I am a newbie to Super User, and I know this forum is related to Q/A for software usability. Problems encountered when using software can be asked here.
I have asked a question about Windows 8.1 pro crack. But within a few minutes, many people have down-voted it. It was removed by a moderator.
Is it not allowed to ask questions related to pirated software here?
No, we do not allow questions regarding pirated or pirating software here.
It is covered under the TOS that you agreed to when you created an account:
Subscriber represents, warrants and agrees that it will not contribute any Subscriber Content that (a) infringes, violates or otherwise interferes with any copyright or trademark of another party
Use of the Network or Services to violate the security of any computer network, crack passwords or security encryption codes, transfer or store illegal material including that are deemed threatening or obscene, or engage in any kind of illegal activity is expressly prohibited.
Warez are an infringement of intellectual property and copyright laws in almost all countries (and in particular the country that Stack Exchange resides in) so you must abide by those laws.
The Wikipedia definition of warez:
Warez are copyrighted works distributed without fees or royalties, and may be traded, in general violation of copyright law.
Additionally, as you have noticed, we are a community driven website and the vast majority of the community does not want piracy or otherwise illegal material here. We are a site for users wanting help with legitimate and legal problems that they face.
We accept some level of breaking DRM questions such as DVD or iTunes/MP3 ripping, but this is allowed under the assumption that you are already legally entitled to view or use the content (i.e. you bought the DVD, music or so on) and are wanting to use it for personal purposes as allowed by Fair Use laws.
A side reason we do not allow warez questions, or at least why I would vote to close them, is because there is a high correlation between warez and malware infections. You cannot guarantee that any problem someone is having with cracked or warez'ed software is due to the software itself and not a malware infection brought in by the cracking software or included in the warez.
