and then "P.S. - I pirated it", because we don't know if it's specific to the pirated copy. HOWEVER, as soon as even one person says "Yeah, I have the legit copy and the same thing", which is exactly what happened in this case, why is it even a discussion anymore of whether or not it's a valid question? Obviously it is. A legit user had the problem.
And that's the point at which forcing it to be closed seems absurd.
 
6:20 PM
At this rate I'm going to run out of things to put in my Meta answer.
 
@GraceNote Meta is for smart people, you can do it.
 
I'm going to have to pad it out with allegoric metaphors about...
 
@Sterno How do you prove that it's the same problem?
 
@GraceNote .... about sloths?
 
@TrentHawkins No.
 
6:21 PM
@GraceNote aw....
 
Especially with Bethesda games, it could be a problem due to bad coding, or it could be something from the pirated version.
 
@fbueckert I honestly don't have a problem with the current "close for mentioning piracy" policy so much as I have a problem with people saying that helping pirates is always supporting piracy.
There are a lot of logistics problems as well.
 
There are so many different pirated versions of games out there, that it would be almost impossible to differentiate that the problem is the same as the legit version.
 
I think we should just close all questions. That makes things easy.
 
6:22 PM
@OrigamiRobot My definition is probably broader than your. In fact, it really is.
@Wipqozn As someone who is very close happy, I agree with this statement.
 
@GnomeSlice Can you put this behind a link?
 
@Wipqozn And I find that to be a perfectly valid reason for the current policy.
 
@GnomeSlice Wow, this reminds me of one of the suggestions at the "Pitch your Game Idea" panel during a PAX East one year. Which frightens me as much as the game idea frightened the judges.
 
Be right back, VTCing all the recent questions until I run out of votes.
 
@StrixVaria The second link should do it, sorry.
@GraceNote It's from here, which I think is a game jam type thing.
 
6:23 PM
RESOLVED WITHOUT FLAGS HIGH FIVE
 
@StrixVaria sadface
 
'subversive edutainment' was the theme.
Which makes it even more hilarious.
 
@GnomeSlice That doesn't make it any less frightening. And the theme doesn't make it any less frightening either since that's still the same lean as the pitch.
 
There's also a how 2 urinate
 
Oh, wait, I've already VTC'ed our latest two questions. Burnination impulses resolved.
 
6:25 PM
If you've ever wanted to deliver the mail in a small rural town, then this is the game for you!
Play through approximately 10 days as the Postman in Lawrence, BC.
Featuring
- Mail delivering - Mail opening - Scooter driving - A cool story - Spelling mistakes - Bad grammar - Peaceful audio
 
@fbueckert If you're asking if the exact same bits of code are misfiring, you don't. I don't think we require that level of knowledge to be useful, though.
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Q: When does a question "support piracy and pirated games"?

Sterno There's been a lot of talk recently about what it means to support piracy and pirated games. A very recent example is [this question], in which a user asks a question which is a valid problem for a legitimate copy of the game, but in which he admitted he's using a pirated version. Even after i...

 
The only point I really want to stress is that helping someone who pirated the game is not in itself supporting piracy any more than selling someone a hot dog is supporting that person's choice of political party.
 
I tried to make that neutral. Please edit it towards neutrality if I failed.
 
@Sterno You're missing the link.
4 mins ago, by fbueckert
@OrigamiRobot My definition is probably broader than your. In fact, it really is.
 
@fbueckert fixed
 
6:28 PM
@fbueckert If the piracy is irrelevant to the question, there is no piracy support.
 
@OrigamiRobot I disagree. But I will bow to the community consensus.
 
Note that I am speaking objectively and this has nothing to do with proving one way or the other
 
@OrigamiRobot Pirates asking for support for a product they didn't pay for - that's just disgusting (mind you, I have nothing against piracy itself, just don't shout it out to the world for Christ's sake). Helping them is not supporting piracy in itself, but it is (and knowingly so) supporting malicious behaviour.
 
32 mins ago, by OrigamiRobot
When a question is asked, it's not just the asker's anymore. It's everyone's. Therefore, if it can apply to legitimate copies, it should be on topic regardless of who asked and whether or not they pirated it.
 
6:29 PM
That's simple.
 
@Ullallulloo I should probably start using GOG
The name is stupid
 
@FEichinger And that is where the other problems come in. I acknowledge those problems.
 
I think just putting an end to all piracy would be easier than getting the community to come agreement on the on-topicness of piracy related questions.
 
@Wipqozn No.
 
