Lurker Lounge now a hack site

[FenrisWulf]

@Jarulf:
I may well have missed out on some key features of this argument, as I've read the entire thing in spurts (and thus details have begun to blur rather radically), and I'm also moderately vociferously pro-diabloii.net, on account of the great times I've had with posters at most of the forums, most significantly the Druid, Single Player, and Pal Forums. And I definitely hold great respect for Gaile, as she's truly a very nice person who cares about what most of us think; Elly I'm able to vouch for less convincingly, as my interactions with her have been sufficiently painless (except for my offsite linking issue that came up a while ago :P) but a bit more detached and less friendly. Regardless, I do like them, and this may affect my judgement slightly.

But I seem to recall that there was a clause in one of the rules concerning offsite posting that advertisement of "competing sites" would not be permitted. Again, not debating the validity of this commandment, just the fact that it's there. Thus, I only interpret the auto-blanking of the Lurker Lounge and Amazon Basin through use of the Hack Site list not to be any moral judgement on either of these sites, but rather an expedient method of enforcing said rule pertaining to site competition. Please correct me if this is nonsensical.

Trust me, I do feel that this is an ill-informed decision on the part of the diabloii.net administration; if this summary dismissal of so many valuable sources of knowledge had not been in place, then I'd like to think that many of our most valuable posters, such as yourself and other pioneers into the depths of the game, would not have migrated to places afar, but rather timeshared a bit. However, I don't feel that it's appropriate to lodge such personal attacks against the owners of the diabloii.net site, nor the members of it, in protest to this policy, as has happened throughout almost the entirety of this thread. There are simply better, more effective ways, to deal with such problems.

EDIT:
@Kyrene:
Too much value placed in SATs during my youth has made me jump at obvious synonymous conclusions (sage:intelligent::ignorant:?). :P I'll try to regard nuances a bit more carefully in future.

To be honest, perhaps one of the reasons that I cannot understand some of the assertions lodged against diabloii.net staff on the subject of offsite linking is that the policy really hasn't touched me in any momentous way. I was slapped on the wrist once, yes...however, I still continue to link to appropriate sites, domestic or foreign, if the situation warrants it, and I've not come up against any large amount of resistance that would warrant labeling the administration as a "draconian" regime. And again, I'm on fairly friendly terms with the admins, which also casts them in a more positive light. Our differing opinions may stem from this; regardless, I don't feel that bandying about insults really solves anything. :P

As a note, I've never felt that I've wasted my time at diabloii.net, any more than I've been wasting my time here or at the Amazon Basin. Well, except during Finals Week. But that's a topic for another day. :)