Input methods are totally unrelated to the point. HOTAS is supported directly by the game. Same with head tracking and VR. Personal logs of a pilot's exploits, whether electronic or pen/paper, are just an aide memoire. They aren't providing the user with any information that his/her in-game character would not have access to in the ED galaxy. None of that is gaining an unfair advantage IMO. Crowdsourced information, on the other hand, is, so it's cheating.
The information was gathered by in-game characters, using the tools available in-game, and it is freely available to any player who are willing to waste his leisure time reinventing the wheel over and over.
Besides, by your own definition, if you ever read a guide that's not in-game (or written/created by FD), then you are a cheater as well.
That interesting little nugget of information that was discovered and shared by someone else in the forums? Yep, that's cheating too. Shame on you.
...How ludicrous is that notion?
Talking about real-world examples is missing the point. ED is a game, presenting a fictional setting.
The way I see it, talking about real-world examples puts this "issue" in a more clear perspective, one that is really hard for you to refute, that's all.
And so what that it's a fictional setting? Our characters are still human. Their motivations are pretty much the same they were throughout history.
Profit. War. Power. Knowledge. Beer.
Building upon collective effort is what made humanity possible in the first place. Claiming that people should only use information they gathered themselves goes against human nature in every conceivable level. The fact that our characters live in a fictional setting doesn't mean they should learn exclusively through first-hand experimentation.
* I can't handle a soldering iron, yet here I am, using a box of electronic circuitry to tell you why I think you're wrong.
* Mother gaia gave me plenty of manly body hair, yet I still cover my shame with clothing made in a country I couldn't even point in a map, by people I will never meet in my lifetime.
* If I ever become sick, I will take medicine that I would never be able to make myself, just so I don't die of diarrhea.
And so does you.
Could you please provide a single good reason why our human characters should behave so differently than our human selves?
The characters reside within it's confines. You either play within the limitations and the fiction that the game consists of, or you don't, and utilise anything you can to gain an upper hand. From that POV, using stuff that shouldn't be available to your character is essentially cheating - be it via a telepathic link to thousands of other people via data/comms tools that aren't provided directly by the game, or via magic unkillable hull/shields, fuel that never runs out, or weapons with multiplied damage.
That's a very unique view of the matter, and it's really shallow. If it had any legs to stand on, you woudn't be grasping at straws in order to stablish a flimsy link with real cheats.
Putting shared trading data in the same bag as a hacking tool made with the explicit goal of circumventing the game mechanisms is a really weak argument.
Saying they are the same thing doesn't make it so, and an opinion devoid of compelling arguments is just that: a matter of personal preference.
In the scope of a debate, they don't carry more weight than the average bag of hot air.
But all that is beside the point, really.
If there's one insight I can offer you, it's this:
Your approval or respect means nothing, nada, ZERO for anyone outside your immediate circle of relations.
People don't play games to placate the faulty reasoning of self-righteous strangers. They play games for fun.
And while you are pointing fingers at other people and making baseless accusations, they are pointing their fingers at you and laughing theirs socks off.
So let's not blow it out of proportion, aye?
How about we just have fun with the game and let other people alone, eh?
