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Reporting & Help Section => Ban Appeals => Denied Ban Appeals => Topic started by: This... Is a bucket on August 09, 2020, 09:46:34 PM

Title: !shop ban appeal (again)
Post by: This... Is a bucket on August 09, 2020, 09:46:34 PM
So, it's already been a year since I've been banned from !shop. Precisely when, I can't remember. But I know it was August. Precisely why, I can't tell either. Now before you write me off as "a person who still doesn't acknowledge what they've done wrong", let me clarify what I mean. It's actually because I was doing 2 things at once during that time. I was both exploiting the "win credits" system to farm credits, as well as suggesting (mostly to myself in a joking manner) that I could bypass my !donate ban by giving someone else keys etc and then have them gift the credits back to me. But judging as how I have seen other people do the former a lot and not suffer consequences, I am guessing that would be the latter.
I've also already tried appealing in December (January?) by explaining why I was just jokingly suggesting it by pointing out the various reasons why it wouldn't work, which ended up getting denied. So I'm not even going to do that this time. It's time to just be honest, and simply put my thoughts across.

Where should I start? Hm, I'll first address Gawain's comment on myself last time around. You told me "I have repeatedly tried to game the system". That, I do not deny. Not at all. I am very much a person who dislikes authority figures, especially ones that haven't proven themselves to be worthy of the position, and gained my respect yet. I am always trying to find loopholes around rules, because I regard rules as too rigid to suit a reality which is always changing. Maybe that sounds a little confusing; but to put it into a translated idiom of my mother tongue: "Rules are dead. They can't change by themselves. Only People will." I hate blindly following regulations, especially when the reason is "because I said so". Therefore I see it a challenge to game the system. You were, and still are right. But in my opinion, everyone does that. Who likes blindly obeying authority without rationality? Who wouldn't exploit a loophole they found in the system? Lets say hypothetically, you found a way to pay 90% less tax, and it was not against any existing laws; it was just in a grey area of the law that hadn't been patched yet. If you can find me one person, including yourself, who wouldn't immediately use that to their advantage, then you can disprove me. Call me cynical if you want. But I think this way of thinking is just being realistic and not lying to myself.
My point is, it's just human nature to try gaming the system. And if you think anyone can be a goodie-little two-shoes and report a loophole that could be advantageous to themselves, you're lying to yourself. And I know that I absolutely hate lying to myself. Better to be cynical but real than optimistic but delusional.

There's also a reason I waited until a year before appealing. Half of it is because, yes it gives off a feeling that I've served my sentence and should be released from custody. But arguably the more important half lies within myself. I have felt myself grown in this past year. How? Let's just say a combination of dealing with some tough decisions in life, as well as a myriad of very emotional and thought-provoking films. These combined have made me reconsider a lot of things in life, a lot of which I took for granted. I now care less for material things that will only fuel a desire for more. As evidence, I made a decision to be more financially responsible, saving the money I earn rather than spending it on this game. I sold off my golden pan and put it in a bank account to gather interest as well. I never know when I might desperately need that money to save my skin someday. I also value communication a lot more, and see the power of expressing thoughts. These probably don't mean shit to you, I know. But that's my point, I just want to be honest about my feelings here. The me a year ago wouldn't be writing this. Perhaps I might even say that I value me writing this, and just putting myself out there, more than I care about getting back access to stupid !shop items in a server which no one is on anymore. I am also aware that right now I probably sound pretentious like "Wow look at me I'm so mature now! I'm better than everyone!" I assure you I know that I'm not even close to finished growing as a person, most likely will never stop either. Isn't that the point of life?

And in case Psy is reading this right now, yo. I truly did mean what I said to you back then. As I've told you, I hate lying to myself. When I first got banned a year ago, I really did feel nothing but relief. I thought I'd feel angry, frustrated, even tried to feel so. But I just couldn't. I was simply relieved. There would be no more pointless squabbles for credits that had no limit, simply just an endless cycle of yearning for more to hoard, even when I spent them, I didn't feel satisfaction. Just a desire to get back what I just spent. The absence of choice (having no say in whether I could use !shop or not) was tough but freeing. And that was why I only felt relief at that time. And since I'm spilling the beans here, I might as well also tell you the only reason I hoarded credits was to feel a sense of power. Standing a corner watching the server, and to explode into chaos should anyone kill me, made me feel silent but deadly. And I liked it. Well, being stripped of my power for a year made me realise how utterly foolish that feeling was. I was never the top of the food chain. I was always only trying to get more more more credits, that was it. (besides, even 1 billion credits can't do shit against you lol, what with your invincibility and admin abuse. a mere member cannot hope to be the top of the food chain anyways) Now that I know this, if I do end up getting back !shop, it will only be to spend on items that I genuinely think are funny, not things to crush my enemies. I want you to realise the weight behind this promise. I rarely make promises to anyone. I hate having to fulfill obligations, so I avoid tethering myself to them on my own as much as I can.

