Banning links to pirated copies of games does nothing, since people already know where to go to get things like that. A few minutes of googling will easily bring you to the proper torrent. You're right that it is akin to banning talk of drugs. But at the same time, protecting these threads is akin to parking your patrol car in front of a crackhouse, and making sure everybody knows the local drug kingpin is not to be touched. The bottom line is that somebody on the mod team  is pirating games using an emulator, and doesn't like me talking about it. Just like how somebody on our hypothetical police force  is either using drugs or taking bribes. 

That would imply that Nintendo can't issue cease and desist orders on free fan games.

But they can.

They're letting you talk about it right here...

None of that takes away from the fact that copyright infringement is illegal. Your argument was that since digital piracy doesn't deal in physical goods it isn't theft. I countered that with the example that copyright infringement is still theft, even though it doesn't deal in physical goods. 

And the law does apply to personal use. ISPs are required by law to shut down your internet if they discover you are using it to pirate media. Napster was shut down due to contributory infringement. In the same sense, RPCS3 and Cemu should be shut down for contributory infringement. Especially since like Napster, they have made monetary gains by facilitating piracy. 

http://www.murdoch.edu.au/elaw/issues/v11n1/douglas111.html

Right, in a different thread. Just the same as if a cop is ok with you firing your gun while hunting, but not ok with you using it to kill the local drug dealer. 

So what's the stance now on pirating old games when they're available to buy again?

I've seen a lot of arguments saying it's ok to pirate old games, to preserve them etc. However with all the classic/mini consoles coming out now, GOG adding more and more classics, does that argument still hold any water? Star fox 2 for example, time to put the download to rest? Or is the argument now, it's too hard to get, can't wait until I find one in a shop, must pirate now. Or it's not good enough, I want it on the convenience of my pc in 4K with mustaches drawn on all the characters.

Which brings up the ethics of mods. Sure you can do whatever you want to your software in your own privacy. Yet publishing videos of modded games, is that ethical? I would be upset too if somebody published a video and mods if I made a game and all the characters were replaced with questionable stuff. To what extent should an artist's creation be protected.

Emulation is not illegal. Yet using someone else's work to show off how 'clever' you are modifying it, is. Of course it's mostly harmless, and making something yourself is hard work.

I'd say that actually makes a lot of sense, allowing it for hunting but not to kill local drug dealers.

Normally that sort of thing would make sense. But when it's clear that the cops are crooked, and just want to keep the drug dealer in bussiness, we have a problem. 

The problem I have is that the mods are going out of their way to protect pirates to such an extent that it's clear they are crooked. I should be able to protest post in any threads concerning the emulation of BotW, or Persona 5 on PC. What the mods are doing right now is akin to telling abortion critics that they can't protest in front of or near an abortion clinic. Making a rule that you can't talk about either of those games in emulation threads does step on the toes of free speech. But making rules that you can't talk about piracy in emulation threads steps on the toes of free speech just as much. 

The hands off approach they took before was fine. Now that Miguel has gone ahead and made rules that people can't say specific things in emulation threads, he's favoring pirates. 

Virtual consoleis piracy, no matte rhow you look at it?

I think you have no idea what emulation really involves.

Same with the album I bought this morning.  Ptrobably a drug-induced halucination.