Complaint Banned when I should have just been told to knock it off

[squirrel slapper]

Preface: Around September 2023 I started playing SS13. This was following months of watching Sseth's video on repeat because I love it so much. Predictably, I broke the rules constantly. Directly inspired by that video, I went around attacking people and saying shit like "I have a [random object] fetish" and "ready for penis inspection day?" Pretty much immediately burned through my one day, three day and seven day bans. Then, and only then, did I realise the point of the game and start playing earnestly. That's still one of my biggest regrets. Having gained the track record of a shitter during my first tentative steps into this game, and only now earnestly trying to be a functioning player but still having that track record. I am confident that my note history reflects this growth. No one has discussed them with me in any detail, let alone enough detail to contradict that, so I truly believe it.
Around November 2023 I made a bad mistake (kill-switched all the borgs just after the escape shuttle had left, not knowing what it would actually do, half-assuming it meant giving them permission to kill) that I believe would have been deserving of a simple one or three day ban and leaving it at that, but having the track record I had from those early days, I was told that I was on thin ice and that my next rule break would be my last. Basically, I was on my last chance.
End preface.

Today, 17 January 2024, Tarmunora banned me with the reason "I think it's about time you leave - based on your impressive noted history over the past couple months, you're out of chances." This took place immediately after a round where I was taking drugs with the radio host and speaking on the show. When the escape shuttle was called, I started ranting into the radio about how the "Liberal commie fascist anarchists want you to be afraid, they want you to evacuate, do not evacuate, stand up to them and be free etc." I was getting positive reactions in-game, which only encouraged me to take it further and further. I had no way of knowing the admins wouldn't like it. I had the Things to Keep in Mind: Rule 9 at the front of my mind the whole time and thought there'd be no issue with the way I was going about it. An appropriate way to deal with this would have been to admin PM me and tell me to knock it off. I would have done so immediately and without argument. I had no way of knowing the admins would not like it. It is NOT fair to ban me over it with no warning, and it's ludicrous to say I'm not even allowed to appeal the ban until 30 days have passed. If you had told me to knock it off, I would have immediately accepted that you just don't want that kind of talk on the server and there'd be no issue here.

(Look, I know this isn't a ban appeal but this all ties in to why I shouldn't be banned.)

Through my incoherent rambling on Discord, I've been given two other reasons for my ban. I don't know which admin sent this, it was in the anonymous ]report bot thing. This part is a complaint about whoever wrote these reasons.
The official other two reasons they gave are my "note history and overall shitty vibe".
I firmly, EARNESTLY believe that my negative note history comes from those early days when I was completely new and just going off what I'd seen in Sseth's video. I said as much to the anonymous ]report bot and the response claimed that today is my FIFTH incident since that "last chance" notice in November. This baffled me and still baffles me. I want to the bottom of it. Not knowing what the other four incidents were is genuinely stressing me out and making me unable to relax. But I have no idea how I'm supposed to learn about the other four incidents, and the admins refuse to discuss them even anonymously through the ]report discord bot. I still have absolutely no idea what those other four incidents are. My best guess is that they're literally just all the times I've been pinged by an admin since November 2023. I have exactly ZERO memories of these pings being for anything as severe as "the thing you've just done is literally a fifth of the reason why we're going to ban you permanently"
I also believe the "overall shitty vibe" comes almost EXCLUSIVELY from one outburst I had in the Discord server about a week ago. It was about not being allowed to say what I've always assumed is the least offensive curse word of them all: Bitch. That outburst made people uncomfortable. It was bad. It achieved nothing. I regret it. But when I'm playing the game with people, there is no shitty vibe. There's almost nothing but positive experiences. When I realise I've done something in-game that's ruined it for someone else, I apologise in LOOC and then stop doing the thing. Saying I have an overall shitty vibe is just unfair. This part is critical: I AM HAPPY TO BE PROVEN WRONG REGARDING MY VIBE. SHOW ME THE RECORDS. PROVE THAT I ACTUALLY NEVER STOPPED BEING A PIECE OF SHIT. THAT THE GROWTH I'VE DESCRIBED NEVER ACTUALLY HAPPENED. PLEASE. I AM BEGGING.

Anyway, just based on the message they wrote to inform me that I was banned, I believe the admin Tarmunora has been hovering over me, frothing at the mouth waiting for me to do something they can twist into being banworthy.

If it matters, the stuff I said in that round as a drugged staffie on a radio show doesn't represent my actual views at all. For what it's worth, I am an extreme leftist.

