1. There is no such thing as a "pending" ban or Steam admin. Anyone threatening your account is a scammer trying to scare you. Read more.

READ ME Appeal Guide

Discussion in 'Appeal a Judgement' started by SilentReaper(SR), May 29, 2014.

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  1. SilentReaper(SR)

    SilentReaper(SR) Retired Staff

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    If you are appealing or considering to appeal, please read all below. Assumptions about what we mean by something can become a big problem with an appeal.

    Why this Topic? Doing a single appeal takes time, talking via chat, replying and explaining stuff on the forums takes a lot of our time to deal with people's questions and sometimes their problematic behavior. Its the reason of this appeal tips topic, to undercut as many questions as possible that appeal applicants may have on our forums. Time we didn't have to spend to explain to every single individual how we work or why we doing things in a certain way, time we then can use to do actual research into the open appeals. When we see something that we didn't address yet here, we will add it. There are exceptions to this, mainly to our internal procedures and some of our info.

    1. Be honest.
    Lying to an appeal admin will end up in the appeal being Instantly denied.


    Lets define lying:
    • Factual lying.
    • Intentionally omitting information (leaving out details that we would be interested in, or even directly asked for)
    • Implying something else then the truth.
    • Faking any form of evidence.
    • Guessing about it. If you don't remember, SAY SO, better that then some that doesn't match what we found.
    This is often misunderstood. When we ask questions, we usually know the answers already. When answers mismatch with what we know, we investigate further and establish that you where lying or telling the truth. Any admin that does appeals has more then enough experience with countless people that lied to them, they really will find out. Don't dig yourself a hole you cant come out of, just tell the truth, its easier for both you and us. When we find out about just one lie, the appeal is already denied. A good portion of denied appeals is just about this, we found a lie.

    2. Be straightforward.
    If the admin thinks you are hiding something, that will have a negative impact on your appeal.

    When questions are asked, answer them to the fullest of your knowledge. Even if you think its not relevant.
    Admins do NOT have the time to try to dig out every snippet of some information they want. Explain it to the closest detail you know, and tell everything. Do not assume anything, TELL it.
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 11, 2016
  2. Lava

    Lava Public Relations SteamRep Admin

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    3. Threats, abusive etc.
    Admins will terminate any communication, and then determine the appeal outcome.

    We do so many appeals, have to handle so much dirt, that we really do not need more negative stuff added to it in our conversations regarding those. We try to be respectful, but we're still human. Treat us respectful and a lot more is possible. We're volunteers, all admins have the instruction if such happens to cut the communication with such and move on. Most of us have a thick skin, so a bit of bad language is often not a problem, but I'll still not "advice" to do so.

    4. Watch your appeal thread.
    Set the thread in your watch list, and let it send emails.

    You can set it on top right once you posted your appeal, by unwatch and then set to watch again you can set if it will send emails if replies are there. This is important because it will take a while before your appeal is up (months at least). Once a appeal admin responds on your thread, he will expect within a reasonable time a response from you. This is often set to 14 days (2 weeks). Due the sheer volume of appeals and reports and work we have on such, its just not possible to go and fetch every appealer personally with a steam invite. It is your job to keep an eye on the topic. We have automation in place that you can track it and get emails. Make sure the email set on the forum is to a email that you actually use.
  3. Lava

    Lava Public Relations SteamRep Admin

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    5. An appeal is NOT a reputation thread.
    Vouches by anyone and/or actions outside the report(s) and the appeal have no bearing on the appeal.

    Most of those will be deleted on sight, sometimes it will be left for its partially relevant. Because it is not about those other people having trust in you, or your actions to "make up" by example; Its about the offense(s) that where committed.

    Vouches:
    Please refrain from asking people to "vouch" for you. We can understand that some do so without you asking for it etc. So if it happens, don't worry about it. We will clean them up.

    "Exemplary work":
    By helping people or writing guides, making videos and whatnot. Those are not relevant to the appeal.

    Reps:
    Those are for trades NOT related to the offenses being scrutinized. Profile reps are useless anyways to us, most partner and friends communities will lock reputation threads anyways of SteamRep banned Accounts.

    The reason that we cannot allow vouches, "works" and/or reps is that Admins, mods, volunteers, known big traders etc on various sites would have way more advantage then normal users, for those often have done a lot of work in helping users, showing exemplary work, traded a lot, etc. These can easily ask dozens of people to vouch for them on a appeal thread, vs a normal user who near only has their real life friends to ask for. It would be inviting for favoritism and different measures between.

