Robert, I was going to bring this up again as the "no scripts" rule as I have defined it, being a knee jerk reaction on my part, went well beyond the intended rule on custom scripting. I am known to take something and just run with it past the point of sanity.
As most python apps are simply a collection of scripts, same with bashburn, it is ridiculous to deny such just because they fall under the category of scripts. So here is what I think is the spirit of the original plan.
Scripts that are a custom version of tce-load, uninstallers/upgraders, icon/menu manipulation tools, those belong in programming and scripting. Submitting such will result in a recommendation to post in programming and scripting.
Scripts like python apps, bashburn, Edna music server, and such are perfectly ok in the repo.
I personally don't mind fetch and install scripts, if they are done with care, have been tested, and they "just work". There are examples in the scripting section. For those who are not well experienced in them, honing them in programming and scripting would be most beneficial. They should run as unpriviledged user, do all their work in a temporary directory in /tmp, and output their extension to the tce directory. In other words, they do not mess with any other part of the filesystem. I don't like to see a fetch and install script write to /home where data resides. There are not many fetch and install scripts, most are mine, and I can easily spot if one is doing something it shouldn't.
So in a nutshell, known scripted apps are acceptable. Custom utilities belong in programming and scripting. Mature fetch/install scripts can go in the repo, as I can easily spot if they are sane.