@GnomeSlice Yes.
 
6:31 PM
Are you high
How would that be easier
 
@Wipqozn I've got it! Arqade DRM!
5
 
people have been trying to stop piracy since pirates were real things
 
@Sterno It's genius!
 
@Sterno I've known of some problems that are specific to certain pirated copies. Not just DRM the devs threw in, but things that the pirate group put in to "watermark" their releases.
 
@GnomeSlice @GnomeSlice - We've never reached agreement on anything.
 
6:31 PM
Install rootkits on users PCs
 
@JasonBerkan I disagree.
 
It should be our motto.
 
@Wipqozn It will probably be just as futile.
 
SEE WHAT I DID THERE?
 
In which case, Par for the course! Woo!
 
6:32 PM
@fbueckert Me too.
 
What was that smashy game that was on here earlier?
 
What it really boils down to for me is this: If the only way piracy is involved in the asking and answering of the question is because the asker admitted it, and it has absolutely no other relevance, it seems like a terrible reason to close.
 
There's my contribution to the Meta post. I've said my piece on it, and I will adhere to the community consensus on how we handle it.
 
I mean, I kind of hate all our tech support questions too
Maybe those are pirated copies, maybe not
 
6:34 PM
@Wipqozn No
Crashtastic!
 
I don't even know where I'm going with that thought. Nevermind.
 
@fredley Operation Smash?
 
@GnomeSlice How would it not be easier?
 
@fredley On where?
 
@fbueckert Your comment, or did you write up an answer and forget to press submit?
 
6:35 PM
 
@Sterno Eh. I think it's a perfectly valid reason to close.
 
wat
@fbueckert I don't agree again.
 
Alright, I'll work on my answer then.
 
@Wipqozn Nope, my comment.
I'm alright with whatever we decide, so long as we can get a consistent policy out of the discussion.
 
I personally have no idea how I feel about the issue so I'm just going to stay out of it for the most part.
 
6:38 PM
Contrary to what it may seem like, I am actually in favor of keeping the policy the same.
 
This is one of the only areas where I won't accept, "Use your judgement". Anything less than a clear cut policy will just keep this discussion going until the end of time.
 
I do not agree that every mention of piracy is supporting piracy, but there are a lot of other problems that it creates that I don't want us to have to deal with.
 
@fbueckert You're not the one who gets to approve everything before the site uses it.
 
@GnomeSlice He never said that. Stop putting words in his mouth. Also, he can't see anything you're saying.
 
@fbueckert Last time I said this in a meta answer it got downvoted to -6 and people agreed to just leave a gray area.
Not for the same topic.
 
6:41 PM
The problem with clear cut policy is that it's never clear cut.
 
@StrixVaria The grey area in this case is, "Close it if it mentions piracy.", then.
 
Once it's closed and deleted, can the user re-ask the question without the mention of piracy?
Let's assume no, because that's silly. What about other questions then?
 
-6
A: Is this question about general internet security on topic?

StrixVariaI believe that, until a concrete line can be defined, this question is still off-topic. As soon as someone suggests a concrete line that makes sense and will place this question into the on-topic side, we can re-open the question under the new rule, which I will gladly help enforce. I just can'...

 
And if he pirates this game, why should we believe he doesn't pirate other games? Should we just ban him?
 
Either we come up with a consistent policy, or we just rage this debate back and forth until everybody gets tired of it, and whichever side has the most votes, wins.
 
6:42 PM
@fbueckert That's the Arqade way!
 
5
Q: When does a question "support piracy and pirated games"?

Sterno There's been a lot of talk recently about what it means to support piracy and pirated games. A very recent example is this question, in which a user asks a question that turns out to be a valid problem for a legitimate copy of the game, but in which he admitted he's using a pirated version. Ev...

 
@Sterno And not one I'm willing to accept for this area.
 
24 mins ago, by OrigamiRobot
@fbueckert TBH, I'd be in favor of burninating any user who admits to piracy, but other may see that as harsh.
 
@fbueckert What if someone gained their knowledge of a game by playing a pirated version and then answers a question about it.
 
@OrigamiRobot Would certainly be simpler and teach people not to admit it.
Wouldn't really affect much else other than us feeling good.
But I like feeling good.
 
6:43 PM
@StrixVaria I dunno. I really don't. I'm leaning towards the knowledge is piracy neutral, but I need to spend some time thinking about that.
 
