Linking Virtual Machine Sites is illegal?

[earlbond84]

Hi Admins,

Why these are illegal?

1. Link Virtual Machine Sites.
2. Inform Members to use google to search for the Virtual Machines Site.

Note: This is a very big non sense.

[Xtra]

Was there a purpose to link it? Was context given why it was linked? I doubt it is illegal but maybe just for your case.

[joedf]

Not sure, but here are the forum rules for reference: https://www.autohotkey.com/forumrules/
Perhaps @boiler could elaborate?

[boiler]

@joedf - Yes, I'll elaborate. He spammed the same website with little to no relevance to the topics it was posted in several times in a short period of time. So I removed the links and told him not to continue to post that link. We ban people for spam every day just based on a single post, and I didn't even ban him since he did mix in other content (of questionable value, imo, but I didn't comment on that). Several of his posts within hours of joining contained a link to a specific VM site, and more importantly, as Xtra suggests, the link wasn't really responsive to the threads where he posted it. It would be one thing to recommend that a VM be used, but he linked to a specific product several times in short timespan. So I warned him to stop spamming that site, and he then posts in his tutorial as step number 2, instead of linking that site since I warned him, it was instructions to google very specifically that would lead to that product.

So yes, he's lucky he wasn't banned in my view, especially for his stunt of instructing people to google to reach his site since I told him to quit linking to it. Go ahead and look at his tutorial, and you tell me why googling that VM is at all important to his "Notepad Gaming" tutorial, especially given that he linked to a specific site several times in his brief history as a member.

To be honest, I think he deserves a few days off for raising a stink about it and continuing to be a nuisance. His brief history as a poster is "a very big non sense."

[earlbond84]

Hi @Xtra & @joedf

I made some tutorials to be helpful for some new members.
See this link: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=106523

In my requirements the scripts will requires winactivate & focus but you can only do that in VM Environment
that why i included the link or inform the new members where to search for the VM. But some admins who
was OVERREACTING inform me to be banned? Seriously because of the Oracle VM Link or "Search Google on Oracle VM".

No. 2 was removed by the moderator because of the Oracle VM Link or "Search Google on Oracle VM".
Where is the SPAMMING on that in the first place.
Also i only reply to the members who needs help for them to understand more AHK.

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References (Requirements)
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1. https://github.com/iseahound/ImagePut (v1.8+)
2. [removed by moderator]
3. AutoHotkey_1.1.34.03_setup+ (https://www.autohotkey.com/)
4. Window Activate/Focus is required.
5. Open Notepad with wintitle as "Untitled - Notepad".

[boiler]

@joedf - The above post reminds me that I didn't even mention that he then has been spamming his tutorial across other threads that are unrelated to the content of his tutorial. I pointed this out and he replied that it might be useful to them as beginners. We can't have users linking their threads that are off-topic just because they're beginners so it could be useful to them. This is part of why I say he has already been largely a nuisance already. I wouldn't necessarily be saying this in the public part of the forum, but you asked me to elaborate.

[boiler]

No. 2 was removed by the moderator because of the Oracle VM Link or "Search Google on Oracle VM".
Where is the SPAMMING on that in the first place.
Also i only reply to the members who needs help for them to understand more AHK.

@joedf - The first item that comes up in the suggested google search is the exact site he was spamming.

[gregster]

I am sure we would have seen more links to this particular VM product, if boiler hadn't intervened. I wouldn't have hesitated to hard-delete such posts as offtopic or spam, without further notice, if I had encountered them first. Why even link to a specific product, several times during the first few posts? This looked spammy, without doubt. Especially, after that specific product was also mentioned as part of the "tutorial", for no apparent reason (other than potentially circumventing boiler's original request).

Also, the links to the "tutorial" were so-so, at max. If a posting career starts like this, it is imho a good and trusted tradition to keep an eye on it, and to direct a word of advice at the new member to focus their posts a bit more on-topic. This message was sent here, and the new member is still free to contribute to the forum, hopefully taking some feedback into account, so that additional moderator actions will not be necessary.

[boiler]

Well said, @gregster. Thanks for reinforcing the message.

[earlbond84]

Hi @gregster

What do you think?

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Board warning issued
Sent: Yesterday, 14:33
From: boiler
Recipient: earlbond84

The following is a warning which has been issued to you by an administrator or moderator of this site.
Stop putting links to a vm site in your posts. If it continues, your account will be banned.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Board warning issued
Sent: Yesterday, 19:38
From: boiler
Recipient: earlbond84

The following is a warning which has been issued to you by an administrator or moderator of this site.
This is a warning regarding the following post made by you: viewtopic.php?f=18&p=473427#p473427 . Giving instruction to use google to find the site that you were told not to link is not an acceptable approach to circumventing that direction. This is your last warning.

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Where is the SPAM on that?

[boiler]

@gregster and @joedf — You can still see two of the posts containing the spam link in this member’s post history (the url ending in “…box.org”, not the github link that also appears in several posts) because I soft-deleted them for this purpose. I left another post in place because it had other content, but you’ll see my message in red stating “[Mod edit: Removed spam link]”, which was the same link as the others. After those three links, I issued the first warning. After that, the member then posted his tutorial with step #2 instructing people to google a particular phrase which resulted in that same link as the #1 search result, and I issued the second warning.

joedf - The three links are the very definition of spam, which was followed by the direct defiance immediately after my warning by posting the equivalent as google instructions (and clearly a VM isn’t required for those examples, and in any case, not that particular VM). I showed more restraint than I needed to by only issuing another warning instead of banning right there. And as you can see, after having this pointed out by now two moderators, the member refuses to accept that this is unacceptable behavior.

We have heard enough from OP on this for now, so I’m locking this thread so only staff can continue to post in it, at least until joedf has had a chance to weigh in.

[gregster]

Hi @gregster

What do you think?
[...]
Where is the SPAM on that?

Since I was addressed: My statement is already above, and you also got an answer to your PM. Imo, formal and informal warnings get issued to prevent further complications, especially for the individual forum user who was addressed. A formal warning might seem harsh, but has the advantage, among others, that it can avoid redundancy in staff actions (and that's why I already knew of them); probably they should be used much more than currently (I think they were broken for some time in the past, and hence under-used).
Afaics, they were issued here because it was assumed that you wish to contribute to the forums in a productive way. To confirm this, I would suggest less redundancy, and a stronger on-topic focus. Nobody minds occasional posts which unintentionally miss that mark a bit, but if similar ones appear, especially in a short period of time and with external links, it's time to moderate them.

[joedf]

I know a VM is not required for WinActivate, assuming it is a supported version of windows with nothing else funky going on.
Nor do I think this is worth fighting over. I would say, to just change the text/links to say "try a VM if something is not working" ... even though it is not relevant.
There is lots of misunderstanding, wont say where. Since earlbond84 has asked for account deletion, I guess the conversation ends here.