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.

Regarding SR appeals.

Discussion in 'SteamRep General Discussion' started by Stermy Neight, May 13, 2019.

  1. Stermy Neight

    Stermy Neight Banned on SteamRep

    Messages:
    2
    Steam:
    STEAM_0:0:68775460
    Hello,

    So, I was banned from SR + Harpoon gaming for running from a spycrab in September 2017.
    I was fairly new to trading in general, and was my first game playing spycrab.
    I foolishly disconnected after I lost.
    I was wrong, and I completely understand now, how cheating the trading servers can harm the whole of the TF2 trading community.

    After getting a ban from all trading servers, I messaged the person I ran from, in an attempt to make things clear.
    He explained the consequences of breaking this rule.

    I proceeded to apologize, and give him aprox 8 ref and a couple of hats. The original spycrab being around 3 ref or so.
    Myself the the victim actually became friends afterwards, and talked from time to time.

    I had also created an appeal. Which I watched regularly for a response.
    In August 2018 I believe, I managed to get a response, and It was denied.

    Forward to, this week actually. I created another appeal, in hopes I can rejoin TF2's trading community.
    However that was denied.
    I had messaged the moderator to ask when I can appeal again, he responded with, "never."

    I have spent so much time trying to fix this.
    There's no SR admins just server admins.
    I've befriended the person I scammed.
    I have paid the person back with far more than was on steak.
    I put a lot of time into my appeal.
    I have waited patiently for my appeal to be answered.

    However I am permanently banned from participating in trading in one of my childhood games.
    Around 1.5 year(s) on, I am still trying to get unbanned.

    This thread seems to be my last thing I can do.

    I have pleaded, desperately trying to get unbanned and join everyone else.

    I would appreciate some opinions, and maybe any suggestions people have that can help me out?

    Thank you for reading.

    Ref:
    First Appeal Harpoon Gaming: https://forum.harpoongaming.com/threads/scammer-tag-appeal-76561198097816648-stormy-night.39503/
    Second Appeal Harpoon Gaming: https://forum.harpoongaming.com/threads/scammer-tag-appeal-76561198097816648-stermy-neight.42984/
  2. Lava

    Lava Public Relations SteamRep Admin

    Messages:
    5,858
    SteamRep Admin:
    STEAM_0:1:46187366
    Hi,

    I'm sorry to say, All appeals decisions are final. By the time your appeal has been denied, your case has already been reviewed by 2 admins who independently arrived at the same conclusion - the admin who tagged you, and the admin who denied your appeal. We have other people's cases to look at, and we're not going to keep handling appeal after appeal because you don't like the consequences of your action. You only get one appeal, so there is nothing more you can do.

    Please do not use the general discussion forum to contest your appeal outcome. This section is intended for questions and answers. By nature, very few people whose appeal was denied will agree with the outcome, and if we allowed everyone who disagreed with their appeal result to post here, our general discussion would turn into an echo chamber of complaints. If you want to talk about or clarify why we do things the way we do, or express your discontent with how we do things in general that's usually ok, but if you try to use this to leverage a favorable outcome, then your thread may be locked.

    PS: This topic is covered in the General Discussion FAQ, under point #3.
    Hidden Content:
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  3. Stermy Neight

    Stermy Neight Banned on SteamRep

    Messages:
    2
    Steam:
    STEAM_0:0:68775460
    Hey Lava.
    Thanks for the response.

    Let me respond to your reply,

    "By the time your appeal has been denied, your case has already been reviewed by 2 admins who independently arrived at the same conclusion"
    As I said in my post, one person denied giving a reason, a poor reason, but a reason nother the less. The second time, my appeal was denied because I had appealed before.
    Therefor the second moderator had not reviewed my case. All the information can be located on the thread I created.

    " We have other people's cases to look at "
    I try not to be rude, so what ever will be said in this reply. Try not to take it the wrong way.
    I believe this statement is incorrect. Through out the several months of waiting, the admin with the job of reviewing the appeals, did so every 2-3 months or so.
    And when he did so, it was generally a mass deny spree. Not one person ever gets their appeal accepted. So I don't see the point of appealing in the first place, if you have staff that are not willing to take their job seriously.
    Anyone can quickly deny everyone's appeal in a quick 5 minutes every quarter year.

