As official as they can be. One of the mods said the same thing a while back. That's how I remembered that the rules can be considered official. No idea where to find that post though or who said it. It could have come from hilariousandco or Welsh as they are the most active ones when it comes to posting and answering questions. But each case is still considered individually and the punishments differ from person to person.
The sticky thread
Unofficial list of (official) Bitcointalk.org rules, guidelines, FAQ are written by mprep so why don't check mprep's opinion on it.
Neither of whom are moderators. What you (and those 6 other users) are interpreting is an "unofficial list" maintained by me at my own initiative and on my own free time that (by it's own admission at the very top) is "meant to serve as a reference/educational/informational thread, NOT a rock solid list of rules". The entire reason as to why that thread exists is written down at the top as well (additional emphasis added by me):
Recently I noticed that a lot of new members don't know all the rules and I don't (usually) blame them since not all rules are written and even those written down can be overlooked by users who don't pay much attention to some stickies in select boards