user2178: I posted links to Baka-updates and mangaupdates earlier and the links were removed with the reason being it was a link to an illegal fan sub / scanlations site. However Bakaupdates is neither a fan sub group or a scans group. They are simply just an updates website. There is actually nothing illegal about that website. They provide the info for the latest releases as well as the info for who subbed / translated them.
With that said, is there also a major difference between writing the name of the site and then adding the .com at the end to make it a link?

user24: I don't think these should have been removed, as you're right that it only tracks edits and doesn't contain any links to the content (even if it did, it's debatable whether it should be removed). I've rolled back the edits. We're in the midst of a discussion regarding what content is acceptable to link to, mostly in chat. When there is a consensus you can expect a new meta post announcing this and also the decision to be added to the help center. Until then, apologies for the confusion, but it'll probably continue to be a bit confusing until we have a clear consensus.
As a note, our policy is mostly about maintaining a professional image, not copyright concerns. Copyright is handled by Stack Exchange directly, and the community here never gets involved. Our goal in limiting the discussion of fansubs/scanalations is to maintain a professional image, but the boundaries of that are still rather rough.
In fact, we discussed this particular answer. The conversation begins here but got somewhat sidetracked. However, I think everyone agreed in the end that there was nothing wrong with these links.

2178: <p>I posted links to Baka-updates and mangaupdates earlier and the links were removed with the reason being it was a link to an illegal fan sub / scanlations site. However Bakaupdates is neither a fan sub group or a scans group. They are simply just an updates website. There is actually nothing illegal about that website. They provide the info for the latest releases as well as the info for who subbed / translated them.</p>

<p>With that said, is there also a major difference between writing the name of the site and then adding the .com at the end to make it a link?</p>
 24: <p>I don't think these should have been removed, as you're right that it only tracks edits and doesn't contain any links to the content (even if it did, it's debatable whether it should be removed). I've rolled back the edits. We're in the midst of a discussion regarding what content is acceptable to link to, mostly in <a href="http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/6697/anime-and-manga">chat</a>. When there is a consensus you can expect a new meta post announcing this and also the decision to be added to the <a href="https://anime.stackexchange.com/help">help center</a>. Until then, apologies for the confusion, but it'll probably continue to be a bit confusing until we have a clear consensus.</p>

<p>As a note, our policy is mostly about maintaining a professional image, not copyright concerns. Copyright is handled by Stack Exchange directly, and the community here never gets involved. Our goal in limiting the discussion of fansubs/scanalations is to maintain a professional image, but the boundaries of that are still rather rough.</p>

<p>In fact, we discussed this particular answer. The conversation begins <a href="http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/10704108#10704108">here</a> but got somewhat sidetracked. However, I think everyone agreed in the end that there was nothing wrong with these links.</p>