[Tarmunora]

You are not entitled to be let of with a warning yet again.
Yes, this particular incident is one that could have just gotten you a "please stop", but in the context of your previous history of behaviour, we're not convinced that warnings work with you, so you got a ban instead.
And in case you think this is just me being "out to get you" for whatever reason, your - shall we say 'shotgun approach' of DMing multiple admins, taking it into ]reports, and having a tantrum on the discord - has ensured that quite a bit of the team has seen this and agrees that you should go.

[squirrel slapper]

You are not entitled to be let of with a warning yet again.
Yes, this particular incident is one that could have just gotten you a "please stop", but in the context of your previous history of behaviour, we're not convinced that warnings work with you, so you got a ban instead.
And in case you think this is just me being "out to get you" for whatever reason, your - shall we say 'shotgun approach' of DMing multiple admins, taking it into ]reports, and having a tantrum on the discord - has ensured that quite a bit of the team has seen this and agrees that you should go.

I'm not asking to be let off with a warning. There's nothing to be "let off" from. I did not break the rules, at all. I had no way of knowing this would be such an issue. What I did was easily resolvable by just telling me to stop. From when I started playing earnestly in October to today, there is nothing in my pattern of behaviour to suggest I wouldn't accept being told to stop, that's hogwash.

The shotgun approach, DMing admins, taking it to ]reports, having a tantrum on the Discord, none of it would have happened if you had just TOLD ME TO KNOCK IT OFF DURING THE GAME. Either I would have complied and never gotten banned, or you would have banned me for not complying and I'd have no business contesting it. I am sorry for the outburst, and for accusing you of being out to get me, but it was downright soul crushing when I was feeling so good after that round, joking in the chat that I love radicalising the crew, being told in the chat that I should also try being a radio show arms dealer, huge smile on my face thinking I gave people a good time, constantly thinking I'm building up goodwill with every genuine round I play and then out of nowhere: "I think it's time for you to leave, buster". And the fact that you could have and should have literally just told me to knock it off, that is some meltdown-inducing shit right there.

If I was a shitter, I would just hop to another server whenever I got banned and never get attached to any. If my plan was to immediately do more things that will get me banned, I wouldn't be trying so hard to get unbanned.

If I do something in-game and receive an admin ping telling me to knock it off, I will ALWAYS knock it off. I swear to God. There's no reason for me to NOT knock it off. I do not like being banned, as I'm sure you've gathered.

Please, where are these four other incidents I've supposedly caused since November? I seriously want to know. I want to understand why this bias against me exists and where it came from - beyond just "I acted like a shitter when I first started playing" - so I can LEARN FROM IT.

---

Are you absolutely certain that the four other incidents since November you've ascribed to me since were actually me? Because I'm not.

[Leeanei]

You received rule 4 warnings on the following dates: October 10th, October 18th, October 19th, October 25th, November 10th, December 21st, and finally January 8th. This does not include your repeated warnings for RP violations (October 10th, November 10th, January 8th, January 16th(twice), and January 17th(twice)) and one note for general griefing unrelated to the RP rules on December 21st. This is a list of things from the administrator notes attached to your byond username/ckey. Some of these listed warnings were bans, of course, but non-permanent bans are something we use so you can really consider your rules violations and hopefully do better.

But you've received a permanent ban because none of that worked.

[squirrel slapper]

You received rule 4 warnings on the following dates: October 10th, October 18th, October 19th, October 25th, November 10th, December 21st, and finally January 8th. This does not include your repeated warnings for RP violations (October 10th, November 10th, January 8th, January 16th(twice), and January 17th(twice)) and one note for general griefing unrelated to the RP rules on December 21st. This is a list of things from the administrator notes attached to your byond username/ckey. Some of these listed warnings were bans, of course, but non-permanent bans are something we use so you can really consider your rules violations and hopefully do better.

But you've received a permanent ban because none of that worked.

I am legitimately concerned that someone else's notes are being mixed in with mine, or that normal interactions I've had with admins are being being seen as "incidents" without anyone actually checking what happened. That is a ludicrous amount of R4 warnings and RP violations that I have almost no memory of. What steps can I take to find out the details of each one? How can I somehow see what you see?

Those rule 4 violations on December 21st and January 8th cannot be real. They seriously can't. If they were real, I would not be here contesting the ban because it would be extremely clear to me why I was banned. What do the notes say I actually did on those dates? What did I say that I wasn't supposed to?