By this point you're probably thinking "This idiot didn't even apologise for anything. They just talked a lot about nothing of relevance while packaging it as an appeal." And you'd be completely correct. I've said it a million times and I'll say it again: I hate lying, especially to myself. I could go around making empty promises and lie about how I've learnt my lesson and oh I'm so sorry and blah blah blah. But I value sticking to my moral code and my philosophies more than I care about getting access to !shop again. As long as I've stayed true and been honest to both myself and others, that's all I need to sleep soundly at night. Besides, no offense, but your servers are pretty much dead. Getting !shop would add benefit to myself very little, much less than it benefits me right now by writing something honestly and getting a load off my chest.

So that's it for my dissertation about everything but an actual appeal. Do with me what you will. Deny this appeal, accept it, permaban me from Swapshop forever, I will accept it all. The one thing I ask of you, whomever you may be, is to just take what I said up there seriously. It means a lot to me to speak my heart.
Title: Re: !shop ban appeal (again)
Post by: Gawain on August 10, 2020, 07:54:08 PM
Well first of all, I must commend you on writing a masters program thesis to get unbanned from a very specific section of a very specific part of a decade old video game. That's some extreme dedication.

Here's the big HOWEVER, though. In this post you posture that there is nobody in the world who wouldn't exploit a system for personal gain. I posture otherwise, and can do so from a position of significant strength. You are, to date, one of only about three people who has ever found an exploit and immediately tried to capitalize on it. Every single other person who has found a shop (or other) exploit has immediately reported it to administration. Outside of video games, you can read all the time about people who find errors or problems in the system and work with society to get those problems fixed. If we lived in a world filled with as many voracious, cynical, greedy, asshole people as you seem to think we do, there wouldn't be much of a world to begin with.

When a natural catastrophe occurs, do you see people capitalizing on the pain of injured? No, you see massive, wide scale relief programs. When the tragedy of 9/11 brought down the World Trade Center, did you see people sifting through the rubble to steal the deceased wallets? No, you saw incredibly brave Firefighters, Search and Rescue teams, and Paramedics doing their absolute best to save as many lives as possible. People are not inherently bad, and you should not assume that they are.

Now, looping back around to the question of your ban from shop: you have not apologized, only offered haphazard excuses for your actions. Your disillusion with authority is not my problem, it's yours. I will not take it as an excuse for your actions. Secondly, you say you value communication highly, and yet when the exploit reared its ugly head, you did not communicate it to anyone. You simply abused the hell out of it for your own gain.

You say you hate blindly following regulations, but it's only blind if you can't see why a regulation exists. In the case of "abusing an exploit to the point of complete absurdity", it should not be hard to see why that regulation exists. If you cannot, it is either due to willful ignorance or a complete disregard for the other players on the server, neither of which are something I am willing to tolerate.

You say you have grown significantly, and I am glad for that. It is important for all people to recognize past mistakes and move on. However, your post belies that premise. Looking upon ones past self and seeing regret or embarrassment are a sign of growth, but neither of those are traits you have shown here. As far as I can tell, you agree with the actions of your past self- which implies that you would not hesitate to do them again.

With this in mind, I am going to deny this appeal. Your own words betray the point your are trying to make. If a time comes when you recognize that the actions of your past self are inherently flawed, I will reconsider my decision. Until then, good luck.

PS: Psy isn't a staff member any more, so that part is largely irrelevant.
Title: Re: !shop ban appeal (again)
Post by: D o m on February 20, 2021, 09:34:30 PM
this is a cool thread
Title: Re: !shop ban appeal (again)
Post by: Sixteen on February 22, 2021, 09:36:08 PM
yo so i didnt read any of this other than the "banned for a year from !shop

my opinion doesn't mean shit

my profile is marked within the • role which is for all the degens that stomped their feet when leaving administration

but i do know one thing. this man just wrote a 4 page essay on these old 2016 forums for a server that's been dead because it runs an old barely supported game just so that he could get more access to the server.

he deserves it imo.

sure rules. i get that. maybe he did some crazy shit, like i said i didnt read any of it. but the reason i didnt read it is cuz i dont care. wild that this place does.

maybe he will repeat his offense, at least thatll give you staff something to do. or maybe staff just isnt active enough to deal with things to begin with. that would explain the really shitty staff application written 3 weeks ago that didn't even get a blunt "no" response.

anyways, good luck to soldier quote #420

cya guys next month for my next random check of this server and how it's doing.

~16