I'd argue theta the most important thing is to create a solid community rather than live in fear of GW's legal team.
If GW's legal team think that what's being posted fails to comply with their IP policy, then there is no solid community; in fact there is no community at all, as they just ask the host to pull the plug if the site owner refuses to comply to the letter with a cease and desist order. Does that explain why we take the stance that we do?
As Changeyname points out above, that is a real possibility based on what they say on page three, so again, I have to say that the risk is too high. Yes, we probably play it soo safe, but we're hardly 'waiting to pounce' as you put it
. Indeed my favourite days on the forum are when nobody posts excessive stats, so that I don't have to do any editing
.
I also agree that in generally you can just use good language to make your point in a discussion, but what if the discussion is about the stats?
Math hammer threads would be alot clearer if the poster could actually post what he means instead of saying "An autocannon str weapon VS a target with an guard toughness and a TEQ save plus an iron halo like invulnerable save."
Sure most of use know what I was saying above but it would have been alot clearer if I'd been able to just use the four numbers that I wanted to use.
There's nothing wrong with posting stats when they are abstract, and do not refer to any named model, or unit.
An example:
[insert number of hits here] S4 vs MEQ [insert your wound percentage results here]
[insert number of hits here] S4 vs TEQ [insert your wound percentage results here]
This would be if you wanted to assess the impact of S4 hits in general (i.e. not attributed to any unit or weapon) against MEQ/TEQ units.
If you want to used named weapons:
Autocannon: Average hits = x, average wounds vs GEQ =, average wounds vs MEQ =, average wound vs TEQ =
That's simple, and conveys the point, without using any stats about the Autocannon at all.
Also I don't see why people should always have their codex's to hand to be able to take part in such discussions, GW's policy doesn't seem to prohibit the posting of stats just the reproduction of their physical property, there must be a way to get a clear answer on this, perhaps looking at the policy's of other forums and seeing where they draw the line.
It's easy to remember most commonly used stats without having to keep looking at the codex
.
I've already mentioned that other fora have the same rule regarding posting stat lines/points costs that Arquarian has quoted from our rules. That is, however, not a guide for us. As a private forum, the rules are determined by the site owner, not based on what other fora do, so there's always going to be some level of variance regarding the rules.
As I say, you're welcome to e-mail GW to ask for clarity, but I'm dubious as to how much you'll get.
I think that Changeyname's post covers everything else.