    "and we're not going to keep handling appeal after appeal because you don't like the consequences of your action."
    You banned me from a large part of a game I play regularly, and have spent a large sum of money towards for something minuscule.
    Believe it or not, I don't respect it.
    If I were to steal a can of beans from a shop, and get life in prison for it, I would have something to say about it. But this isn't North Korea, or Soviet Russia. Let them claim the ridiculous, thrown together rules.

    " You only get one appeal, so there is nothing more you can do. "
    Again saying it how it is,
    That's a terrible rule. But to be expected from a group of teenagers that play video games regularly.

    Is it possible to get someone with a higher SR status to reply? I would like to have a conversation, rather than copy & paste replies.
  4. Lava

    Lava Public Relations SteamRep Admin

    Messages:
    5,858
    SteamRep Admin:
    STEAM_0:1:46187366
    I'm sorry to say, discussion of specific cases is not allowed in the general discussion section. If you want to discuss why our policies are the way they are, then feel free to, but if you push for discussion of your specific case through general discussion again, the thread will be locked. If that happens, you won't be allowed to bring up the subject again, and subsequent attempts to press the issue will result in incremental forum bans. I suggest you read this entire reply carefully.

    I have final authority over the general discussion section, as a head council admin, and head of public relations. That said, I do not have the authority to unilaterally overturn or make exceptions to policies. One such policy is that we do not discuss cases publicly, outside of their designate report/appeal thread, so we cannot discuss your specific case here. Besides, your tag was issued by Harpoon Gaming, not SteamRep, so if you want to debate why you were tagged or why you feel it was unfair, you should discuss it with them. Both admins who replied in the appeal threads you linked were well above the rank of moderator in that community.

    If, and only if, you have reason to believe the admin mishandled your case, and you can demonstrate that mishandling, you can submit an appeal review. Per our FAQ, you are allowed to have your appeal reviewed by another admin to decide if you deserve a second appeal, but only in the event of extenuating circumstances. To do this, you must choose one of these reasons, and explain:
    1. New evidence not produced in your original appeal.
    2. Unfair appeal (demonstrable gross mishandling, not a catch-all for disagreeing with decision).
    3. Other extenuating circumstance at admins discretion.
    Example of new evidence: Reporter was later banned for submitting fake reports/screenshots to maliciously harm people's reputation, supporting your claim to innocence.
    Example of unfair appeal: Appeals admin had a conflict of interest, or mishandled your case (e.g. rejected by same admin who accepted report).

    Appeal reviews are not second appeals, but a petition to request a second appeal under extenuating circumstances by invalidating the first one. The burden of proof for these circumstances rests entirely on you, and you only get one chance to explain yourself. By design, very few appeal reviews have ever been granted for SteamRep-issued tags, and fewer still for partner-issued tags, because they're intended as a safety-net level of oversight for admin mishandling, not a "second chance". Disagreeing with the admin's decision, disagreeing with the one-and-done policy on appeals, wanting a second chance, thinking the permanency of tags is too harsh, or having a change of heart "for realzies this time" are not extenuating circumstances, even if they're true, and any attempt to argue such will automatically result in your appeal review being rejected, and you won't be allowed to request another. Furthermore, the purpose of an appeal review is only to establish if you deserve a second appeal due to how your first one was handled; arguing your case as if it's a regular appeal will similarly result in the appeal review getting rejected.

    If you still think extenuating circumstances apply to your case, see our appeal tips for instructions to request an appeal review. Read those tips over completely, and you will find instructions to petition for another appeal. If you get banned from the forums for repeatedly pressing the issue through general discussion instead, you will have to wait it out.
    Roudydogg1 likes this.
  5. You Are The One

    You Are The One SteamRep Admin

    Messages:
    111
    Steam:
    STEAM_0:1:41038663
    As also head council and head admin for appeals, what lava said is correct.
    Roudydogg1 likes this.