Moderation:
I have given this situation a lot of thought, and acting on my own initiative and with no particular heed to any opinion I have seen, I have decided the following:
1. Simter's warning stands. I firmly believe that he began this topic in bad faith and was trying to stir up a hornet's nest.
2. Just because Simter himself may have done this in bad faith does not mean the entirety of the conversation was continued in the same manner. As such, I am going to unlock it. If you folks want to discuss skype 7, skype 8 and the differences between them, in a civil and non-pushy manner, I invite you to do so.
3. I reserve the right to come back in here and drop the hammer if it starts to flare or if users begin growing upset at the way this subject is being handled.
This bears explanation, so here goes.
You have a right to use any program you wish, or any setup you wish, so long as nobody else is getting hurt.
Nobody has the right to tell you that you must change. Nobody has the right to try and make you feel guilty for this choice if it is not causing demonstrable harm. If anyone does these things, here or elsewhere, now or later, the moderation team will get involved.
Arguments, posts and points made in clearly bad faith will be dealt with swiftly. Please do not make me regret this decision.
It is not my intent to have punished the community for the actions of a wayward few, and I still do not believe that closing the topic was a mistake. It was a firm, quick decision which I felt, in the moment, needed to be done. Now that the surrounding ethics have been discussed to death, however, it is my fervent hope that the community will treat the situation with far more respect than the original topic creator saw fit to show. If that is done, I see no reason why productive discussion should not continue.
Check out my Manamon text walkthrough at the following link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/z8ls3rc3f4mkb … n.txt?dl=1