LadyMilla Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 83Willow banned. Reason for banning: 83Willow created a number of sock-puppet accounts to endorse and promote her own images and mods. These other accounts MasterLou, Kuuni, Lilly8, Niffi4 and GreenCrab have also been banned. It is never a pleasant job to ban a prolific member of the community, however no matter how much you contribute to the modding scene, you are still expected to play by the rules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyMilla Posted August 16, 2012 Author Share Posted August 16, 2012 Case:In addition to her primary account, 83Willow created several secondary accounts (so called sock-puppet accounts) and she used them to comment on, and give endorsements to images/mods, including her own uploads. This is a serious violation of our Terms of Service, and when her offense was discovered, she was banned in accordance with our rules. "Members are only allowed to be in possession of one account on the site. Members caught using more than one account will be regarded as attempting to exploit or circumvent features on the site and will have both their accounts banned." Unban appeal:Her unban appeal with her apology and admission of wrongdoing was received on August 11, 2012. After much deliberation, the staff voted to apply these sanctions against her account: - a 60-day fixed-term ban;- all of her uploaded images will be removed.- for the term of her ban, her mods will be hidden from public view.- 2 strikes will be issued upon her account being unbanned after the 60 day ban period is over. Explanation:When we decided not to hand out a permanent ban, we tried to take a look at the wider picture and choose what was the best for the community in the long run. Hopefully, this 60-day ban will be enough to drive our message home: deliberate violation of our rules, even by popular mod authors, will not be tolerated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark0ne Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 To further compound the explanation already provided by LadyMilla I want to express that we take this issue seriously. By deliberately trying to fiddle the endorsement numbers to make your files and images look more popular you demean the site, our rules and most of all yourself. What was perplexing to us as staff was that 83willow's files and images were already popular and obviously had a regular following of users so there was absolutely no need for this to happen at all. It highlights a bad culture among a minority of both image and file authors on these sites that put too much stock in the amount of endorsements they receive, and the popularity they gain here, to the detriment of their work and their attitude while here. These authors are quite easily recognisable and, frankly, I think it's very sad. In both meanings of the word. Ordinarily users caught doing this are banned outright and I care very little for what they have to say on the matter. You do this, you're out. However, 83willow has provided support and help to many users of this site above and beyond the norm and as such, we felt this was something worth holding on to despite the horrible disregard for our rules. We could not let this go unpunished, but definitely feel that 83willow has done enough within this community to warrant a second chance. In closing, I will warn other users who are doing this (as I'm sure there are others) that we are upgrading our systems to help combat this better. You will be caught, and you will be banned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyMilla Posted October 10, 2012 Author Share Posted October 10, 2012 83Willow's account has been reinstated, and two strikes have been issued in accordance with the staff's decision. Uploaded mods will be unhidden. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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