Accepted 76561198007597823 Skyla (SOP Scammer)

steamID: EPTIC ♥ @ Going Quantum
steamID32: STEAM_0:1:23666047
steamID64: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198007597823
customURL: http://steamcommunity.com/id/Master_Skyla
steamrepURL: http://steamrep.com/profiles/76561198007597823

Hello there,
I just had some very sad news: I'm marked as "SOP Scammer" for "Fake REP".

Apparently, I am accused of having made ​​a "fake REP", which is not true.
Let me explain: I indicate that, "I sold my unusual Napper Respite w / B & B to a player called" Dark_Shooter. "Had his first unusual. However, I did not post them in my SOP REP because I had not thought.
Moreover, this hat, was to transfer to Dark, at the same time, and the same day that I got my unusual pyro (which I still have in my backpack).
It should be noted that the coat in question, was sold against a hoodie with the same effect, then, the hoodie was sold against a logo hat drill, which was sold against a Hallmark logo lvl 100 (painted Australium) to a player being called "Rainbow", himself French, I was sold against an Mittens Max Head ... etc.

Dark is brother IRL, I often trade with him, he plays TF2 thanks to me, it already has several trade hats / Bills, keys ...

On a second account! "OY", it is, not a scam or for the account I do not know anything, but simply a F2P account for idle.

On the other rep of a "Rinou", it is also an account of a friend IRL.
Clées of trade have been that person on my account, also of hats, a hat bill, as an earbud. However, there is an error on his part, the trade did not take place two days ago, but much longer.

It appears he made ​​a mistake (of time). Not being a scammer, swindler or an indescribable form of scam, so I hope the whole truth about this story.

Ps : I would note that I do not speak English "fluently". I am French.

Si je me souviens bien, tu dois soumettre ta demande de contestation a SourceOP et pas ici. Mais attend quand meme la response d'un administrateur.

D'accord. Merci de la précision

J'ai lu la page sur SOP, et tu as été bani car tu avais un rep qui venais de la même adresse IP que toi. Tu vas devoir leur expliquer pourquoi cela est arrivé.

Salut,
Déjà Merci de prendre le temps de m'aider AcesGamer.
Sait-tu où dois-je poster la réponse stp ? ici où sur ma REP ?

The reason : Dark_Shooter is my Brother and he live with my parents in a same house.....

Tu vas devoir leur expliquer ce qui se passe, et prouver que c'est bel et bien ton frere, et non toi qui se rep faussement.

For the purpose of consistency, SR conducts all appeals in English.

It is fake rep if the trade did not happen. Did the trades in question happen?

Ok. Sorry for using French.

i can put here, some screenshots of trade with my brother.

just check the historic of the items. (The REP of my brother are posted the 16/04/2012......).

some other trade.

Tu n'as pas besoin de t'excuser. Si jamais tu as besoin d'aide a communiquer quelquechose en anglais, je peux t'aider.

Thx for your help AcesGamer.

This appeal is being done in conjunction with Master_Dark.

I have made a decision. This is a significant one and I hope it does set a precedent in terms of analogical reasoning. This should clear the uninformed idea that the SR process is built on conjecture and assumption but aims to target 'real' scammers per se and not capturing traders who do not display scammer's intent.

Offense- Fake Rep
Fake rep is a detriment and stain on the TF2 community. It degrades the value of real rep accrued when trust is built between two 'internet strangers' through legitimate transactions. Apart from character references which involve cash transactions there should not be a previous association between the two parties for rep to be truly legitimate. When a transaction is successful, feedback and a +rep is done on the person's rep thread. On SOP, the basis of this is trusted cash based transactions in line with the SOP trading policy.

Scammers use fake rep to accrue trust in their transactions to hoodwink members in order to facilitate a scam attempt. SOP has had some prolific fake reppers in order to induce this tactic. This tactic reveals the intent of scamming the trader. This 'scam attempt foundation' is easily identified via IP where the rep is from the same source. Many scammers will use the "my brother excuse" as to explain the rep and 99.9% of the time this is a falsity. SOP admins are meticulous in shutting down this foundation as soon as possible where an SOP rep thread is the most commonly used 'trusted' rep thread in the TF2 community in terms of cash based trades.

The SOP rep thread rules have been thoroughly updated in the last few months with explicit reference to Fake Rep "It is on you to make sure you don't put yourself in such a position.".

The Case
This case appears to be the 0.01% of the "my brother excuse". It is firmly established that both Skyla and Master Dark are brothers given the swiftness of adhering to my demands and tests to determine their brotherhood. Though not 100% foolproof but more than enough than most likely, I genuinely believe that they are brothers and they have provided evidence in a timely manner to establish this fact. The timeliness has worked in their favour. They have a strong transaction history.

However though they do possess what I have mentioned above, I have reiterated to both of them that they already possess a 'trusted' relationship, they are brothers. There is no true +rep given in this circumstance as by birthright they should trust each other. They live in the same household. There is already a spirit of trust due to their family association. The question is, does this degrade true +rep? Yes I believe it does. Is there scammer's intent. I believe there is not, just an ignorance of the operation of an SOP rep thread. So how does one weigh these two inherent issues? Does the degradation of rep in this case lead to a possible scammer's intent? Would Skyla continually be +repped by his brother to pump up his rep thread? I believe it would not as through my dealings there was genuine mistake in the the rep thread's operation and its sanctity. Most likely, the lack of education when entering this community has created this problem.

Verdict of Appeal
I firmly believe that it is was an unawareness of the nature of SOP rep threads when Master Dark contributed to Skyla's rep thread. They are brothers, where the rinou rep (a friend) is a non-issue in this case. Though SOP will not lift both individual's ban due to this circumstance I am satisfied to downgrade both tags to SR CAUTION for now (removing the SOP association and recognizing the SR decision). I believe if we present "the brother conundrum" as already two separate entities (refer EChondo case) then through analogy we can consolidate those principles to this case (pending circumstance and investigation).

I will emphasise that this circumstance has been approached by the intensity of the 'fakerep' and the proactiveness of both individuals involved. Admin approach and discretion as well as individual case will be highly dependent on the circumstance, I will make this clear to ensure there is no issue of 'flood gates'.