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Ban Disputes: How do they Work?
Thanks to CAmadeusA, KellieBreanne, and the rest of the Sr. Staff.
Everyone makes mistakes, that’s just an inevitable. We’re all just human, and the staff is no exception. When the staff makes a mistake, the outcome is usually a ban for an offense that didn't actually occur. To counter these false-positive bans, we have established a system of Ban Disputes.
The Ban Dispute process is the MCGamer appeals system which allows players who were incorrectly banned to get unbanned.
This system allows for any player with forum access to post a dispute on our forums. The Senior Staff is responsible for processing the ban disputes, a responsibility they share with the higher staff as well. The ban dispute system has been around since the very beginning of this community, and its procedure mostly unchanged since its creation. On average, 10-20 new Ban Disputes are posted per day; only one or two of these disputes are found to be worthy of an unban.
How to make a Ban Dispute
Instructions are available for forum-posted Ban Disputes at this link here.
The most common place for Ban Disputes to be done is on the forums. Post the Ban Dispute at this link here.
If the user cannot access the forums, they are allowed to email any of the Admins to state their case in place of a Ban Dispute. (But if you’re banned off the forums, you must have done something pretty serious)
How Not to Make a Ban Dispute, Part 1
- Don’t bother with a dispute at all. Just take it to the community and cause as much trouble as you can to garner attention to yourself!
- Don’t accept the rules of the server, saying you’ll break them again.
- Rage and demand to be unbanned.
- Try to use your Premium ranked status as leverage against us; “I’m a donor, so your community depends on me.”
- Don’t give your name in the Dispute.
- Attempt to bribe or buy your way out of a ban.
- Post a Report Abuse in the Ban Dispute section.
- Don’t follow the template.
- Refuse to use proper grammar or complete sentences.
- Swear, disrespect, and insult the staff.
- Post ban disputes for people who aren’t you.
How Ban Disputes get Processed
The Ban Disputes are received and added to the Ban Dispute queue on our forums. From there, the Senior Staff are responsible for processing each and every one individually.
First and foremost, the Senior Staff member will acquaint themselves with the ban in question. Using our ban panel, they will search for the ban in question. After finding the ban, the Senior Moderator will take note of the following information: the ban date, the ban reason, the ban duration, which staff member banned them, and any evidence provided. The Senior Staff member will review the evidence taken for the ban.
The next step is the most difficult: deciding whether the evidence was valid or not. Senior Staff members rely upon their training, experience, and judgement to determine whether the ban in question was valid or not. If the evidence is valid, the Senior Moderator agrees with the mod’s ban and thus upholds the ban. If the evidence is not valid, the Senior Moderator disagrees with the mod’s ban and thus removes the ban. If more information is needed, the staff member may also consult with the moderator who conducted the ban as well.
After a decision is made, the Senior Moderator will then follow through with the course of action decided. As the final conclusion of the dispute, the Senior Mod will reply to the dispute, informing the user of the Sr. Staff’s decision.
Exceptional Cases
If there is any doubt, the Senior Staff member will share the evidence with other Sr. Staff members via Skype chat or TS to form a general consensus. If a sample of the Sr. Staff agree with the ban, the ban is upheld; if a sample of the Sr. Staff disagrees with the ban, the ban is removed. In extreme cases where the Sr. Staff is divided with the case, an explicit vote including all of the present and active Senior Staff members will be taken in determine whether the ban is valid or not.
The Administrators are normally not responsible for Ban Disputes. However, they can be involved in exceptional cases. This includes,
- Incredibly difficult cases. Some cases just require more minds to think about.
- High-profile players and VIPs. Some people are special enough to get the special treatment (spoilers: it’s not that special)
- Bans by Admins or Developers. Because those bans were done by a higher authority, Senior Staff members cannot unban bans by Admins or above.
- TeamSpeak Bans. Senior Staff members do not have access to IP checks or message logs in TeamSpeak, so acquiring evidence for those bans require an Admin’s input.
Unresolved: the beginning tag for all submitted Ban Disputes. This tag means that no Senior Staff members have made a decision on this dispute.
Unbanned: the tag that is given to the Ban Dispute that has its ban removed.
Temp Ban Upheld: the tag that is given to a Ban Dispute that has its ban maintained. This is for temporary bans.
Ban Upheld: the tag that is given to a Ban Dispute that has its ban maintained. This is for permanent bans.
Closed: the tag that is given to Ban Disputes that are not properly filed. This is the, "try again" tag.
Appealing the Appeals Process
If the user feels they are unfairly kept banned, they can discuss the matter with another Senior Staff members on TS. If a Senior Staff member believes that the person’s ban was unfairly upheld, then the Senior Staff will gain more opinions within their staff. From there, they will go with a general Senior Staff consensus.
What happens to the Mod?
If a Ban Dispute is successful and the ban is removed, that means that the moderator who initially banned the user is found at fault for making an incorrect ban.
In a vast majority of cases, the moderator made an honest mistake. Sometimes the ban evidence video does not meet our standards. Other times, there’s enough doubt with the evidence to justify an unban. And then there are the instances in which everyone makes a brainfart, like if the moderator made a typo and provided the incorrect evidence. These constitute honest mistakes that are the result of human error. As a result, no punishment is given to the moderator other than a warning to be more careful.
However, there have been instances in which bans have been so egregiously incorrect that they were considered suspicious; examples of this include claiming abuse when there was none, doctoring evidence to justify a ban, and banning players for unjustified reasons. In these cases of blatant negligence, the moderator who conducted the ban will face punishment, spanning from a mark on their record to immediate demotion.
The decision whether or not a moderator’s actions were negligent enough to warrant a punishment lies with the Senior Staff’s judgement.
How Not to Make a Ban Dispute, Part 2
Curious to see what the Senior Staff has to deal with on a day to day basis? Here are a few examples of some rather remarkable Ban Disputes.
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Final Words
Ban Disputes are a tool for correcting the staff's honest mistakes. Not everyone will be unbanned (some people deserve their bans), but everyone who files a proper dispute will be considered.
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