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We just had a question on Superuser regarding WGA and the risks of ignoring those messages.

Now I agree with TheTXI comment:

The OP says that he could locate the windows key and try to validate it. That is enough to make the assumption that it is valid. And even if his installation was not legit, the questions is not asking how to get by WGA or advocating for piracy. All it is asking for is consequences of ignoring the WGA message, which is an entirely legitimate question even for regular legal users who get hit with the WGA warnings for no reason.

But where do we draw a border for questions we want to see answered on Superuser? Since if certain people start to see topics like this pop-up they might start to ask questions that go over the border and into warez-like areas. Especially now that Superuser is going public, the risk of question on illegitimate topics are bound to become frequent and I would personally like to prevent that from happening.

Any thoughts? Perhaps I'm just overreacting...

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  • 4
    To the left of wherever Rich B is standing.
    – bananakata
    Aug 17, 2009 at 20:01
  • 2
    @annakata: So that means that Rich B is on the right side.
    – Hilarious Comedy Pesto
    Aug 17, 2009 at 20:09
  • @Pesto: Which is the opposite side of where this little troll is standing. Sounds right to me.
    – Geoffrey Chetwood
    Aug 17, 2009 at 20:09
  • 2
    I have no idea where I am right now.
    – TheTXI
    Aug 17, 2009 at 20:10
  • I'm standing in front of Rich because I said "Satan Get Thee Behind." Yes, when I speak, the first letter of every word is capitalized.
    – Down with the Samp
    Aug 17, 2009 at 20:13
  • @Pesto - yeah but he's facing the other way.
    – bananakata
    Aug 17, 2009 at 20:15
  • @annakata: I'm so confused. I think I'm gonna need a map and a compass. What you're saying is, if Rich B turns around, we all get banned?
    – Hilarious Comedy Pesto
    Aug 17, 2009 at 20:22
  • @Pesto: I think if I turn around and stop watching the trolls on the other side, they will overrun us and take over.
    – Geoffrey Chetwood
    Aug 17, 2009 at 20:28

2 Answers 2

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There is no way to define that boundary here. Every case has to be taken as it comes and judged appropriately.

3
  • Agree with the judging on a case by case basis. It's possible to set up some type of guidelines, but there is undoubtedly going to be loopholes and other scenarios that don't get addressed correctly ahead of time. That's when the community and/or mods take the necessary stances.
    – TheTXI
    Aug 17, 2009 at 20:02
  • Agreed, stick to the old rule: I'll know it when I see it.
    – Hilarious Comedy Pesto
    Aug 17, 2009 at 20:10
  • I agree with both Rich B and TheTXI. It needs to be dealt with on an case by case basis, with a Moderator flag to intervene if required. Sometimes the question needs to be rephrased rather then removed.
    – Diago
    Aug 17, 2009 at 20:29
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I know I addressed this somewhere on Meta before but I don't know where.

Basically what I said then was that if someone is talking about doing something which violates warranty (say, jailbreaking an iPhone) that is generally acceptable and I will tend to leave a note on the question telling the community that SuperUser does not advocate nor take responsibility for any behavior which could void a warranty or break your product.

For items which are blatantly inquiring on how to do illegal activities, it is much easier to draw a line. The only real problem is what if it is legal in one area and illegal in another? You could get into a debate over that in itself. It is illegal to try and bypass the national firewall in China, but nobody would think twice about an American asking a firewall/proxy question to get by a corporate filter. Questions asking how to acquire illegal copies of software are 99.999% likely to be closed immediately.

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  • It might have been the same question - but I remember one asking about how to write virus like software.
    – ChrisF
    Aug 17, 2009 at 20:31
  • this one, migrated from SO, comes to mind: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/8492/…
    – akf
    Aug 28, 2009 at 21:22

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