I’m of mixed opinion of the rule in general, and I hope that it can come with some level of flexibility. For instance, say a creeper or otherwise abusive player reemerges on a game. Part of the value of a long-running forum is having those histories accessible and referenceable, and I think that if someone encounters a player like that and posts about it here, that it should be okay to bring in historical records to help give people context.
I do agree that it’d definitely be the best for everyone’s sanity to overall just – not link or screenshot stuff for the purpose of trolling or rubbernecking or what have you. It won’t help, it won’t actually make anyone feel better except maybe in a fleeting moment of petty satisfaction or something. But overall, it’ll just extend bad feelings.
For the Hobos situation in particular, there was no need to link anything to the player, who – as I said – was part of the conversations. And I don’t think there was any particular need to preemptively link something in a defensive sort of way for anyone else who might be reading. If someone came and asked “Hey does anyone have a fuller story on this whole situation?” I feel like it’d be fair to link someone to a conversation for context.
THAT’S MY TWO CENTS.