SE's most difinitive statement yet on parsers

[Mcshiggs]

So you knew the other guy was saying, "the act of parsing" yet you kept going on about "third party programs". So you're both at fault for not stopping.

Arguing for the sake of argument? Sounds like it, eh?

There were more than me and one other person in the exchanges, one was saying the act of parsing, another was saying that the tools were ok, because they believe that parsers themselves are ok, and the fact that they are a parser outweighs the fact that they are third party programs. Also this whole thread is about parsing via third party programs, not the act of parsing all together.

[Tashigi]

There were more than me and one other person in the exchanges, one was saying the act of parsing, the other was saying that the tools were ok, because they believe that parsers themselves are ok, and the fact that they are a parser outweighs the fact that they are third party programs. Also this whole thread is about parsing via third party programs, not the act of parsing all together.

It is significant to differentiate them.
The act of parsing alone could never be any sort of cheating; only a fool would believe otherwise.
Even the tools/third party software isn't cheating; it's against the TOS, but SE chose to call it cheating (when under use as a third party software), even though realistically, it isn't. It's just what they and a few others here, chose to call it, to label it a negative thing.

It's very obvious that those calling it a cheat have no idea what they're babbling about.
Look at those responses, saying how parsing doesn't really give you an advantage, then followed by labeling it as cheating. If cheating is the act of gaining the upper hand or bypassing some sort of mechanic, and parsing is being labeled as cheating, then they should also admit that parsing provives an advantage. (Even though realistically, this is not true).
Yet, that's not what's happening. So many hypocrits.

Parsing doesn't give you an advantage per say. It does make it a lot easier than grabbing a calculator/pen/paper and adding it up yourself.
So basically, it just saves you time in one sense.
Another is identifying problems with your party members and aiding them. Particularly those in statics; where everyone has to hold their own weight. (Obviously Gorgomon is now going to throw a fit about how this is only used to harrass people or something stupid).

Now, if we were talking about teleport bots, that'd be a different story.