And I can actually remember what happened on January 17th, and it sure as hell wasn't "two seperate warnings for RP violations". It was a normal interaction with an admin where they asked me "what's with the wordless killings this round? Why didn't you ever escalate?", I realised what I had just done - on that one occasion at the very end I got tunnel-vision and fixated too hard on sneaking onto the escape shuttle with a cloaking device and then throwing grenades without giving anyone time to stop me - but was still confused as on every other occasion that round I had escalated perfectly. I informed them of this and they checked the logs and realised I was right. We both agreed that I should've done better on the shuttle at the end, and then I resolved to do better. That's it. It was a nudge in the right direction after an inconsequential slip-up at the VERY END of an otherwise fine round. I kept playing after that round and it wasn't an issue. 

The only one of the supposed RP violation warning dates I can remember is January 17th, and January 17th was not a case of "two seperate warnings for RP violations". It was a TEXTBOOK case of an admin telling me to knock something off and me agreeing to knock it off, which I will always do, because there is no reason for me not to.

[Varshie]

I can assure you that you are not being mixed up with another player. But as you are concerned that is the case, I'm going to go ahead and share a clean version of your notes, with our administration's names edited out per our policy. From latest to oldest, these are the incidents logged under your ckey:

Clean notes of squirrelslapper
[#4 (main4)] on Wednesday, 17 January 2024 19:10
addendum to the below: folloing the ban they went straight to #ss13-questions❓ , #discord-reports , and my DMs demanding explainations/clarifications/etc., including one DM after being explicitly told "please do not DM admins on discord about bans".

[#3 (main3)] on Wednesday, 17 January 2024 17:06
Banned from all servers, reason: I think it's about time you leave - based on your impressive noted history over the past couple months, you're out of chances., duration: Permanent

[#3 (main3)] on Wednesday, 17 January 2024 15:27
Warned after tossing an incendiary grenade into the shuttle brig with no escalation or buildup. Should probably know better, considering this is the second or third warning they've received regarding the RP server rules in under a month.

[#3 (main3)] on Tuesday, 16 January 2024 18:23
New login notice set:

Earlier today you went and declared someone was a spy because they asked for your photo and called out over radio to sec how you heard of spies and they were looking for loot. This is unacceptably meta for the roleplay server, you should not be shutting down antags attempt to roleplay because of your game mode knowledge under the pretense of having heard about it elsewhere.

[#3 (main3)] on Tuesday, 16 January 2024 14:57
Used LOOC “HOW DENSE ARE YOU PEOPLE” and calling them idiots over looc too. Warned

[#3 (main3)] on Tuesday, 9 January 2024 00:21
warned for poor shooting escalation as an antag det (all stuns, still out of nowhere), and told to change their flavor text from “mildly autistic”

[#3 (main3)] on Friday, 22 December 2023 03:51
Stole an ID as a monkey, went to the AI upload and killswitched all the borgs, then asked "will this get me banned" - this person is confused or just disingenous. If you see them "accidentally" doing shitty things again, ban them.

[#3 (main3)] on Friday, 22 December 2023 00:42
Rule 4 warning for "bitch."

[#4 (main4)] on Saturday, 11 November 2023 00:39
Banned from main3 & main4, reason: OOC language like lethals, no respect for roleplay in general and telling sec that they should get cancer. This is a ban only from the RP servers. I strongly suggest you figure out how to roleplay if you want to continue playing on server 3., duration: 7 Days

[#3 (main3)] on Wednesday, 25 October 2023 23:46
Banned from all servers, reason: You are continuing to break rule 4 despite repeated warnings and bans this month alone. Do not come back until you are ready to follow our rules., duration: 30 Days

[#1 (main1)] on Thursday, 19 October 2023 22:54
Banned from all servers, reason: Continually ignoring the language rules despite two previous warnings "ready for penis inspection day?" - Following rule 4 is not optional., duration: 3.5 Days

[#3 (main3)] on Wednesday, 18 October 2023 22:25
from the same round:
[16:56.3] James Butterfill (Squirrel Slapper) SAY: I have terrible chlamydia (155,114,1 in South Primary Hallway)
[18:25.2] James Butterfill (Squirrel Slapper) SAY: i think im autistic (151,116,1 in South Primary Hallway)
[22:16.1] James Butterfill (Squirrel Slapper) SAY: ill take a seat over there (164,119,1 in Customs)
[23:58.4] James Butterfill (Squirrel Slapper) SAY: i think im autistic (164,119,1 in Customs)
[24:35] James Butterfill (Squirrel Slapper) SAY: i think im autistic (158,116,1 in South Primary Hallway)
[27:48.9] James Butterfill (Squirrel Slapper) SAY: It's possible that I'm a bit neurodivergent (160,115,1 in South Primary Hallway)
[28:37] James Butterfill (Squirrel Slapper) SAY: It's possible that I'm a bit neurodivergent (115,117,1 in South Primary Hallway)
[39:4.8] James Butterfill (Squirrel Slapper) SAY: your mother is in my bed (195,170,1 in East Primary Hallway)

[#3 (main3)] on Wednesday, 18 October 2023 21:47
Language warning for "i think im autistic" - Tried to argue it was 'in-character', then asked if they could say neurodivergent instead.

