A new rule has been added

[muk]

This might just be me, but I have never been a big fan of videos in collection threads anyway. I understand that for big updates it’s easier to just record everything instead of taking multiple photos, but you can always trim it down to the most important additions/PSA returns if necessary.
I come here to read and look at pictures.
IMO it’s also easier to find vabuable information when it’s written down instead of having to skip through an entire video.
But again, just my preferance so please nobody take that as personal offense

[pichufan]

@fourthstartcg

Regardless of your opinions on what happened with your eBay price checking tool, things like that are easy to monetize in the background through hidden rover links, information collection, etc. We can’t have that happen on the forum and all tools must be checked by the staff. I think we all learned from that issue and considered it settled long ago, but if you still have problems with it, you can take it up with one of the staff.

I personally don’t believe the issue was ever settled, but I’m not trying to beat a dead horse. I used my situation as an example of what could happen (and unfortunately has happened in the past).

I’m against this rule change because I feel like it’s a form of censorship and in being a form of censorship it’s actively dissuading healthy discussion. Forums like this are exactly how small-time content creators build and engage with an audience and on top of that this is a freely-hosted forum which itself features prominent links to admin and moderator-owned for-profit content (which to clarify I’m not against, I just find it hypocritical).

The reality is that it’s actually pretty easy to detect whether content is monetised. There are hundreds of browser plugins that can be used to detect and block adverts, tracking scripts and referral links. Likewise on platforms like YouTube it’s a rule that paid promotions must be disclosed (and cannot then feature adverts within YouTube) and content hosted on Chrome and Firefox app stores must meet their criteria. Content which does not adhere to this can be reported and will be taken down pretty swiftly, often resulting in the offending user being banned.

I feel like a better rule change would be to instead enforce a system of reporting whereby if users detect spam, referral links or hidden tracking they simply report it to one of the staff here. That way we as users can actively help you detect content like this and put an end to it. Community moderation like this has been around for a while now and has been proven to work (see stackoverflow.blog/2009/05/18/a-theory-of-moderation).