    See also below on point #23: Appeal objectives for SteamRep
  4. Lava

    Lava Public Relations SteamRep Admin

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    6. Big drama thread.
    Report bad replies, ask for a topic lock.

    Lots of ppl just responding on a appeal thread with garbage or w/e. People may respond on appeals, but ONLY to give additional DETAILS about the offenses or the appealant that are RELEVANT. If they do so, the thread will not be locked. But if they are just abusive, bad language, spouting crap with no bearing, you can report the reply with the small "report" text underneath each post.

    DO NOT use it to counter what somebody says. That report function is ONLY for:
    • Abusive/bad language vs ppl
    • Threats vs other people. Whether they use our forums or not.
    • Ask for a topic lock/unlock. (lock only in extreme conditions)
    Etc. Not to dispute what somebody is saying about your offenses. For that is your appeal.
  5. Lava

    Lava Public Relations SteamRep Admin

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    7. What are Alts.
    On each appeal the appealer is asked to provide alternate account information.

    This means:
    • All accounts that you use or have used in the past.
    • All accounts that you have access to yourself.
    • All accounts that can be linked to you even if not yours such as family or friends due to sharing connections or computers.
    Alts must be given in full SteamRep ID blocks.

    You are then also asked to supply more information about them. Your usage of these accounts, who the owners are of the other accounts within the household. Please understand, if you omit information here, while we see otherwise (see point 1 about lying) the ONLY explanation to us is that those are alts, and that you try to hide them from us. This is the ONLY time you can defend that account of your brother, sister, friend or w/e and explain. If you lie/omit about them, we cannot trust you anymore to be truthful about this, and they will be regarded as your alts.

    Definitions:
    Generally people designate some account as a "Main" and others as "alts" of that "Main" account, often due steam levels, playing hours and number of games on that account. SteamRep does not really make that distinction.
    Appealer must appeal with their Primary marked account. That means, the actual account that got reported and which they got tagged on SteamRep for. Alts of such account can ONLY appeal against being a alt.


    8. Profile must be fully public on ALL your accounts (this means profile, inventory, games, friends list, etc; everything):
    When you have multiple accounts, the requirement for us is that ALL those accounts must be public.

    For the ENTIRE duration that it takes for your appeal to be done. Only the ones that you have no access to due those are of somebody else on the same connection are exempt of this requirement.
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 28, 2019
  6. Lava

    Lava Public Relations SteamRep Admin

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    9. Pay back the victim.
    As soon as possible.

    The sooner you repay your victims, the more that will count in your favor during your appeal. In general, you should have already repaid before submitting your appeal. You can find who you traded with in your inventory history, make sure to repay ALL your victims back. However, repaying your victims is NOT an automatic assurance that your appeal will be granted.

    In all cases we ask that the victim leaves a reply on the open report of their case or on the appeal topic regarding the outcome of the repayment.

    Acceptable repayment methods are:
    • Tradable Steam items
    • Tradable Steam Games
    • TF2 items
    • CS:GO items
    • DotA2 items
    • Steam Trading cards and other Steam items like emoticons, backgrounds and the like
    • Bitcoin or derivatives of such
    This to the liking of the victim(s), so if they don't want specific stuff, you will have to interchange or obtain items that are to the liking of the victim.

    Not acceptable for repayment are:
    • Paypal transactions
    • Steam Wallet Codes, including digital gift cards
    • Games gifted through Steam, and CD keys or activation codes from any platform
      Hidden Content:
      **Hidden Content: Content of this hidden block can only be seen by members of (usergroups: Administrative).**
    • Steam accounts or other game platform accounts.

