When did posting links to game music become verboten?
 

In the Gabriel Knight 3 music thread, AFGNCAAP asserted that it was against forum policy to post links to ripped soundtracks of games.

My question is: Has this always been a rule? Or is it new?

There's no prohibition on posting links to simply music in the forum rule list. I checked.

I certainly don't recall any admonitions for linking to, say, Laserschwert's page on MixnMojo, even when his site still included the Emperor's Tomb soundtrack.

I hate the notion of "unwritten rules," so I humbly ask the AG mods to either add this rule to the forum rule list, or to state categorically that it is not a rule.

Thanks. :)

The basic "rule" is to disallow any link that makes AG complicit in direct copyright infringement. That includes music, yes.

That said, and regardless of whether we update the FAQ or not, there will always be some grey areas and therefore discretion needed. We're not looking to be militant, and we can't be chasing down every individual song link. So, links to an entire site of illegally ripped music? No. Links to a particular song of questionable legality? Maybe. Links to a YouTube gameplay session with music on it? Let YouTube sort it out, my head hurts. (See what I mean? :P)

There can't be a policy against linking simply to music, of course, as not all music sharing is illegal, just as not all game downloads are illegal. We won't always know in each case, but we expect those posting the links probably do.

As to whether the rule is new or not, I don't think the general rule itself is new, though once it started happening more and more with music as well as games, it became more important to enforce it.