@David Tallan, this sounds like you are prepared to tolerate vandalising the paths on the basis of some pretty dodgy assumptions. I don't buy that at all.
I'm not sure which assumptions you consider pretty dodgy. That the Camino paths are made by people and not themselves part of untouched wilderness? That people are finding rocks on the Camino rather than trekking off into wilderness to gather them? Regardless, they don't seem that dodgy to me but then again, they wouldn't, would they?
In terms of referring to moving rocks scattered on the path as "vandalism", I won't argue with your seeing it that way. It just doesn't seem to me to be vandalism to move rocks scattered in the pathway where, in my experience walking Caminos, they can be more of an obstacle than what is created with them.
Do you also see the creations below as vandalism? Or the big rock spiral before Burgos? I wonder how many do.
In terms of tolerating the practice (whether or not it is vandalism), I don't see that I have much choice. I am not in a position to put an end to it. In terms of condoning the practice, I admit that I haven't condemned it harshly in any of my posts. That isn't new. I don't think any of us condone what we consider to be vandalism on the Camino. We just sometimes disagree with what constitutes vandalism. As you mentioned before it is a spectrum. Taking graffiti as an example, For some people, all graffiti may be vandalism, for others, the artistic "Buen Camino" paintings are okay, others seem to appreciate even the graffiti additions to stop signs (judging by the way they take photos and share them). No one condones vandalism, but what one considers vandalism vs improvement can vary from person to person. For myself, previously, I haven't taken a stance on whether the rock piles are vandalism or improvement, believing very much that it is in the eye of the beholder and not having strong opinions either way. However, I will admit that, based on my personal experience walking some sections of the Camino with largish scattered rocks, I am a bit inclined to think that moving some rocks in those sections to make the path easier to traverse might be an improvement. If that makes me a bad person, so be it. Guilty as charged.
Of course, you are not obligated to buy anything.