I have played some exotic poker games in my day, (jokers and/or 1eyed royals and/or duces wild etc)
but you knew the rules before the deal and you did not have to play if you did not like them.  The rules on shorting have been revised about as often as price changes by Walmart, but well after many of the hands have been dealt.  This is the latest from our ever watchful SEC :

http://www.sec.gov/rules/final/2008/34-58773.pdf

I especially liked the phase "interim final temporary rule"   - classic government speak

I tried to short twice today.  First time, shares were not available.  Second time, I was able to correct my error by canceling the order before it was filled. 

Wow, that jumps off the page.  Regulatory agencies speaking in contradictions doesn't build my confidence!

Here are the official comments.

http://www.sec.gov/comments/s7-19-07/s71907.shtml

It is not so bad that they change the rules every fifteen minutes. What really tics me off is they give out that inside information to the banks and their buddies to make a killing in the market. That is illegal and they continue to do it. The market has become such a joke it is not even funny. I still play even though I would be better off betting championship wrestling but only with small amounts of cash. This has spilled over into other things like Oil and two weeks ago the Euro gained 5 cents against the Yen in 8 hours only to come back to where it started 16 hours later. Every single market has been affected by these guys they leave no stone unturned. Like the article that trade king posted on two trillion dollars of value the market had that disappeared. The fact that it did not disappear because it was never there. The truth is that this is not real is so true in so many ways that the article does not even touch on. That is the part people do not get!