    Rules:
    • First off: Repayment is a REQUIREMENT of the appeal. If you didn't repay, the appeal won't be considered.
    • Second: You Must Include the FULL, UNCROPPED, UNEDITED CHAT with the victim from when you add them to repay, until repayment has been made to have the appeal considered.
    • Admins do NOT and will not Middleman between Victim and Offender, for admins will not want to touch those items, simply to not implicate their accounts to such. Victim and offender can perfectly fine trade these items between them without such.
    • If the stolen items where worth a lot more during the scam then it is currently (and only if more then a month has passed between the scam and the repaying), its the value of that item back then. Special issues are then:
      • This is for items that have dropped significantly, as a rule of thumb its a value drop of more then 15-20%.
      • If the subjective value dropped from 300 keys to 290 keys for example, that doesn't count.
      • If value dropped from 300 to 100 keys, it will be required to repay the lost value up to 80% of the original value. (in that example: 80% of 300 keys = 240 keys worth - the worth of the item itself if the item itself is returned.)
      • Reasoning: Items get worth less over time, we cannot help that, but its also unreasonable to expect a scammer to pay the full price. However, if market fluctuates a lot, a owner could have reacted to that by selling their item for a quicksell to not make that much loss. The loss of the item(s) prevented that the real owner could act upon it, which is what needs compensating. 80 % seems to be the right percentile.
    • The Victim is in NO way obligated to accept the repay, or any "conditions" to it that the appealer wants. That is entirely up to the victim if they want to be repaid due a appeal. Victim may refuse to receive the items, for being angry with the appealer and lost care of the value or w/e reason they seem fit. Though it will be taken into account with a appeal, it is NOT a deciding factor to force the appeal to a denial. If the victim wants repay, this is the one time we can require repay to the victim from the accused. The victim can therefore not force a outcome of a appeal by denying repay.
    • Repay must preferably be in Steam Tradable items, which the VICTIM agrees to. So while you may have the value in all kind of crappy items, the victim does not have to accept that. Items that are acceptable are:
      • The original items stolen from the victim.
      • Same type / model etc items (replacement for the same, so say a strange huntsman is not the same one, but a replacement, that would be ok, but not difference in strange parts, unless extra)
      • Common goods like Buds, Bill's, Keys, etc. (to the liking of the victim, in value equal or equal enough to be acceptable by victim)
      • And if the original items are not obtainable:
        • Steam Tradeable Games (to the liking of the victim, in value equal)
        • Steam Tradeable items (to the liking of the victim, in value equal)
      • Some items may be excluded by the appealer, but within reason.
    • That means that it cannot be stuff like game accounts on other platforms, CD-keys / steam wallet keys, Paypal, etc. These accounts and CD/steam wallet keys have some big downsides, we do NOT want the victims to burn themselves on those.
    • The items for repay cannot be stolen/frauded items from others or be disputed items.
    • In cases, the appealer can be "forgiven" by the victim etc, and told by the victim to not have to pay back.
    • Repayment should NOT be a fuss, just say sorry, and just pay back as soon as possible without making all kinds of demands or w/e. Its not for the appealer to make demands at this point, he's outed on his upholding a trade agreement, and needs to make amends.
    Not paying back means 2 downsides in a appeal. For to us it can mean the appealer didn't want to pay back (with whatever means that was achieved), and that there was no actual repay. Intent and facts both weight for the appeal.

    Methods to get into contact with the victim(s) (in order of preference):
    • Friends invite via Steam.
    • If the profile comments is public, you can make a comment there. Or on one of their screenshots. Depends on privacy settings of that person.
    • If friend invite gets ignored/blocked, ask a common friend to ask the victim to add you. You can view who are common friends on the Steam profile of the victim.
    • If you don't have friends that are friends with the victim, ask one of your better friends to add the victim and ask 'm to add you for repaying.
    • Long shot: PM via the forums here, you can PM someone on the report(s) against you. Click on their name below their avatar and click "Start a Conversation" and hope they come to SteamRep forums sometime soon.
    • If you had a PayPal trade with the victim, you can email them on that email address.
  7. Lava

    Lava Public Relations SteamRep Admin

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    10. When to appeal.
    As soon as possible.

    We regularly get a new appeal from somebody that was marked like 2 years ago. Now they want to play DotA2 or CS:GO and find out that they cannot trade there either, for those communities also observe SteamRep bans. In the future there will be more interesting games on steam with steam trading. While you may not care "now" about those, there will always be new games on Steam, and one day you want to trade again with your account.
    Problem is, we now get people trying to appeal from UHC, who cannot be helped. These appeals are under MCT, and they don't take appeals for those anymore. And in the future more communities will stop/go defunct etc. And then it depends on what exactly is decided how the appeals will be handled.
  8. Lava

    Lava Public Relations SteamRep Admin

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    11. Only one appeal.
    You can only appeal once. Generally, the first appeal thread will be used to determine your place in line.

