Quote:
Originally Posted by Vantek
What's wrong is that you would be expecting people to refrain from making more money simply because of what they sense to be a completely arbitrary rule. It is not going to work.
So the ethics line is right where people's natural, self-interested behavior puts it? Anything that people tend to do is ethical? Or does enforceability enter into it too, so that anything that people tend to do that you can't stop them from doing is ethical?
I posited above a test for for when something is not ethical — when it is against the rules, is harmful to others, and is not expected, it is unethical. But I submit that the inverse is not true, and that in fact in any voluntary context, intentionally violating any term to which you willingly agreed, without some change in the circumstances from the time you agreed to it, is unethical.
And yes, that means that if the T&Cs ban Sharkscope or calculators or HUDs, I believe using them is unethical. If it is against the site's rules, it is cheating.
To draw the line anywhere else raises the slippery slope argument — but it can all be avoided if we acknowledge that breaking the rules is cheating. yes, that means most poker players are cheaters, but frankly I think we knew that anyway. People cheat. People behave unethically — in fact, people
usually behave unethically.
Back to your response: the question was what was ethical, and you responded regarding what was some combination of normal and enforceable. Are you sure that's where you want to put the line?