As long as it ain't the rap version ...

I know perfectly well that the admins have to be cautious about these forums being used as a tool as piracy. But I have two concerns:

By having a written abandonware rule that pretty much says "it's okay, but we may take these actions if we're caught". The admins may make themselves more liable for the actions of members of these forums. After all, they are giving the go-ahead to break the law under certain conditions. I'm fairly certain that they don't have the authority to do this.

The second reason is that it may bring in a new group of users who think that pirating software is okay, and who would eagerly use these forums to facilitate it. This could bring more undesired attention to these forums. At the moment, most of the discussion about obtaining abandonware is veiled in a language of obscurity, so the only way that you will find out about it is if you hang around and socialize a bit.

I guess the reason why I'm concerned about the second point is because I view this as being a place for socializing, and would not want to see it being turned into a file swapping joint because of the legal implications.