Closed banned for harassment

Character Name: slainbysnail
Last thing you did: in FM
Why do you think you got banned?: https://royals.ms/forum/threads/harrasment.60279/#post-320269
Ban message when attempting to log in: temp banned for harassment and/or kill-stealing
What GM banned you (optional): @John

I'm not sure if the GMs here are willing to change their minds easily, and i've no screenshots on hand since none of mine were actually saving for some reason (qq), but at least let me tell my side of the story, if anything else just to let this off my chest.

I was in kerning city talking to noobs, and ronypony was there afk with his donator mount and chair, and tried to scam a noob out of his 1m by asking him to fame (he tried scamming another noob later on too lol). Then he went away until the noob went away, and immediately after he came back. I was talking to the others about how this dude scammed a noob for 1m when he's decked out himself. All of a sudden he said slainbysnail, you're not very popular in mapleroyals yourself. He went quiet when i asked him about what. A few minutes later (after he went off to pianus according to /find) he replied saying that it was because of apple scamming. I was taken aback by this not only because i was called a scammer (basically the first after that apple incident), but the fact that he remembered the incident after such a long time.

About the apple scam, it was around Dec last year, when i was still a priest bored of training and wanted to do a party quest to hang out with others (don't try this, apq is practically commercialised and they're very serious about the apples, in contrast with other pqs). I went into a team with razberri and ronypony, and at the end razberri confronted me saying that i stole her apples. I saw one of them dropped from her box that my pet picked up (it was like my 5th time apqing and I had my pouch on still) so i gave it back to her. She still wasn't content, threatening to leave the party until i gave her one more. After some more arguing her another apple, and she decided to leave the party anyway so I left too. During this entire incident ronypony (LeoX) was fanning the flames, saying this like omg, ugh and just return it already (others were mostly silent iirc). After this incident i actually felt kind of hated, and embarassed to come back apqing as a 3rd jobber (especially after someone else who didnt want me in their apq party actually lied saying i was on forum blacklist). Feels good knowing that he sided with her only because she was a friend.

Since this event happened a month ago, I was not hungry for money anymore and could easily return the ~10m that i owed her. Ronypony refused to reply when i asked him what her real name was (i remembered it as razberry) to return the money, and instead he continued ban-baiting me by saying something to the effect of "do you want to get banned" whenever i said something remotely sensitive. As i've said in the pms I was used to talking like that to people and I've went 6 months without getting banned for doing that. I've said worse to others, but clean for the simple reason that most people just don't care. Ronypony was strangely silent for the most part until the screenshotted parts of the conversation, my theory that he was just in it to bait a ban for his beloved friend. I've stopped apqing since i became a bishop, but somehow ronypony remembered me, which i am still in awe even today.

To be honest, I do not care about my ban this much to write an essay on the entire situation for basically a 0% chance of unbanning. Ever since I came here i started viewing ban appeals and reports, no offence John, but every post you made just seemed soulless and authoritarian to me, and that was how i rationalised the bans given out to people for the simplest of harassments (a random reporting someone using swear words in the middle of henesys to their friends etc). I do not mind serving my ban, but this topic has always been bothering me since i joined, and although the admins have definitely improved i feel like getting banned for calling someone a "damn pussy" with 0 context feels wrong to me. I understand that i was being sarcastic in the conversation (every other grudge i have with the system I've written as replies) and is possibly the main reason that i was banned, but I have a bad habit of refuting those that play dirty. I will try to contain my anger and not respond next time a conflict like this happens, if that helps.

I'd like for @RonyPony to disprove me here, and release the entirety of the conversation for the sake of fairness (and the part where I called her a whore because i've forgotten the exact context, serious), if not just to save his face and "popularity in mapleroyals".

 

No one will be disproving you here as only staff can reply to ban appeals. If you two want to take it to forum PMs, that's between you two.

My posts wouldn't have to be so authoritarian if people like you didn't walk around insulting people and saying the types of things you do. This is a game, but behind every keyboard is a real person. Why can't you just treat others with respect and if they insult you or you don't want to hear from them walk away? My responsibility to this server is to keep toxic people out that diminish the quality of our server's community. If it makes me look "soulless and authoritarian" to ensure the community remains as strong and large as it has been over the course of almost 3 years now, so be it.

 

It might have been different before, but aside from noobs, most people don't talk to strangers but only those in their own guilds/old friends. The best experiences i had on this server was when i was doing pqs with new players (I levelled from 1-70 in 5 days and 70-120 in 3 months), and I definitely have not been disrespectful towards anyone until I came into contact with fourth jobbers. My screenshot folder has a clear transition from shots kept as memories to evidences for map disputes in case someone decides to report. I guess I'm just cynical, somehow this server made me even more nostalgic.

Answering your question, when he mentioned about the bad name I apparently had in the apq community it kind of made me go after him aggressively since it reminded me of that bad past (along with the fact that him being passive aggressive lost my respect), but the reason I responded was because I sincerely wanted to repay razberri and stop being reminded of this entire thing, as mentioned I felt bad about the whole situation. At the time i remembered her name as razberry and requested confirmation for her name down to the letter (not included in the screenshot) so i can give her monetary compensation or something to make up for it when she comes online. Instead he started ignoring me and only responded when i cussed. Does not help the fact that i was harassing him in your sense of the word, but why should i treat him with respect when he clearly disrespects me?

I know that you aren't inherently authoritarian, you seem friendly ingame, but compared with other GMs why do your posts always seem so ? I'm not going to pursue this any further, but can I get a reason why in the absence of any evidence regarding the usage of the word "whore" and zero context leading up to the words "damn pussy", in addition to him literally ban-baiting with zero intention to conceal his intentions, would this constitute a ban, which sets precedence for more people reporting harassments in bad faith? Can we acknowledge the fact that a bad word like "pussy" has zero effect on a grown adult (23) on the internet and by reporting this as harassment he is playing dirty by leveraging on the fact that actual harassment is serious to enact revenge of some kind, and in doing so trivializing harassment (for example a fictional person constantly spamming "kill yourself" on multiple accounts to a single person and receives a mere 3 day ban)? Should I make a new thread in the feedback board to discuss this if and when this thread gets closed with no closure?

 

You got mad for being called a scammer after you called him a scammer, and then in your own words "go after him aggressively" and then you continue after he warned you that he would report you.
The rules are quite clear and with your own words I see several things you broke here.

• Engage in rude, unlawful, harassing, vulgar, obscene, hateful, threatening, abusive or otherwise objectionable behavior, including, without limitation, looting, kill stealing, making sexual comments;

Your ban appeal was denied, you were banned and you will stay banned for 3 days, if you want to argue for longer bans then yes feedback is the correct section, however using it to complain over your situation or your ban is not acceptable.

I really dislike your attitude towards a long lasting staff member and it's not acceptable either.