ALL Your Character Names: Terravore / Terrazap Last thing you did: Make a meme on the forums Why did you get banned?: @Dave Deviluke believes I was spreading misinformation Ban message when attempting to log in: Your shoutbox message(s) does not follow reasonable forum etiquette and a shoutbox ban was given. What GM banned you (optional): Dave https://royals.ms/forum/threads/ban-appeal.252318/#post-1579877 I read the ban appeal above where Tim asked someone "Why did you get 5m meso for nothing in return." and thought it was funny: I wrote this in the shoutbox: " https://royals.ms/forum/threads/ban-appeal.252318/#post-1579877 don't forget to log your Due Diligence for trades/gifts over 5m " I also wrote this a few times with some in-game megaphones: Free 5m mesos for nothing in return Just remember to do your due diligence trade in fm, cheers It ain't that deep, Dave. Asking someone to account for 5m is ridiculous, so I was making jokes. If you believe I was actually trying to spread misinformation with some kind of malicious intent or otherwise, you're more than welcome to believe that and use your rule-set to action me, as it is your right. In any case, I'll extend an olive branch and acknowledge that I can see how it might have come off that way, and I can word my jokes differently to avoid this happening in the future. Cheers.
Hi, Thank you for submitting the appeal. I believe we are viewing this matter differently, so I would like to clarify the situation. The initial one-off shoutbox message could reasonably be interpreted as a joke, which is why a shoutbox ban was not issued immediately at the time. Spoiler: Shoutbox Message However, I was later notified that you had also sent in-game megaphone messages repeating a similar statement. Spoiler: Megaphones At that point, I decided to take preventive action by limiting the further spread of what could be interpreted as misinformation regarding the Due Diligence (DD) rule. As stated in our Terms & Conditions: "For the purpose of this rule 'High value' is considered 5 billion mesos or higher." In the appeal thread you referenced, Tim only asked the following question: “Why did you get 5m meso for nothing in return?” https://royals.ms/forum/threads/ban-appeal.252318/#post-1579877 There was no instruction or implication that DD was required for trades involving 5m mesos. Previously, you had questions regarding DD for another appeal and you submitted a feedback thread about it, which is the correct way to raise such concerns. Staff also provided an official response there: https://royals.ms/forum/threads/changes-to-the-due-diligence-rule-for-trades.250867/ While you mentioned that the shoutbox message was intended as a joke, the way it was phrase, especially when repeated through megaphones, could reasonably give the impression that Staff were requiring DD for 5m mesos, which contradicts the rule stated in the T&C. As such, I ruled it as an attempt to spread misinformation regarding the DD rule. To better understand your position, I would like to clarify what you were hoping to achieve with the shoutbox and megaphone messages. If your intention was to raise concerns about how DD is being handled by Staff, the appropriate channel would be submitting feedback, as you have done previously. Disclaimer: For clarity, this is not specific to this situation. If another player were to make misleading claims about the T&C - for example, incorrectly stating that vote abuse allows three chances - I would take the same action to remove it as an attempt to spread misinformation. The intention here is simply to prevent misleading information about server rules from being circulated on public channels.
Hey Dave, I read your reply and understand where you are coming from. However, I already acknowledged in my appeal that I can see how my messages could be interpreted as rule-breaking. I'll re-affirm it again. My intention was to make a joke. I think that Tim asking a player to recall why they received 5m for free is absurd, especially when I think about how the rule in the T&C requires trades to be logged only when they're 5b or higher. I am aware that him asking that question is not the same thing as him asking someone to provide Due Diligence for 5m mesos. That said, I still think his question in the appeal is ridiculous and funny, and that's why I made the joke. As for the in-game messages, the idea behind the joke is that if you take 5m for free in a trade, maybe you should log it because there's at least one ban appeal where a player was asked to account for that much meso, which again, I think is ridiculous and funny. If I were to make the same joke(s) again, I wouldn't call them "Due Diligence" for the reasons you outlined, which I can see the merit of. Thanks for taking the time to explain them to me as well. I already stated and will re-affirm that I'll word any further jokes I make differently to avoid a similar situation if you choose to unban me. Hopefully this explains my intentions well enough, and please let me know if there's anything else you'd like me to clarify. Cheers.
As this incident also involves in-game megaphone messages, I will be requesting a GM to review this appeal as well. Please allow us some time while the matter is discussed internally.
Hello. We will be removing your shoutbox ban with a couple of stipulations/notes. In your message(s) above you mention that you’ll reframe your jokes in the future. That’s fine, but be aware that even if you reframe it but are still pushing for the same thing (referencing either the same situation or hinting at it, etc.) it will lead to a permanent shoutbox ban (and potentially forum warning points) that cannot be appealed. We are allowed to ask players questions during appeals (and other instances) and many times (if not all) have goals behind those questions that random people on the forums don’t know about (for good reason). We don’t need players going around meming/spreading misinformation getting the rest of the server riled up about something that is a non-issue for the rest of them. Shoutbox TLDR: It seems like you’re saying what we requested just to get out of the shoutbox appeal. If you slip up again or push the boundaries you will be permanently banned from the shoutbox (without the ability to appeal it) and will most likely receive forum warning points. Regarding your in-game actions. As Dave stated, you were warned in the shoutbox and told to stop and yet you still went in game to continue spreading misinformation in the guise of just joking around. Not sure why you thought that would be okay when the shoutbox was not. Your in-game actions are still under review as this appeal is only for your shoutbox incident. For the future, if you actually have good intentions going forward and want to remain a part of this server, don’t push boundaries and try to understand that staff have intentions behind everything we do (sometimes not obvious to players on purpose). If you don’t have good intentions then proceed to FAFO.
Hey @Bacon , thanks for the reply and rescinding the ban. Just to be clear going forward, are you saying that any jokes/memes about staff actions are not allowed, or just referring to this specific instance that I joked about? Since there's also another potential ban on the horizon, can I request a notification(perhaps in the form of a forum msg) if you decide to ban me in-game, or will I need to just attempt to log in and find out on my own? Cheers.
Jokes in general are fine, but when they mislead the population about things that are not rules it crosses the line. Just exercise common sense is all we’re asking.