    • If you already appealed, and the appeal was "Rejected" with the red badge on top, you cannot appeal again. We allow only for 1 appeal. Reasons:
      • With your report, 1 admin already reviewed the report.
      • With your appeal, another admin reviewed your case.
      • With 2 different admins reviewing your case(s), it has been handled with care enough to have ascertained enough due process.
      • With the high workload we already have, we won't have enough resources to entertain more appeals.
    • If you create another appeal, that appeal thread will be archived.
      • If you repeat this too many times, all your old appeals will be archived, and the newest appeal will be used to determine your spot in the line. (effectively making yours last in line again).
    • If you appealed, and a admin locked your appeal due abuse, spam, bumping or w/e, you can put a post report (lower right on a post on the thread) on it to ask for a unlock of the thread.
      • This is ONLY for LOCKED appeals, not for already handled appeals or archived appeals.
      • That means this only applies when the status of the appeal is "Pending", "Need more info" or "Under investigation"
    • Any information you forgot to post in the appeal, can be added in replies to it. We do not allow edits of posts here on the forum(s).
    • If your appeal was denied unfairly, or extenuating circumstances apply, you may request special permission for a second appeal. Re-appeals are only granted under the following circumstances:
      • New evidence not produced in your original appeal.
      • Unfair or mishandled appeal (admin violated SteamRep policy).
      • SteamRep's policies have changed since the time of your denied appeal, such as trading with scammers.
      • Partner community is abusing their position, not handling appeal fairly, or not allowing a single appeal at all.
      • Other extenuating circumstance at admin's discretion.
      • Please note, If you were granted a second appeal via an appeal review, you may not request additional appeal reviews thereafter.
      • If, after reading and understanding these narrow circumstances, you feel one of them applies to your case, click this hidden link and fill out the form.
    Please read #15 and other tips in this thread.
    Last edited: May 10, 2020
  9. Lava

    Lava Public Relations SteamRep Admin

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    12. The basic appeal procedure is:
    Step by step:

    First appeal:
    • If you are eligible for a appeal you can create an appeal with our form, with all the information requested, that means that you can ONLY do so IF:
      • You had NO prior appeal(s) that are still open.
      • You have NO other bans then the ones SteamRep ITSELF administrates (Banned by XXX/XXX Caution, where XXX can be: SR, SOP, ASBO, AF2, D2T and/or RAWR. If you're account is marked with ANYTHING else, you have to handle that first. That includes Valve Trade Bans and Valve Trade Probations.
    • Once you created your appeal, the form will have automatically created a topic in the Appeal a Judgement subforum. You can add in replies anything you forgot to add.
    • A admin will soon check the basic requirements of a appeal on SteamRep (Check if you are eligible, the appeal is valid, etc) and may respond on it regarding that.
      • If it is valid, the admin checking the basics of the appeal may reply a question to you to complete your appeal information, and will move your appeal to the appropriate appeal subforum.
      • If its not a valid appeal, the appeal will be invalidated and moved to a archive subforum, often with a reason replied of why your appeal was not valid. The topic cannot be responded to anymore then.
    • Then the wait begins
      • Till it is your turn in our appeal list can take months, we're so behind on handling them that we cant keep up. We do cherry pick easy appeals, and hijacked appeals often are prioritized to not have those victims having to deal with that too much.
      • There is NO way to expedite your appeal, there is no point in asking for this.
      • As said above, keep watching your appeal, let it send emails if replies are done to it. So make sure it sends email to a account you actually USE on the SteamRep forums.
      • Appeals are generally done from the oldest first, to keep it fair to anybody.
    • You may arrange stuff in between for your appeal:
      • If you paid back your victim, you can ask them to confirm on your appeal you have paid them back.
      • Other people may respond on your appeal, answer their questions to complete information or clarify things on your appeal (within reason, SR does not ask for personal information, or wants it here).
    • Once a admin starts handling your appeal he will set it to "under investigation" or "Need more info", and starts asking questions, at that point you only have one week to respond to those questions. If you fail to respond to that, the appeal will be invalidated and archived due loss of interest by you.
    • Only once a admin is handling / investigating your appeal, the admin MAY add you to interview you. Some admins prefer to say in the appeal topic that apealer should add them. There is NO point in adding a admin before the appeal admin indicates you may add them. It will NOT expedite your appeal, and may only lead to some notes added on your appeal by the admin.
    • Read the rest of this topic to understand what you can and have to do.
    Additional notes:
    • Only ONE (open) appeal allowed. Any 2nd or later appeal will be closed without review. We don't have the resources to entertain appeal upon appeal, make your one appeal count.
    • This ALSO means that once your appeal has been handled (accepted, rejected, etc), you cannot create another. Unless noted so by a admin on your previous appeal, and you will have to name and link it.
    Hidden Content:
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  10. Lava

    Lava Public Relations SteamRep Admin

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    13. Who can appeal.
    It is ONLY possible to appeal:
    • With the account that got reported.
      • Only the original reported account can get a ban removed for itself and all linked alts.
    • Banned ALT accounts can ONLY appeal with the notion that they are NOT a alt of a banned account.
      • This means that they can be "disconnected" from the "main" account that got reported. The main account will stay banned.
    Only the original owner of said account can appeal. We do not condone/allow for selling or giving away of accounts, for that is against the Steam Subscriber agreement: http://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement/:
    That inherently means that somebody else or a alt or another person on the same account CANNOT appeal a ban for a banned account, ONLY those who the bans are applied to can appeal their own. Part of the appeal is that we need to gauge the honesty of the real offender, and a 3rd party cannot bridge that.
    The only exception around this is if the original owner's account got hijacked, which will allow the Owner of the account to appeal the offenses committed during his hijack.

