The issue with a meticulous and hardline standard for "a rule from the unofficial list of official Bitcointalk rules" (and one that requires subjective judgement no less) is exactly that - it's an unofficial attempt at compiling common practices across several boards and over a dozen different moderators. What one moderator deems as an ad, another might consider as a regular post. Me trying to really nail down what
exactly is and what isn't an ad will only reflect my own policy, which will give a false impression of clarity and a lot hurt feelings when it inevitably gets enforced on a post that doesn't match the description.
This issue ties into the fact that any attempt to definitively codify rules that require substantial subjective interpretation is going to be going against how theymos wants the forum to be moderated:
I actively disbelieve in the idea of a "rule of law" where hard rules exist and are strictly applied across the board as if we're all robots. Every case should be considered individually in the context of the forum's mission.
- I don't believe in creating definitive rule lists.
Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is up for you to decide.