Banned without confrontation

Ban Appeals & Misconduct Misconduct Reports
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Offender’s Name: Golden
Description of the offense:Uncalled for ban
Server misconduct occurred on: 08/31/2020
Approximate time and date the offense occurred: 2106 CST
Were there admins online? If yes which ones? N/A

Summery:

I, Helios, had just gotten a new motherboard and had to reset my PC. Due to this I had to reinstall TeamSpeak and everything and I joined the NAK teamspeak to test my stuff out real quick (it being the only working server I have right now) and when I joined I noticed my permissions were gone and I thought it was a bug on my end. I then also got a “Name Mismatch” from Swerlys. There I was most definitely confused considering I have been playing on NAK for a couple years now. I had Private and the Military Recognition tag (Permissions) but for some reason they were gone. I then rejoined to see if it was anything on my end, no change and I got another “Name mismatch” from Golden. I then became more confused and tried to message him (or anyone for that matter) and had no luck. Still confused about the situation I restarted my TeamSpeak and figured I would try one more time (Before anyone asks, I just reset my computer. I do not have Arma 3 installed yet at that time, however my plan was to install it and try asking via in-game if all else failed). I then almost immediately get banned from the server for “Spam Joining” by golden, without any confrontation or ask of what was going on. After the 5 minutes and after several attempts of trying to contact someone, I proceeded to rejoin the server and try to get help from an admin, having a friend of mine join to hopefully help me get someone. I will say that I was a bit upset and lost my temper within the process of all this, due to the irritation of all this happening and no explanation of what was going on. Golden pulled me to the Help channel along with Swerlys and Lark (My friend) and when I asked for a higher admin he told me that he wasn’t going to get one (First mistake, I believe that if you are having an issue with an admin, you should be allowed to ask for a higher admin or as such to prevent further disruption and conflict). When I confronted him on my issue and asked him why he banned me, he stated his reason of me continuously joining, I (yes, angerly and I apologize for that, but his attitude wasn’t helping me calm down) then questioned him on why he didn’t try to address me personally on the issue, and attempted explain my circumstance of not having Arma 3 installed and that my PC was reset and everything and that I had lost my permissions, and he cut me off and stated that he “did not have the patience for this” and that he (from what it sounded like) was going to ban me again (Second mistake, if you are going to allow personal feelings or temper get in the way of actually helping someone, definitely not admin material imo. Disrespecting people and expecting respect because you are an admin is not how it works). I eventually gave up, trying to prevent me from getting banned and told him that I would figure it out on my own, since he was clearly unwilling to help me. I will admit that I was in the wrong a bit to lose my temper, but his overall behavior was unprofessional and is a major lead to my behavior.

I am aware of the most basic rules, and I want to state this: I have been a community owner for 10 years, and have done administration on multiple games and servers for even longer. We all make mistakes, but there are limits. And one of them is this; Just because you are an admin, doesn’t mean you are always right. And that is the message I got from that confrontation from him. That he was in the right and that I need to “Shut up and deal with it or get banned” and I am sorry, but that is (imo) abusive admin behavior. And if no negative action is taken upon him, I at least request that he is spoken to. Because that kind of behavior can cause problems down the road. The “I don’t have patience for this” is by far the most unacceptable statement to make as an admin. And I am sorry, but that is a fact. You NEED patience to be an admin. Your job is to literally manage the server and help people. That is clearly not his intentions from the actions I witnessed today.

I have been with this community on and off for 2 years now, and love y’all and would hate to see my time here end on bad terms on any occasion, especially because of one man. Hopefully there can be some way to resolve this, thank you.

–Helios

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I know it is bad practice to post on my own report but I wanted to point out some inaccuracies:

  1. You came into the channel screaming and yelling something along the lines of how dare you ban me? I was heated but you most certainly came in looking for a fight.
  2. Actually I said you wouldn’t get a higher admin unless you wanted to wait for one because I was the highest admin on. At no point did I say you weren’t going to get one.
  3. This is the first time you have mentioned you did a TeamSpeak reinstall and just like I said, a reinstall or pc rebuild will wipe your TS permissions.
  4. I also stated I wasn’t going to give you TeamSpeak permissions if you aren’t on our game servers. Why do you need our TeamSpeak if you aren’t on our servers?

I have been a part of this community for 4 years and I’ve never had someone as rude and abusive as you.
I have never had to take that much abuse. In 4 years…

At this point please allow Chiefs of Staff to weigh in on our positions and provide feedback.

Everything else is in my notes/ban notes

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  1. It is not “Bad practice”, imo you have all right to defend yourself, if thats what you call it.

  2. I did not “come in screaming”. Literally the first thing I said was “Oh no, I would like to speak to a higher admin to prevent a fight, because I am pretty upset about what just happened”.

  3. After that you did INDEED state “Not getting one”.

  4. First time mentioning TeamSpeak reinstall?? I literally said I reset my computer FOUR times, and stated that I reinstalled steam and was making sure my stuff worked. I also told you (when you were discussing that I needed to go into the game and ask for my permissions back) that I didn’t have Arma 3 installed (directly after stating yet again that I had reset my computer; which with common sense CLEARLY means that everything was reinstallled) and would try to figure it out, since you clearly didn’t want to help me.

