Request for TOS Clarification: "Third Party Programs"

[theothersteve7]

I apologize if this has been addressed, but I've heard several conflicting reports at this point and it's really getting on my nerves.

Today, this was posted:

We would like to remind players that using third-party programs, parsers, or other tools to conduct actions players would not normally be able to do in the game is a violation of the Terms of Service, and will be dealt with strict disciplinary action.

This is in direct conflict with multiple previous statements, and I assume that's just because of imprecise language.

This post by Hvinire in November explicitly allows VPN tunneling software and implicitly allows programs that do not alter player input.

The TOS explicitly allow the use of videos and music. This would obviously be impossible without third party video recording software.

I have heard that FFXIV-App, for example, has been explicitly allowed despite that it's a parser. I've also heard that parsers are explicitly not allowed. Finally, I've heard repeatedly that GMs haven't really been given a straight answer regarding this, and they're as much in the dark as the playerbase.

How about copying your battle log to the clipboard, pasting it into a text file, and then running scripts on it? That's about as malicious as reading, but I could throw together such a "parser" in minutes with PowerShell, for instance.

Can we please get some clarification? To my knowledge, thus far nobody has been banned for using a parser.