Banning

[DarkeWolf]

"How lucky the offender is". LOL yeah, VERY true that, Eiries!

And sometimes with those reports, yeah... it can be the luck of the draw. Like you said, people are people and we all handle things differently.

Tho when dealing with a lot of them we do try to take as much into consideration as we can. Looking over previous posts, how long a member has been here to see how well they should be familiarized with the rules, the condition of the situation, stuff like that. Tho yeah, we all do handle things differently.

 

And yes... that is VERY true. In the majority of cases a person can try to change our minds about a ban. Providing of course, that they do so in a proper and civil manner.

 

And on that note, I might as well go over the policy regarding that again. This seems to be a good place for it, and I've seen a bit of misconception about how to go about trying to get a ban revoked.

 

The proper proceedure for trying to get a ban revoked. What to do, and what not to do.

 

** Don't create a new account and post a thread in the open forums throwing a hissy fit. Thats just one sure way to get tossed right back out again.

** Don't get on another account and PM the staffer that banned, or the admins and throw a hissy fit. Probably end up with the exact same result.

** Don't get on another account and PM any and/or staffer that you can find. What a person that was banned needs to do is get on one of the main sites... in this example dragonagenexus, and find the link for contacting the staff. http://www.dragonagenexus.com/contact.php and write a note to the admins. They'll consider the matter, discuss it with the staffer that issued the ban, and then decide whether or not the person seems sincere and willing to keep their mistakes from happening again.

In the case of a ban for Piracy, the person will need to show proof that they legally own the content which they were banned over. Or have permission to distribute said content, if that's what the situation was. And yeah... we DO contact the source/owner of the content to double check.

It is possible to sometimes find a smypathetic "ear" from another member of the staff, and they might plead your case for you. But in most cases we will not get involved in a ban that we didn't issue ourselves.

AND the moderators can not overturn a ban that was issued by a different staffer. That is stepping on each other's toes, its getting involved in a situation that we may not know the whole situation about, and could be seen as showing favoritism in some cases.

 

** Do use the contact links that are on each of the main sites.

** Do be civil and rational in your interaction with the staff in regards to trying to come back.

** Do try to avoid putting personal opinion, or quoting laws, rules, etc in your plea. That can be seen as trying to argue or dispute the ban in an unfavorable way.

** Appear to be apologetic.

**Brown-nosing doesn't hurt. :laugh:

[LHammonds]

I cannot really say much that hasn't already been said (including the very observant #2 post by Thandal).

 

Enforcement of the rules can be varied even by the same person. Catch me on a bad day and you get the full extent of what you deserve and what the rules call for...catch me on a good day, you might get let off with a warning. But that is about as far as the inconsistency goes.

 

1. Offender gets exactly what is prescribed in the rules.

2. Offender gets a lighter sentence than what is prescribed in the rules.

 

However, you will be hard-pressed to find an offender getting a harsher sentence than what is called for. If this happens, the case can get overruled by an admin...but I can count on my left hand how many times that has happened since I've been here.

 

LHammonds

[Aurielius]

I have read through this thread with interest and would like to thank Granny for starting it up. To the staff that have elucidated their rational for enforcement, thank you it was very illuminating. One thing that continually amazes me is the admitted software pirates acting chagrined when banned, aside from the sheer idiocy of admitting to a felony in public but the feigned astonishment at the resultant bans is almost comical. Enforcing the rules is never and easy or popular task and when done with balance and a sense of fair play is laudable. I am not kissing up to the mighty moderators but expressing appreciation for doing a tedious job which is not always easy. Rank may have it's privileges but it also carries with it duties as well, the latter generally outweighs the former.