    If you have 2 accounts, and 1 of them is reported, you cannot appeal with the other account. You must use the account that was reported and banned.

    If you are banned for being a alt of some account, you need to explain in your appeal exactly who the linked alt is, your relation with it, how you know that person, etc. If you do not know the account, you may have to explain where you used your account where others could also use theirs. Try including schedule/dates for that.

    14. Requested Information for Old Appeals:
    Since not too long we use a appeal form with a number of basic questions.

    If your appeal is from before that time, please answer those questions in a reply on your appeal:
    • Plea: Did you do it, or or not.
    • Did you pay back the victim(s)? Yes, no, need help to find victims, not applicable, etc.
    • Did you appeal before? yes, no, yes but was denied for needed to address another ban before SR's, etc.
    • Do you have alternate accounts? This is ALL those that are used in your household. Including those you do not own yourself, but are using the same connection. Explain what these accounts are.
    • Do you have/had reputation threads on some of the communities? If so, link them.
    You can elaborate on each point if needed, especially on the alts this is advisable (see above, point 8).
  11. Lava

    Lava Public Relations SteamRep Admin

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    15. Bumping your appeal.
    Nope, please don't do it.

    Why?
    • Admins do review recent posts on Appeals, to see if something actionable was said there. Bumping a appeal means for a admin that he had to waste time to read "bump" or other nonsensical text without any bearing. Those replies being read does not mean the appeal is taken, only that the admins keep an eye on things to proceed the appeals.
    • Bumping and appeal will not get your appeal taken. Admins work generally the OLDEST appeals first, so they go to the last page and take the oldest appeal, and do work on them. So older appeals get done first, and with that, everybody has fair chance on being helped.
    • There is no use to such replies. Bumping will NOT get your appeal done faster. Really.
    • Admins may warn, lock or archive appeals where such was done. If you waste our time, we will waste yours. We have plenty of others to help who can actually be patient.
    There is NO use for such, and you only will get a annoyed admin into your appeal for what the bumping is about, and then a action will happen that will not be in your best interest. Yes, some appeals get done earlier, for we prioritize the obvious innocent ones, hijackings and such. Bumping is NOT how we find those.

    Only reply if you have something to add. If you get asked questions, even by non-admins, you can answer them. Please do not make your appeal thread a drama thread, for that is some we really do not want here.
  12. Lava

    Lava Public Relations SteamRep Admin

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    16. Timeframe(s) of Appeals.

    Q: How long before my appeal is going to be looked at?
    A: At the time of writing this, there are near 800 appeals open. Appeals are generally done oldest first to give everybody a fair chance to get their appeal looked at. When a appeal is made, it goes in the "appeal a judgement" section. Appeal admins will then check the appeal for basic requirements (read the rest of these tips for that), and will then move the appeal to the right subforum to be processed. Occasional they will while checking your appeal's pre-requirements they will ask some questions to complete some information you may have neglected to fill out. Some appeals may be done right away if it is a easy appeal, or appeals that have some priority. When the appeal check reveals prior appeals or appealed at the wrong place, or other errors the admins will directly address it and move an appeal to archive etc so we keep the designated appeals sections clean of those.

    Q: How long do I have after admins reply with questions on my appeal?
    A: 14 days. If a admin checks after 14 days and there is no reply with the requested information, the appeal may be processed, or may be set archived or invalid. The appeal admin can allow for a re-appeal in such cases, but is not required to do so, and will be based on the appeal as it is. This would counts as a "loss of interest".

    Q: Is there any way to expedite my appeal?
    A: No. Really: NO.
    You will have to be patient for your turn. There is NO way for your appeal to be processed earlier if that wasn't instigated with the first check done on your appeal.

    Q: I Want replies by admins on my appeal.
    A: Do not expect admins to reply on your appeal prior that they handle / start working on it. Admins will see pointless replies for such as bumping, and may lock the thread till it is that appeal's turn.

    Q: Why doesn't SteamRep hire more appeal admins.
    A: We are always looking for more staff on SteamRep, but our requirements for trustworthiness are pretty high, and the amount of training to do an appeal is pretty steep. Its just sheer impossible with our small size of staff to keep up with everything. Before a admin is fully grown into their position it can take from 6 months to more then a year. All in the meantime also having to deal with admins who retire out of SteamRep. Telling us to hire more is just not that simple with our application process that we have in place, and we cannot lower our standards.

