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Despite this legal questions having been discussed, at least one user keeps commenting on legal questions saying they are off-topic.

Have we decided that these questions are definitively on or off topic, and what should be done about continual comments on this matter?

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    \$\begingroup\$ Note that you can flag comments also - it's the icon just below the "upvote comment" button. Doesn't mean the moderators will agree with your flag, but it's an option. :) \$\endgroup\$ Commented Sep 8, 2011 at 12:56
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Lohoris, The comment you recently brought up in gamedev.stackexchange.com/questions/4868/… is nearly a year old. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Sep 8, 2011 at 16:14
  • \$\begingroup\$ Oh, I didn't notice the date. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Sep 9, 2011 at 8:42
  • \$\begingroup\$ I also agree with Joe in the fact that the question you're reffering to inherently has nothing to do with games at all, just basic law. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Sep 10, 2011 at 14:13
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    \$\begingroup\$ please don't create meta topics singling out specific users; we are happy to discuss the issue without unnecessarily dragging personal stuff into it. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Sep 11, 2011 at 3:47
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Jeff: I don't see how the question is different than meta.gamedev.stackexchange.com/questions/283/… now. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Sep 12, 2011 at 0:40
  • \$\begingroup\$ Joe: it may look so after Jeff's edit. Of course my point was people supposedly spreading the rumor they were OT when they actually were IT. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Sep 12, 2011 at 7:17
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Lohoris it is not always as clear as you make it sound whether it might be off-topic or not. I wonder, what makes you so sure that legal questions are by design on-topic? I didn't read the recent discussions that way. However, people have different point of views, c'est la vie. Still, discussions and arguments can perfectly remain civil and respectful. I'm sure you appreciate that too. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Sep 13, 2011 at 19:33
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Maik: they are in-topic because there are 42 of them, and only 3 have a negative vote. This means the community has de facto decided they are IT. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Sep 13, 2011 at 19:43
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Lohoris, why didn't you bring that argument in the ongoing discussion linked above? That would have been a proper way of discussing it. Though personally, I don't think that's a strong argument. However, throw it into the discussion there and see what people think. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Sep 14, 2011 at 10:25

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I don't think there is anything wrong with this behavior -- I don't even see it being as prevalent as you make it sound. You can look through Wreschnig's activity and public reputation history and it looks like he's participated in one legal question in the recent past -- and for what it's worth, I completely agree with his comment there (particular the second part about there being several related or duplicate questions already). He's also provided some of the higher-quality answers to legal questions. It doesn't appear to me that he's taking a categorically negative stand on the domain at all; rather he's participating in the community in exactly the way it's designed to be participated in.

I think the consensus from our meta thread is that legal questions aren't off-topic as a general rule, but that does not preclude individual questions from being off-topic or bad. For example, I think the first question I linked to is off-topic because the question boils down to "how closely can I copy X without being in trouble," and X just happens to be a game in this scenario, but could easily be just about anything else. There's not a lot to the question that specifically ties it to game development that the existing general questions on the subject won't cover.

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Nothing? He's free to vote and comment as he sees fit.

Edit for more:

As long as he's not being disruptive, that is. Flame wars are going to get deleted.

Also, somewhat related: Not the Place for Legal Questions

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  • \$\begingroup\$ This is not about the voting, this is about going around saying it is OT when it is not. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Sep 8, 2011 at 16:02
  • \$\begingroup\$ He even copy-pasted a generic "it's OT" comment at least once. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Sep 8, 2011 at 16:03

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