Just something to keep in mind, it doesn’t matter how long you have been with this community. That behavior was uncalled for and I definitely didn’t deserve it. I didn’t “abuse” you. Disrespectful? yes, but you lead it to that by disrespecting me. I don’t tolerate bullies or rude people. And the moment you attack me like you did, is the moment you lose my respect. You can ask anyone I know, I am a straight forward person and very respectful. I joined this community because I used to be in the Army and I loved doing Field shit, and I love flying and Playing arma in general. I have NEVER had a problem with ANYONE until now. And I am almost offended that this happened.

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I have spoken to both Swerlys and Golden. I agree that they should have poked you with our default Name Mismatch message when you connected to the TS server without being in-game, but other than that they followed our rules as written.

There is nothing stopping a player from using the same name as another player. You connected with a new TS ID, so the only way that we could verify that you were who you claim to be, is to require you to be on one of our game servers before you receive permissions. When you connect multiple times without joining our game server, your actions appear to be of someone trying to gain access to the server with ulterior motives.

The admins followed the rules as they are written.

"RULE #8) NAMES USED IN TEAMSPEAK MUST MATCH YOUR IN-GAME PROFILE NAME.
1st Offense: Written warning.
2nd Offense: Kick from the server.
3rd Offense: 1-day ban.

Make sure that your TeamSpeak nickname matches your in-game name to prevent accidental kicks, and to ensure that you earn appropriate ranks for your hours played. The exception to this rule is a rank before your name or a unit name after your name in square brackets. Examples: In-game name VileAce; acceptable TeamSpeak names. Lt. Colonel VileAce; VileAce [NAK Cmd]; Lt. Colonel VileAce [NAK Cmd]. Additional information appended to a name, such as call signs, are not allowed."

Each time you connected to the server you received the following pop-up message:

"Welcome to NAK Squad
Please read the welcome message in the server chat window. Important information about permissions, server rules and any current promotions. "

If you read the server message as we ask you to, it states:

"Welcome to NAK Squad TeamSpeak
Check our web site > www.naksquad.net > for the latest information.

If you are new to the NAK Squad community, you will not be able to leave the lobby until verified by an Admin. If an Admin does not help you within a couple of minutes, send an in-game message - Admin requesting permissions in TeamSpeak.

Please match your TeamSpeak nickname to your in-game name.

TeamSpeak Rules are posted on our website by using the server you agree to these rules."

We have to work within the limitations of TS, but we make multiple efforts to ensure users understand and follow the rules. We can not force you to read the information provided, but claiming that you received no warning is not correct, we presented you with the information multiple times and in multiple locations, you choose not to read it. Along with the messages above the lobby description on the TeamSpeak server states

"*YOUR IN-GAME AND TEAMSPEAK NAMES MUST MATCH:

To change your name you may click on ‘Self’ in the top menu and then on ‘Change Nickname’ (this is only until you disconnect). You may also Right-click on your name and select ‘Change Nickname’."

As for the ban you received in TS, it was not a punitive ban, but informational (we use short bans as kicks as this allows us to add additional information into the TS record.). You had joined three times with no change in your situation. Each time you connected you were informed that you had a name mismatch. The admin gave you a 5-minute ban in hopes that it would prompt you to correct the issue, and if you were joining the server with ulterior motives it would slow you down somewhat. When you received the ban it indicated the reason for the ban and when the ban would expire.

NAK admins are volunteers, and I do not expect them to take verbal abuse from any player, at any time, for any reason. Blaming someone else for your behavior, “his overall behavior was unprofessional and is a major lead to my behavior”, is a poor excuse. Your greatest concern is that G0lden said “I don’t have patience for this” (by far the most unacceptable statement to make as an admin), I do not blame him and I would not accept or put up with a user cursing at me. At no time did G0lden verbally abuse you, break our server rules, or the admin code of conduct.

We have multiple processes in place to file a grievance. You choose not to take those actions, instead you choose to curse at an admin. With that said the 7-day ban from our game servers for verbal abuse and objectionable language will remain.

"RULE #13) NO VERBAL ABUSE.

Harmful, threatening, abusive, defamatory, slanderous, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive language or cursing directed at a player is not allowed and may lead to an immediate ban. If you are having issues with another player while in-game, send a message which includes the word ‘Admin’ using the in-game chat. If an Admin is online we will be happy to help you. If there is no admin online you may file a misconduct report which will be reviewed and the appropriate action taken."



"RULE #14) NO USE OF LANGUAGE OR PROFILE NAMES THAT ARE LEWD, OBSCENE, VULGAR, DISCRIMINATORY (ON THE BASIS OF RACE, RELIGION, GENDER, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, ETC.), ILLEGAL, HATE SPEECH, PROMOTING VIOLENCE, DRUG USE OR ANY ILLEGAL ACTIVITY, PROMOTING CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, GENOCIDE OR TORTURE, OR IS OTHERWISE OBJECTIONABLE. WHETHER SOMETHING IS CONSIDERED “OBJECTIONABLE” IS UP TO NAK SQUAD COMMAND (THE ADMINS).

Please be cognizant of your communication. This is a public server. We understand that we play an age-restricted game, but we choose not to have this type of language in our community. This rule applies to all methods of communication, including but not limited to, in-game chat, voice chat (in-game or TeamSpeak), user names, forum posts, and/or comments."

I understand that you feel that things should be run differently but we have created our rules and policies over that last 5 years, and they are what works for us. From the statements in your misconduct report, there were no violations of our admin code of conduct on G0ldens or Swerlys part, and as such this issue is now closed.

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