>I get the impression you are a moderator here.
No, just a concerned citizen.
>then it should be stated in the rules or guidelines.
That's just it, we don't force you to stick to the standard, but it is encouraged unless there is a good reason to stray. For example, if someone asks how to clear the screen in Linux, we'll go through the whole row about whether clearing the screen is necessary, the disadvantages, and that there's no portable way to do it. However, despite these warnings, we will still provide a non-portable solution because we have enough information to do so. Putting a global ban on all things non-standard is just plain dumb, as you clearly understand.
>It seems every time anyone, including me, mentions something
>that is not standard C on this board, they get flamed for it, often by you.
Often by me? Should I assume that you've been lurking for several years and keeping count? Seriously, nobody is flamed for talking about non-standard features. They may be corrected in such a way that could be construed as flaming, but the only real flames come when someone (such as yourself) encourages a feature that works for them, but breaks in a gloriously hideous manner just about everywhere else (such as fflush ( stdin )).
>you need to widen your perspective and BACK OFF
I could say the same about you.
>If you limit yourself to standard C only, your programs are not going to be very interesting (or marketable).
If you're learning C, then the worst thing you could do is learn an implementation rather than the language proper. And as for your general statement about standard C being useless, I write programs every day that conform to the standard that are terribly interesting, and I make a good living doing it.