First off, I am not trying to start an argument or flame war here. As far as I am aware, discussion of other online game stores has never been disallowed on the GOG forum; however, with the recent locking of the Zoom Platform thread, I am confused and would like some clarification:

1. Is it now prohibited to talk about other game stores on the GOG forum?
2. If so, I assume that will also apply to any discussions/mention of Steam, Epic and other stores as well (for consistency)?
3. If not, to what extent are we allowed to discuss other stores, without it veering into 'advertising'. Where is the line there?

Again, I am not trying to start an argument and I will not reply to any posts that intend to be rude or flaming. I am merely asking for clarification of the forum rules.

I would very much appreciate some clarification on this from a GOG staff member.

Perhaps you should address this to a moderator or GOG staff in PM to get your answers. I did when asking about my Steam games giveaway (not allowed) specifically because of the new rules/enforcement of the rules.

Oh, and stop shilling for your store. We get it, they made you important on their discord and you love them for it. Literally no one else cares about them.

Yeah, sure.

I think it would be beneficial for everyone to see a clarification of: what actually are the rules here?

Then share what they tell you. Have the discussion in private and boil it down. Public isn't the place to discuss rule issues that you're the only one breaking. then you get to ask your questions and get your clarification which you can share or not, up to you.

I honestly find it a conflict of interests for a community admin from another store to "organize" a boycott on here. It is entirely politically motivated and is nothing but an advertisement for another platform. To publicly participate, sure, but to be a driving force behind such, GOG could potentially have legal action against Zoom-Platform for industrial sabotage by sending their not-quite-employees here to damage GOG's brand and sales.

Public isn't the place to ask for a clarification of the rules on a public forum? Ok ... I am not going to derail this thread with further discussion of this, but I find this comment highly dishonest. The boycott thread was started long before I had even heard of Zoom Platform. Most people that signed up did so within the first 3 months after the Devotion incident, which was before I started being a regular Zoom customer.

No, public isn't the place to have a DISCUSSION about your personal disagreement with the rules. You're the only one advertising other stores here that has an issue with not being able to advertise other stores here. This isn't a public problem. It's a YOU problem. So you solve it by asking for clarification. If you think it's important enough after you get your clarification, you can ask the staff member tyo make a statement publicly, or you can post the clarification yourself. Obviously, you've never worked somewhere wherein you had a problem. You don't stand up and say "Oh yeah, just what are the rules then?" You go talk to your manager or HR in private, sort it out and then a public announcement to the workplace is made.

I think talking about one particular should be at this point because it's the only one making commotion.

It's only inflammatory to you because I call you on your bullshit. It is in no way disingenuous to suggest that you ask a mod in private to clarify a rule that you're the only one who can't seem to follow.

Painfully obvious that talking about other game stores is now prohibited because of GOG's recent poor financial reports. Though prohibiting talk of other game stores, lagging behind in game updates, and poor customer service will only make things worse for GOG.

I highly doubt it's prohibited to talk of other stores. Actually people complain or advocate steam a lot from what i've seen in the last few years.

No, the impression i got from the admin post for the Zoom thread was it was a big headache and they wanted to just end it. Besides it seemed to have devolved from civilized banter, at which point it has little value.

https://www.gog.com/forum/general/zoom_platform/post843

https://support.gog.com/hc/en-us/articles/115001814049-Forum-Code-of-Conduct?_ga=2.73729234.1762630143.1662211741-1819038266.1662211741

As you are very well aware.
I think it's time that GOG makes use of their domiciliary rights, when it comes to you and your threads.

There is a point for moderation. At one ponit, why it should be here... Steam, EGS, ZOOM... But first they should close more offtopic threads here {hey who what listen\watch\doing\lets do some forum games}.

This ones thread for free releases giveaways and other stores - at least they about gaming.

The ZOOM Platform thread was sabotaged, and a MOD fell for that hook, line & sinker.

But it is hard to blame them, as they were in a kind of no win situation, a situation that had gotten out of control.

That said, the links that the MOD were referring to certainly weren't recent, so that was disingenuous of them, especially as all of us who cared about that thread, have been deliberately avoiding posting links since GOG notified their new intent about such. And it's not like that thread was hidden away, it was in plain sight, and left alone by mods until now.

As is often the case, the Bully Brigade win.
It could have been a mature discussion, but it wasn't.
The baggage should have been left on Discord.
The Zoom Platform thread was for those of us who cared about the game situation there and supporting another DRM-Free game store, but not at GOGs diminishment or loss, certainly not in my case.

GOG in any case could just as easily edit and remove offending links in a thread, rather than locking a thread because some numskull posted a link to a game at another store.