[#3 (main3)] on Tuesday, 10 October 2023 11:44
Banned from all servers, reason: Same round as being warned about "cunt" starts writing "penis". Go and read the rules then play, you also need to pay attention to RP rules as your conduct is not appropriate for roleplay., duration: 1 Hour

Generally, when someone is warned or banned, our expectation is that the individual will go on to read and familiarize themselves with our server rules as to not break them again in the future - receiving a ban, being asked to stop doing something, or just being yelled at for breaking the rules are all a form of being warned; we don't have to explicitly preface our conversations with a notice that you're receiving a warning.

A few months ago you were spoken to and banned numerous times for breaking our language rules. One such ban was the result of you exclaiming during a round that it was "penis inspection day", despite having already been warned twice for breaking our language rules by that point.

I mention this as you left out a detail in your post where in your last round you went also on to announce that it was "coccyx inspection day". You know what you were getting at, we know what you were getting at, and considering you had already been banned for blatantly saying it in the past, it's clear that you were aware of what you were implying and how it is against our policy on sexual content and you went and said it anyway.

My point is: had this been your first time breaking our language rules, or any of our rules for that matter, then yes, you likely would have received a verbal warning. But it was not the first time- or the second- or the third- in fact, if you had been warned again it would have marked the ninth time you had been warned for breaking our language rule alone - not counting the times you had been spoken to for breaking our other rules.

So, no, I don't think this ban was unjustified, or that you were entitled to receiving another warning. You were given plenty of chances to improve your conduct and didn't, which is why you are now banned.

[squirrel slapper]

I can assure you that you are not being mixed up with another player. But as you are concerned that is the case, I'm going to go ahead and share a clean version of your notes, with our administration's names edited out per our policy. From latest to oldest, these are the incidents logged under your ckey:

Clean notes of squirrelslapper
[#4 (main4)] on Wednesday, 17 January 2024 19:10
addendum to the below: folloing the ban they went straight to #ss13-questions❓ , #discord-reports , and my DMs demanding explainations/clarifications/etc., including one DM after being explicitly told "please do not DM admins on discord about bans".

[#3 (main3)] on Wednesday, 17 January 2024 17:06
Banned from all servers, reason: I think it's about time you leave - based on your impressive noted history over the past couple months, you're out of chances., duration: Permanent

[#3 (main3)] on Wednesday, 17 January 2024 15:27
Warned after tossing an incendiary grenade into the shuttle brig with no escalation or buildup. Should probably know better, considering this is the second or third warning they've received regarding the RP server rules in under a month.

[#3 (main3)] on Tuesday, 16 January 2024 18:23
New login notice set:

Earlier today you went and declared someone was a spy because they asked for your photo and called out over radio to sec how you heard of spies and they were looking for loot. This is unacceptably meta for the roleplay server, you should not be shutting down antags attempt to roleplay because of your game mode knowledge under the pretense of having heard about it elsewhere.

[#3 (main3)] on Tuesday, 16 January 2024 14:57
Used LOOC “HOW DENSE ARE YOU PEOPLE” and calling them idiots over looc too. Warned

[#3 (main3)] on Tuesday, 9 January 2024 00:21
warned for poor shooting escalation as an antag det (all stuns, still out of nowhere), and told to change their flavor text from “mildly autistic”

[#3 (main3)] on Friday, 22 December 2023 03:51
Stole an ID as a monkey, went to the AI upload and killswitched all the borgs, then asked "will this get me banned" - this person is confused or just disingenous. If you see them "accidentally" doing shitty things again, ban them.

[#3 (main3)] on Friday, 22 December 2023 00:42
Rule 4 warning for "bitch."