    Q: Why does it go so slow?
    A: The appeal admins have limited time to work on appeals. On average, an easy appeal takes an hour of work, a normal appeal 2-3 hours, and some of the more complex appeals have been up to a work-week of work to just get through all the material. When having near 800 appeals open (at time of writing this), you cannot expect many appeals to be done each day. We work as fast as we can, but even with that, expect to have to wait for at least a year.

    17. I'm going on vacation / hiatus / etc.
    Leave a message on your appeal if/when you are not available. The appeal will then not be done till after return. Example:

    Hi, I'm going on vacation for a month, I'm unavailable from June 11, 2014 to July 6, 2014.
    Clearly state:
    • start date
    • end date
    • reason
    You do not have to tell where you are going etc. just "vacation", "moving to new house", or w/e is fine. With the type of absence, delay of return can be gauged (say you are moving, internet may not be easily set up there etc). Or vacation had a delay of return due some problem arising.
    The duration of absence has to be reasonable. Understandable are periods of 1 to 6 weeks. Longer may be granted if reason is OKish,
  13. Lava

    Lava Public Relations SteamRep Admin

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    18. Other Bans need to be appealed FIRST.
    Bans not administrated by SteamRep need to be appealed on the respective communities FIRST.

    This is one of our rules, and has to do with a number of practical and administrative reasons that we do not share.

    SteamRep ONLY handles the following Banned by and Caution's:
    • Banned by SR / SR Caution (SteamRep)
    • Banned by SOP / SOP Caution (SourceOp, handled by SOP staff on SR forums)
    • Banned by AF2 / AF2 Caution (Ace Fortress 2, defunct community)
    • Banned by ASBO / ASBO Caution (defunct community)
    • Banned by D2T / D2T Caution (Dota2Traders, defunct community)
    • Banned by RAWR / RAWR Caution (defunct community)
    If you have ANY OTHER Ban then that, your appeal will be responded to that you need to appeal that Ban on the respective community FIRST, and the appeal will be archived. ONLY once you have dealt with those other Bans, you can appeal here again.
    In exceptional cases, a other community Ban can be appealed here. A compelling argument must then be made for why SR needs to handly your case instead of the other Bans at the respective community.
  14. Lava

    Lava Public Relations SteamRep Admin

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    19. Usage of your account by friend/sibling/parent or offspring or whatever other affiliation you can come up with.
    Your account is at all times your responsibility.

    Any actions reported to be done by your account stay within the account owner's responsibility. While you might disclaim it was your [fill in affiliation], it does NOT negate anything with your appeal. Putting blame on somebody else while it is your responsibility is not some we look kindly on, for there is no way to verify that for us. As always, actions speak louder then words (see point 9 above).

    20. Status of your appeal:
    On top of the appeal topic you created you see various color "badges" with text in it, see below what they mean.

    • Pending: Your appeal is waiting for its turn to be processed by a admin.
    • Under Investigation: Your appeal is currently been researched and being processed by a admin. You can expect to get a reply or question from the admin.
    • Need More Info: Your appeal has been looked at, and a admin has left some questions for you to answer.
    • Invalid: You cannot appeal to us, most probably because you either have tags not handled by SR or are not banned by us.
    • Archived: Duplicate appeals get archived. Can be for other reasons too.
    • Rejected: Your appeal has been rejected.
    • Accepted: Your appeal has been accepted.
    All statuses except "under investigation" are appeals waiting to be processed. If you don't receive replies, that does not mean your appeal is ignored. Just that admins are working on other things. Don't expect admin replies/questions till they start processing your appeal.
  15. Lava

    Lava Public Relations SteamRep Admin

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    21. Language in a appeal must be English.
    We need appeals to be in English, we cannot cover all the languages in the world.

    We often encounter users with rather rudimentary understanding of English, who then misunderstood what we say, mean, and give answer to the wrong question.

    We require English as the main language for that is the language that has been used from the start of SteamRep. We have admins from around the world. All our admins must at least have a very good understanding of English, while they may not be native English speakers. While they may be able to communicate in their native language, the problem arises when another admin needs to verify their work can't understand whats been communicated.

    If you are not a English native speaker, and are struggling with understanding whats been said/told in appeals or reports, get somebody with a better understanding of English to help you.
  16. Lava

    Lava Public Relations SteamRep Admin

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    22. Providing Inventory History
    Admins may request you to post inventory history of certain periods.

