Suggestion A means of appealing bans.

[Iteru]

From screenshots of what I've seen, a banned user is told that they are banned, the reason why and the duration of the ban, but there is no method of appealing the ban given.

From observation, a user within the last half an hour or so had to make a sockpuppet as part of an appeal.

Maybe an official appealing process could be in place so that users do not resort to breaking rules to get their message across?

 

[Falconwing]

Well, what I've done is e-mail Archaic. I've always gotten a response back. He does actually check his e-mail so it's a good method.

I do not recommend using you-tube videos. Bad idea.

 

[Iteru]

Clicking on the "Contact Us" button at the button (I'm assuming that is where I would find his email) starts up an outlook installation program.

Would it be possible to have the email (or a different, dedicated one to prevent spam) appear on the ban message? It could ensure that unfairly banned users are able to appeal as quickly as possible.

 

[Ivysaur]

There are several things to consider:

1) Even if there was a way to appeal bans, very few bans would be appealed. Most bans are made as a result of an accumulation of infraction points; and every time an infraction is made, a thread is created in a special forum, showing the post that was infracted and the reason why it was.

2) As a result, every mod, global mod, and admin can see the infraction, and higher-ups will reverse unjust infractions and unban an user if they were banned as a result of that infraction.

3) The case you're referring to was simply an accident, and one that very rarely, if at all, happens.

4) There are already ways to contact admins without resorting to creating another account, and that includes emailing Archaic or evkl, or contacting a moderator via AIM or another kind of instant messenger.

Also, what kind of system to appeal bans would you propose?

 

[TM2-Megatron]

Clicking on the "Contact Us" button at the button (I'm assuming that is where I would find his email) starts up an outlook installation program.

Outlook must already be there, set up as your computer's default mail application. Clicking an e-mail link on the web merely launches it. If you haven't already set it up with an e-mail account, that wizard interface will usually be what it gives you first.

Alternatively, you can right-click on that "Contact Us" and select "copy e-mail" or "copy link", whatever wording your browser uses. Then you can paste the e-mail address into whatever e-mail (or webmail) program you do use.

 

[Iteru]

Alternatively, you can right-click on that "Contact Us" and select "copy e-mail" or "copy link", whatever wording your browser uses. Then you can paste the e-mail address into whatever e-mail (or webmail) program you do use.

Ah, I see.

Would it still be beneficial to mention that you can contact the staff for an appeal? Doing some quick research, I've found out that you can edit the ban message. Even though appeals are rare as Ivysaur as said, is ensuring efficiency anyway a bad thing?

 

[Ivysaur]

But then that would lead to nearly every user who gets banned from now to try and appeal their ban. And in the very rare cases such as this one, we can afford to deal with a sockpuppet.

But generally, ban appeals simply won't happen, since, as a staff, we review every infraction and we do reverse unjust ones. This was just an unfortunate accident that really never happens.

 

[GrnMarvl14]

As is, I'd suggest everyone with AIM get a staff member's AIM handle on their buddy list...just in case. Barring that, find an e-mail address and keep it. JUST on the off-chance that you're banned for a reason that's truly unfair/due to a misunderstanding (they happen. We're human, we make mistakes. And, due to the Internet's inherent inability to pick up on tone, we occasionally misinterpret the tone of a post). Simply contacting a staff member won't guarantee you'll be unbanned (obviously), but we can at least hear your reason and decide if it's worth passing on to the staff (something I've done fairly recently for a user).

 

[Zekurom]

Perhaps give the CRB an email address.

 

[evkl]

Archaic and I both have our Bulba emails posted publicly - evkl@ and archaic@ bulba. You can always appeal via that.

 

[Kutomba]

Wait.... so you're saying that the staff wouldn't do a thing about it? I trust that if you were banned for a not-legit reason, they would take care of it. They really try their best to help everyone with what they need, trust me.

 

[Synthesis]

contacting a moderator via AIM

Is there a list of Moderator's AIM Screen Names anywhere? I have a few of them added, but only the RP Section ones.

 

[Musashi]

Wait.... so you're saying that the staff wouldn't do a thing about it? I trust that if you were banned for a not-legit reason, they would take care of it. They really try their best to help everyone with what they need, trust me.

As was said before, if you feel you were banned unjustly we'll hear your case if you contact one of us. Then we'll decide if it's worth passing on to the rest of the staff.

Is there a list of Moderator's AIM Screen Names anywhere? I have a few of them added, but only the RP Section ones.

I don't believe there's a list just for that, but you can always look at the list of staff and the various ways they're able to be contacted depending on what mod you need to talk too. Just check their profile to see if they have AiM.

 

[Rayne]

Is there a list of Moderator's AIM Screen Names anywhere? I have a few of them added, but only the RP Section ones.

You can check from the list of mods as Musashi pointed out, but be aware that not every mod may use AIM even if they have an account listed in their profile, just an FYI.

e-mails may be the best approach if you'd ever like to contact someone during a ban.