[#4 (main4)] on Saturday, 11 November 2023 00:39
Banned from main3 & main4, reason: OOC language like lethals, no respect for roleplay in general and telling sec that they should get cancer. This is a ban only from the RP servers. I strongly suggest you figure out how to roleplay if you want to continue playing on server 3., duration: 7 Days

[#3 (main3)] on Wednesday, 25 October 2023 23:46
Banned from all servers, reason: You are continuing to break rule 4 despite repeated warnings and bans this month alone. Do not come back until you are ready to follow our rules., duration: 30 Days

[#1 (main1)] on Thursday, 19 October 2023 22:54
Banned from all servers, reason: Continually ignoring the language rules despite two previous warnings "ready for penis inspection day?" - Following rule 4 is not optional., duration: 3.5 Days

[#3 (main3)] on Wednesday, 18 October 2023 22:25
from the same round:
[16:56.3] James Butterfill (Squirrel Slapper) SAY: I have terrible chlamydia (155,114,1 in South Primary Hallway)
[18:25.2] James Butterfill (Squirrel Slapper) SAY: i think im autistic (151,116,1 in South Primary Hallway)
[22:16.1] James Butterfill (Squirrel Slapper) SAY: ill take a seat over there (164,119,1 in Customs)
[23:58.4] James Butterfill (Squirrel Slapper) SAY: i think im autistic (164,119,1 in Customs)
[24:35] James Butterfill (Squirrel Slapper) SAY: i think im autistic (158,116,1 in South Primary Hallway)
[27:48.9] James Butterfill (Squirrel Slapper) SAY: It's possible that I'm a bit neurodivergent (160,115,1 in South Primary Hallway)
[28:37] James Butterfill (Squirrel Slapper) SAY: It's possible that I'm a bit neurodivergent (115,117,1 in South Primary Hallway)
[39:4.8] James Butterfill (Squirrel Slapper) SAY: your mother is in my bed (195,170,1 in East Primary Hallway)

[#3 (main3)] on Wednesday, 18 October 2023 21:47
Language warning for "i think im autistic" - Tried to argue it was 'in-character', then asked if they could say neurodivergent instead.

[#3 (main3)] on Tuesday, 10 October 2023 11:44
Banned from all servers, reason: Same round as being warned about "cunt" starts writing "penis". Go and read the rules then play, you also need to pay attention to RP rules as your conduct is not appropriate for roleplay., duration: 1 Hour

Generally, when someone is warned or banned, our expectation is that the individual will go on to read and familiarize themselves with our server rules as to not break them again in the future - receiving a ban, being asked to stop doing something, or just being yelled at for breaking the rules are all a form of being warned; we don't have to explicitly preface our conversations with a notice that you're receiving a warning.

A few months ago you were spoken to and banned numerous times for breaking our language rules. One such ban was the result of you exclaiming during a round that it was "penis inspection day", despite having already been warned twice for breaking our language rules by that point.

I mention this as you left out a detail in your post where in your last round you went also on to announce that it was "coccyx inspection day". You know what you were getting at, we know what you were getting at, and considering you had already been banned for blatantly saying it in the past, it's clear that you were aware of what you were implying and how it is against our policy on sexual content and you went and said it anyway.

My point is: had this been your first time breaking our language rules, or any of our rules for that matter, then yes, you likely would have received a verbal warning. But it was not the first time- or the second- or the third- in fact, if you had been warned again it would have marked the ninth time you had been warned for breaking our language rules - not counting the times you had been spoken to for breaking our other rules.

So, no, I don't think this ban was unjustified, or that you were entitled to receiving another warning. You were given plenty of chances to improve your conduct and didn't, which is why you are now banned.

Thank you. This has put things in perspective. Thank you.

Once thing, regarding "coccyx inspection day" - and I do not add this part without due consideration:
I did not intend "coccyx inspection day" to be taken that way. Not even remotely. Me running through the halls and screaming "penis inspection day" is far behind me. I had no idea how anything worked back then and I just said it because it was in the funny video, I hadn't read the rules or even registered that there were rules, nor did I understand how announcements worked. Since then I have learned how and when to make such announcements so that they actually contribute to roleplay, and I've learned what not to say in them. When playing as captain I've, on separate occasions, announced via the announcement computer that elbow inspection day and prefrontal cortex inspection day are in effect. In both cases I went on down to medical to see my handiwork and it was nothing but positive. I saw some people flexing their elbows and others acting genuinely anxious about whether they'll pass the inspection. I saw a borg whose player was writing some genuinely funny lines whilst inspecting a man's brain. It was great. You do not have to believe me when I say this, and I'm still banned either way, but it is an absolute truth that I did not mean "coccyx inspection day" that way. My thought process was "think of a body part with two syllables" and "think of a bone". And I wanted something spine-related. I landed on coccyx. I had no intentions of trying to sneakily violate rule 4. I swear, I did not mean it that way.

Everything else besides that, cool and good. Very helpful. I understand now. Seeing the notes has made me understand. I will have a long hard think about whether or not I should try appealing the ban a month from now.