    To access the inventory history is simple, go to your inventory within the steam client, then on top right click the "More" button and select "View Inventory History". It will show all trades since steam trading came out in a number of pages. It is easy to make crop shots using "Snipping tool" which is included in Windows Vista, 7 and 8. Search for it in the task bar.

    The requirements are that the screenshot(s):
    • MUST show that the screenshot was taken within the steam browser.
    • DOES show the steam URL and the nickname you are using above it. (To enable Steam url: Steam settings, Interface, enable option "Display Steam URL address bar when available" )
    • Must includes the sides and scroll bars.
    • Must include the "+ ADD A GAME" on bottom left, and the "VIEW FRIENDS LIST" with the avatar on the bottom right.
    • You may NOT edit them to blank out stuff.
    • All must be uploaded to the forum. If you hit the limit of how many you can add to a single post, you can make another post for those, etc. This is because most picture hosting sites only keep them up for a number of months and we often require longer to review them.
    • If you are using a steam skin, you may be requested to redo them in the default skin
    In cases Appeal Admins may hide the screenshots. But in general you should have nothing to hide there.
    Hidden Content:
    **Hidden Content: Content of this hidden block can only be seen by members of (usergroups: Administrative, Moderating).**
  17. Lava

    Lava Public Relations SteamRep Admin

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    23. Appeal objectives to establish for SteamRep.
    The objective for appeals for SteamRep is to establish:

    - Innocence of the appealer (or not)
    - Severity of the offense(s) and assess if that was light enough to allow for a lowering of the ban.
    - Make a risk assessment of the appealer to relapse.

    Too often arguments are made that appealers want use of a site or "winnings" on such, think time "served" is of import, promises to never scam again, etc. These arguments are not relevant to SteamRep. Once established that a report was true, and the offender was not hijacked at that time, the admin will establish the severity (repay, intent, premeditated, involving real-world money like PayPal/bitcoint/webmoney, falsifying evidence during offense or on the report, etc etc), and then verify the appeal.

    Most appeals will be denied however. Its not often that we establish that a ban should be removed. If you cannot find a compelling argument to your case, maybe you should wait before making a appeal till you can. Remember: only one appeal allowed.

    Note: As part of the risk assessment, some types of scams may be considered too severe to consider a change of heart appeal for. Your innocence will still be assessed, but if you are found guilty, the appeal may be denied automatically. These include, but are not strictly limited to: scams involving real-world money (sometimes abbreviated RWC), middleman injection/impersonation scams.
    Last edited: Jul 12, 2018
  18. Lava

    Lava Public Relations SteamRep Admin

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    SteamRep Admin:
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    24. Your appeal was granted, what about your bans on various communities around for it?
    Your account got most probably automatically banned on a variety of sites or game servers for various durations via the SteamRep (web) API and/or for Valve trade bans. We do not have the power or control on those communities to unban accounts. Those communities are NOT required to unban anybody if they don't want to do so. Our policy is that any community can ban anyone for whatever reason they want on their own community. We do not set policy to them and certainly don't enforce them. The only requirement that SteamRep has, is to Friend and Partner communities to automatically ban SteamRep Banned accounts, and that Bans for scamming that Partners are placing on SteamRep are well enough documented to meet scrutiny.

    When the appeal was granted and the SteamRep ban was lifted, that does not mean that those bans on other communities will disappear. Some will, after a period of their choosing. The options that communities have are:
    • Automatically permanent ban of account.
    • Automatically a short or long period ban of the account.
    • Not ban (non-friend and non-partner communities) but rename the nickname on the server to say "[Scammer] *nickname*"
    As you may understand, those communities have various policies handling those. You will have to go to those communities and appeal with a unban request to them, where you can point to your appeal thread here on SteamRep (use a link) to let them check that out on the reasons why you got unbanned. Some of those communities may do a inquiry in our SteamRep forums sections for Friend Communities or Partner Communities regarding this when things are unclear to them.

    SteamRep will not do unban requests to those communities for a number of reasons:
    • The admin may not have the contacts in that community to ask the right person to handle that. While admins have contacts in some communities, they will not be able to have those over all of the communities. There are simply too many communities and their lists of owners and admins.
    • We do not know all the places you got banned. Over 400 game servers are using our API, and some 80 or so websites are also using our API. We simply cannot check all those.
    • We cannot know their all their policies for this circumstance. We simply do not know if they would unban if you got your SteamRep appeal granted.
    • Their ban on their site/server may even be for a different reason, one that SteamRep is not aware of. In that case, the unban by SteamRep will probably have no influence on your appeal there.
    That last one, is also why SteamRep will not make those requests. For that would promote favoritism, and unintended pushing of communities. Communities are run by their owner and admins, and they set how they want to run their community and SteamRep has no right to influence that in our opinion.
  19. Lava

