Ban Appeal: universitystudent

[IAMAUNIVERSITYSTUDENT]

BYOND Key: IAMAUNIVERSITYSTUDENT

Total Ban Length: permanent

Banning staff member's Key: alberyk

Reason of Ban: "posting goatse in ooc" (note that I did not actually post the image in OOC, so that didn't actually happen)

Reason for Appeal:

Please take this seriously. I am not joking with this appeal.

 

Sequence of events: 

ooc: me: Hey, do you guys want to see the inside of a goat?

ooc: someone else: yes

ooc: me: www.goatse.ru

server: you have been banned

 

What was the joke:

 "see a goat" -> "goat see" -> "goatse"

The admins did not even bwoink me before banning. I know that it's standard practice to do so. I'm looking in the rules right now and I what I did is not listed as something that should be handled with a permaban. Bulletpoint 3 says, 

Quote

 

1. avoid bringing up hateful or overly sexual topics in OOC channels.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this rule is intended to prevent hate speech and ERP in the OOC channels. What I posted is not hate speech, and it is also not erotic roleplay. Additionally, the language of the rule, "avoid" suggests that a certain amount of leeway is allowed: while excessive activities may lead to punishments, small discussions and non-serious jokes will be tolerated, if frowned upon. 

 

From the rules:

Quote

Permanent Ban: Permanent bans are issued in two general cases. First, to force communication with staff regarding an issue which was left unresolved, usually due to the player logging out mid-discussion. Second, as a final attempt to curb a player's behaviour, following warnings and temporary bans.ad

Administrators made no attempt to reach out to me. There was no communication, so the second criteria was not met. Because there was no communication, the issue was not opened. Therefore, because it was not opened, it could not have been left unresolved, meaning the first criteria was not met. Therefore, the ban should not have been permanent, as neither criteria was met. The banning admin should have instead opted for a lesser punishment, such as a temporary ban or a verbal warning.

 

Let's be honest. I know that alberyk banned me because I posted a link to shock porn. I was joshin' around. I get this. However, I see the severity of this as mitigated by four factors.

1. the link was not a hyperlink. Nobody could click on it and, perhaps by accident, be transported to goatse.ru.
2. goatse has been around since 1999. It is a very, very stale redirect.
3. it's not actually against the rules.

 

It's not in the rules.

If it's not in the rules not to do it, then players do not have a reasonable expectation to comply under threat of punishment, and an automatic ban without discussion is not warranted. All of these reasons together point to the fact that I handed an excessive punishment and deserve to have it reduced.

 

Thank you for your time.

Edited August 4, 2019 by IAMAUNIVERSITYSTUDENT

[Alberyk]

Posting a link, even if it not a hyperlink, to a site that is porn is indeed against the rules, neither does the rules must make clear that you should not do this, as it is pretty much covered by the one you posted. If it tells you to avoid overly sexual topics, I am sure that typing out the adress to a website like that is pretty much stepping into the field of overly sexual. And not even getting into the argument that it is not tasteful or we have minors playing, no, posting links to porn is not fine on ooc. It is kind of common sense, I guess.

As the rules in game state:

Spoiler

Note that these rules cannot cover the myriad of situations that will arise during gameplay. As such, the word of Moderators and Administrators ingame is final, and not up for debate past a certain point.

However, I will lift this ban, as you did read the rules. Take this in consideration and don't go around posting those kind of links on ooc again.