Now, there's nothing better than registering just to give a statement on this:
Stop making such a big deal out of this.
Have you looked out of your window and noticed the sky hasn't turned red yet and pigs haven't started dropping from the clouds?
Yeah. They are tool-assisted speedruns. Notice how there are the words "tool assisted" and "speedrun" in the name, not however the words "possible on a real console". I could right now, fire up SNES9X, load Super Mario World and make a TAS. It won't break any records on this side, but it'll be a speedrun, and a tool-assisted one at that. Requirements are met, problem solved.
If you rephrase the description from "possible on a real console" to "possible on [INSERT EMULATOR HERE]", all your issues are solved, you can still compare your speeds and you can compare various emulator versions to see which one yields the fastest result.
Keep in mind that you couldn't replicate TASs on a console anyway. You can't just reprogram the system or the game to provide the input by itself because then, it wouldn't be a "real console/game" anymore. The only option left then would be to create a mechanical device to provide the input on a controller. But this will never be accurate either.
So, as a whole, just keep everything like it is and adjust the definition accordingly if you feel this is neccesary. I, on the other hand, still look forward to see PS2 speedrunning become possible, DOS speedrunning to become possible, GC/Wii speedrunning to become possible, etc. etc. etc., and it would be very disappointing to see all that fade to nothingness because somebody felt the need to cause some existential drama.
At the very least, keep the video archives because TASs, if they may not be accurate enough for some people, are entertaining as all hell.
tl;dr - too much drama, keep the site open.
Thanks,
-scrimpeh
