1. Server name (.net / .org): .net
2. In-game name: Ruleryak
3. Full exact Ban Message: "Banned: Stealing Trading Items."
4. Did you read the rules ? Yes - I read the in-game rule boards and /rules
5. Why do YOU think you were banned? I'm a bit baffled - the ban text implied I robbed someone or looted an island, but I definitely didn't do either. I have crud tons of cobble and smoothstone because I work for it, not because I'm stealing it.
6. Why do you think you should be unbanned? I'd appreciate the opportunity to continue using this server because I feel I'll eventually be a useful member of the community and because I would never violate a rule on purpose.


Additional Information:
One of the first days after I joined the server I put up several trade requests exchanging stone for dirt. I received maybe 10 or so dirt blocks from two trades before someone in chat explained to me that trading dirt was illegal, but that trading for grass was ok. I've never traded for dirt after that and have always requested grass instead.

Whether this ban was regarding that or not, I felt it was worth mentioning as I wouldn't want to appear to be hiding anything or lying. If I know what happened to cause the ban I can avoid it in the future like the plague.

Thank You For Your Consideration​

 

Additional Info Part 2:
I recently expanded my island to the point where I could see another island. I used /jump to hop over and take a look, but I didn't break anything, steal anything or change anything because it wasn't my island.

 

Additional Info Part 3:
Looking over other ban appeals I see that I should mention that the ban message was not signed. I didn't see any warnings or questions in chat (although it's definitely possible that I missed them, chat goes by super fast) and was logged off with "Banned: Stealing Trading Items." appearing on the screen with no name associated.

If there's any other information I can provide please let me know. I'll stop poking this post now to give mods a chance to read it and consider the appeal.

 

Can you say about when this happened? It might help us narrow the list of mods that were online durring your incident. Most of our mods are on during "regular" times.

 

It happened about 10 minutes before my first post - roughly 1:45am Eastern Time

 

Looking around at other ban appeals it seems like it'll be a long time before someone gets a chance to decide on my case - although I see that in plenty of instances where no mod signed the ban that any available mod could review and respond so that's got me hopeful at least.

As a former mod on three different top 20 servers (as ranked by minestatus) I just thought I'd share something that's worked for all of the other servers I worked on:

When a mod bans someone, they should start the ban thread (not the banned user). That way the mod's side of the story is presented first and foremost. When I worked for FracturedMC, Aurora and then MC Tunnel we did it this way and it made it possible for admins and/or other mods to make decisions regarding bans within a few hours or at least on the same day as the ban.

I've never been on this side of the fence by the way - it's definitely different. In two years playing MineCraft I've never been banned from a server before and as mentioned above I've spent most of that time as a staff member so I suppose it's karma for anyone I banned a bit too quickly over the years. In any case I'd very highly recommend considering a policy change to how bans are handled as I feel it could really improve morale among players.

 

I like this.

Anyway, in regards to the ban appeal, this is a VERY good example of how a ban appeal should. Followed format, information is clearly represented.

What were doing at the time of the ban? This should be able to determine what's going on as well. As you are explaining it, I see no problem in unbanning you, but I would like the banning mod to chime in before a decision is made.

 

Thanks for the reply SLGMichael, I appreciate it!

I was mining cobble when the banhammer came down on me so I just assumed it was either because someone thought I was a mining bot, or because of something that had happened previously but was just discovered like if someone went through chat logs and saw the dirt trading requests I mentioned.

In any case, thanks again for the reply and I'll keep an eye on here to see if anyone can figure out who banned me and why and we'll go from there

 

I completely agree here. Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. It seems like a pair of mods tend to be on .net around those hours more often than others. Cookie and Govo. I will bring your name up to them and see what happens. I do also agree that you are a good candidate for unban. If the banning mod does not reply within 24 hours I will see about lifting this ban myself, or at least getting another mod to do it.

Timestamp: Thursday, Nov 22, 2012 - 4:00am EST

 

Thanks for the heads-up, I'll keep checking back to see what they say.

 

Xelnagahunter - it's been a day and change and it doesn't look as though Cookie or Govo are going to weigh in on this. It'd be fantastic if I could get unbanned before going into the weekend since I still need to figure out if my island was wiped (here's hoping it wasnt!) and a weekend would be a good chance to start over if necessary.

Thanks again to you and SLG for keeping me in the loop on this ticket - I appreciate the help!

 

Sorry I've not had a chance to get online since your time ran out. I will get to unban you in a few moments now.

Appeal successful. Unbaned.