I agree with @Sterno that closing a perfectly legitimate question just because it's pirated does seem silly, since as @OrigamiRobot point questions no longer belong to the asker once they are asked. On the other hand, helping someone with a pirated game does ruffle my feathers.
 
@StrixVaria I don't see how this could ever be a problem.
 
To relate it to another problem, if someone stole a cell phone, and they couldn't figure out how to change the time I wouldn't help them because they stole it.
 
@FEichinger Not true! I asked for drama.
 
I take it we've all fulfilled our drama quotients for the day?
 
6:45 PM
delicious, delicious drama
@fbueckert I'm good until dinner, at least.
 
@Sterno I could insult your mother if you'd like more drama.
 
Has anyone used Steam Big Picture on a laptop (to a TV)? Would I want to mirror my display or switch the TV to the primary thingy?
 
turns on megaphone Your mother. turns off megaphone
 
@BenBrocka I'm trying to figure out why you would ever want to mirror your display. Unless mirror has another meaning than "flip horizontally".
 
6:48 PM
@StrixVaria Mirror as in display 1=display 2 identically
 
Oh, I see.
You can only mirror if the TV has the exact same resolution as your laptop, then.
Otherwise it'll cut stuff off.
Or maybe technology has advanced in the 5 years since I've tried to do that.
 
Oh I guess windows calls it Duplicate not mirror
 
@BenBrocka Trying it out just now, it seems big picture only likes to use your primary display.
 
Yeah they're both 1080p
 
@StrixVaria Is that a big picture thing? Whenever I plug my laptop in to the TV, it automatically resets the laptop display to the resolution of the TV.
 
6:50 PM
@JasonBerkan That sounds like a workable solution for the problem, actually.
 
@RedRiderX It does. That's why I'm wondering if it's less fuss to duplicate at all times, or have the TV act as a separate screen (because that'll involve switching primary displays, which I found to be very icky with 3 monitors)
 
Wreaks havoc on my stored window positions...
 
I've never messed with Big Picture, but I have tried connecting my computer to a projector to watch movies on the wall.
 
might be less so with 2 displays though, since it wouldn't destroy display order
 
@StrixVaria I prefer watching stuff that way.
 
@GnomeSlice OS X.
 
@JasonBerkan oog
Can't help you, sorry.
 
@GnomeSlice This is just icon locations, it seems. Messing with resolution also changes where open windows are.
 
@StrixVaria Oh, right. Crap, yeah.
Misread that.
I use it for icons. It's so handy.
 
6:54 PM
@JasonBerkan This is why I'm quite glad to have a 1080p laptop finally...it may not be the perfect most highest resolution ever, but it's a decent level of detail and it's extremely nice to have a sorta standard resolution
(one that isn't 640x480, because this isn't the nineties and there is not time for Klax)
 
@BenBrocka I love booting to safe mode and having to deal with this resolution.
 
My wife has a 24" iMac that she runs at 800 x 600 (I think - whatever the lowest possible resolution is). I physically cannot use her computer.
 
@JasonBerkan aaaaaaahh
 
The pixels burn themselves into my eyes.
 
Can't she increase DPI or something? It'll give you the huge text but it wil lbe much clearer
 
6:56 PM
Oh look
The Mighty Quest For Epic Loot has a self-stealthing NDA
 
@badp What?
 
This is the kind of stuff that makes me not want to click Accept, so I can name and shame
 
@badp How do you self-stealth an NDA?
 
1. "Confidential Information" as used in this Agreement shall mean any and all technical and non-technical information disclosed by UBISOFT to you prior or after the alpha test, regardless of form, proprietary or maintained in confidence by UBISOFT, and shall include, without limitation, [...] (c) the existence of any business discussions, negotiations or agreements between the Parties including the existence of this Agreement, (d) products under development.
 
@badp Whoa, but... I've seen people doing videos on the progress of this game.
 
6:58 PM
Ah yes, the Fight Club clause
 
When was this added?
 
@RedRiderX EIther they don't give a fuck, or they've been green lighted. You don't get to know because the NDA also covers those agreements.
 
@badp So essentially, "We don't talk about the NDA."
 
@badp I'm fairly certain that clause would be void here (as knowledge of the existence of the document is granted to you prior to signing it).
 
@FEichinger It's obviously much easier to discuss if I never actually Agree to anything
 
6:59 PM
There's one of the reasons I absolutely abhor one-sided contracts like that.
 
@badp Definitely.
 
I really wish someone would challenge the legalities of EULAs already.
 
I've also rejected a similar NDA for Tribes: Ascend anyway
and Smite
 

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