    Lava Public Relations SteamRep Admin

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    25. Quick rundown of requirements for an appeal:
    • Pay back ALL your victims if you had successful scams. This is a HARD requirement, if not done, the appeal will be denied, ending your chance of appeal for there is only 1 appeal allowed.
    • Public profile and backpack, so NOT friends only, friends of friends or w/e: PUBLIC.
    • Make a statement about your alts. Even if you don't have them, state that.
    • Other bans still open of our partner communities, those go FIRST.
    • The ban must be under administration here by SteamRep (SR, SOP, AF2, ASBO, D2T and/or RAWR bans/cautions)
    • No earlier appeal still open, or already granted/denied.
    • Appeal can only be made by the "main" account that was reported/marked (the one that did the scam).
      • OR with the alt if it is not a alt of that account. Explain the connection, how do you know that account, your relation, family? friend?
    • Explain about (all) the report(s) on you, what happened, why, etc.
    You can read above in close detail all about this. We recommend that you actually read everything, for we handle definitions of terms we use often a bit different then most traders do.

    26. "Notes added" on your appeal, and nothing showing there.
    Admins and Mods can hide content on the forums.

    They use it as a note to themselves and/or other admins. Often its a bit of research, or just a "status" of it, or some conclusions from it. If they have nothing else to say on the topic at that point, they simply will type some along the lines of "Added note" or "Note". It has various usages to us:
    - Hiding sensitive content posted by users (images that reporters or appealants have posted containing usernames etc)
    - Hiding information we gathered so far on a topic.
    - Telling other mods or admins how to handle the topic.
    - etc. it has a lot of uses for us.

    To us it looks like: http://files.steamrep.com/1/2014-12/2014-12-11_17-58-56.png

    27. I want to talk with a admin / Interview for my appeal.
    Do NOT invite admins for your appeal unless ASKED for by the admin.

    There is simply no point, whoever you added will not do your appeal. All what will happen is that that admin will record the conversation to the appeal thread, and move on.

    Admins will ONLY talk with a appealer when he's done researching your case, and the admin sees a NEED for it due the appeal. That means that such interview will only take place if the admin is very close in finishing the appeal, and is looking for the last details to be filled in by the interview. The admin may then invite the appealer or may ask the appealer to add them on the appeal thread. You can find the admin's steam account by clicking on his Steam ID64 below his avatar on the forum.

    IF a admin wants a interview with you, make sure as soon as that interview starts that:
    - You are logged into SR forums (to post information / screenshots that may be requested from you)
    - Have at least one hour of undivided attention, without needing to go for lunch/diner/sports/whatever, if you do not have that much time, indicate that right away.
    - Give direct answers on questions.
    - Unless the admin indicates otherwise, interview starts as soon there is contact.
    Again: There is NO point in adding a admin before they indicated you can add them, for he will not start your appeal, he will either ignore the invite, or just record the conversation, post it on the appeal thread and remove you, and move on.
  20. Lava

    Lava Public Relations SteamRep Admin

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    28. By what rules are admins handling the appeals?
    Just the more public rules, we have some guidelines on research that we won't share publicly.

    • The admin that handled the report and tagged the appellant will NOT be the one to handle your appeal, except:
      • If there was a mistake handling the report (tagging the victim instead of the accused etc)
      • If the admin that handled the report is reading the appeal and sees grounds that the report was interpreted wrongly by him, and therefore reason to grant it.
      • The Admin that did the report is NOT allowed to deny the appeal if he's correcting. Only allowed to Grant the appeal if that is needed. If that admin can't grant it for he believes the ban is deserved, it must be another admin to review the case. This ensures that any ban that stays will be verified by 2 different admins.
    • The admin handling the appeal must not be involved with the appellant or the victim(s), being friends/related with them etc. A different admin is then to handle the appeal. (This is similar that a report should not be handled by a admin related to the victim or accused, or admin being attacked by the accused etc.)
    • With any found lie, or holding back, the appeal will be denied. No matter what. Its acceptable to not remember things entirely anymore, but TELL so. Don't assume and state things from that, for that counts as a lie to us. There is after lies no point for us to go try figure out with the appellant what the truth is, or trying to get constructive from that.
    29. This was a long read, glad that is over.
    Nope, you can read more:

    How to appeal banned and Caution reputation tags
    SteamRep FAQ
    Expanded FAQ

    Hope this was helpful, good luck with your appeal.

    SilentReaper(SR).
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