Denied My Mom's Appeal

Your In Game Nickname:

My Mom​

Your Steam ID:

STEAM_0:1:50682399​

Which Server:

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Why you should be unbanned:

I was banned by @CDriscoll, and since my private messaging attempt to appeal failed (that is, CDriscoll never responded to my appeal in private), I am hereby appealing on my ban. My ban was given on 8/18/2016 on global, and is described as the following - "Toxicity (Spam, Racism)". The following are the reasons why I should be unbanned, and should be considered cumulatively -

1. There is no offense of "toxicity." I understand that admins and lead admins have discretion to give different punishments than the ones described in the rules, but I don't believe they have the authority to create new offense out of nowhere. Furthermore, "toxicity" isn't described in the rules. Is being generally bitchy considered "toxic"? How about being sarcastic? What is "Toxicity" for which I was banned? The only instance in which toxicity is mentioned is with regard to "loopholing", which is unrelated to my ban.

2. "Racism" is not a stand-alone offense either. I understand that staff on Seriousttt need to prevent any event promoting racism or stigmatization of a certain group, but such actions should be under the umbrella of spam (to which there is a 3-tier punishment), or harassment, if it qualifies as one. In my case, saying the N word once, where a mod was present (@Yeezus Christ) cannot be punished disproportionately as it was. I already mentioned that this was a spur of the moment, and showed my regret for it. Being racist is more than just saying the N-word. It's about consistently discriminating, stigmatizing, and harassing members of a certain community. While the N-word is clearly a racial slur which should be condemned, it cannot be used against me to classify me as "racist."

3. I played more than 1200 hours on this server, and due to the long hours of my gameplay, some minor offenses are expected. For example, sometimes I accidentally RDM a person (and get punished for it), or I happen to spam "!RTV this map!", but overall I follow the rules and tend not to break them.

4. When I was banned by CDriscoll, he mentioned my "history". First of all, I have nothing exceptional in my history that justifies a 4-week global ban for spam. I do have some bans for RDM / RDM+Leave, but 3 of them were revoked due to lack of evidence or mods' mistake. The following bans were revoked after an appeal and should NOT be part of my "history" -

05/29/16 03:07AM 10W RDM and Leave (Fourth Offense) with History (G&E by C.A.Anna) Global C.A.Anna Expired

05/29/16 12:51AM 8W RDM & Leave 4th East 2 Change-up Expired

04/05/16 01:10AM 4W RDM and leave 3rd offense West Swagrid Expired

Here is the proof for ban revocations -
https://www.seriousgmod.com/threads/my-moms-appeal.27619/
https://www.seriousgmod.com/threads/my-moms-appeal.28959/

5. As I already hinted - the ban length and scope are exceedingly disproportionate. I was banned for 4 weeks global, while I understand the need to deter certain players, all I did was to spam on one occasion (repeated the same line 6-7 times), and say the N-word once. This is all the evidence that was presented against me. I admitted that I was wrong by doing what I did, and I showed regret (whether you believe it or not is a separate question). Regardless, banning me for 4 whole weeks, when the only subject-related "history" I have is a 8h ban from 5/14/16, is disproportionate and exceeds any kind of reasonable admin discretion. Admin/lead admin discretion cannot be used to impose a disproportionate or unreasonable punishment. In addition, surveying many people on this server revealed that they have never witnessed a punishment of the sort for the offenses I have committed.

6. Most important point - I play on this server EVERY DAY, nearly ALL DAY. I love this server and most of the people who play on it. I deeply regret my behavior and agree that I should change my ways. I still disagree with the punishment, characterization of offenses, and overall treatment I received, but I am still interested in being a member of this community, and play in accordance with the rules. All I really ask is for forgiveness and reconsideration of my ban. There are certain circumstantial conditions (mental, medical, personal) which lead me to be the person that I am (which I extensively told CDriscoll in private). I am willing to do every effort possible to become rule-following member from now on. This is something I have taken upon myself.

All in all, I believe I should be unbanned for the reasons listed in this appeal. I regret my actions, and I wish to change. I hope you will understand. Thank you!​

Evidence of Innocence:

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I'll re-tag @CDriscoll just in case the initial tag did not work. He will respond when he can!

Thanks for being patient.

 

I'll be responding to this momentarily.

 

My Mom,

Thank you for taking your time to appeal your ban. As your post covers a lot of difference points, I'll be responding to each point you've made and will go from there.

Toxicity refers to overall toxic behavior, whether it be through harassment, spam, racism/racial slurs, or anything else of that nature. This is not the first time a ban has been issue for it, and it won't be the last; toxic behavior isn't allowed, and people are punished for it. The reason that not many Toxicity bans are given out is because it is a discretion-based ban, similar to loopholing. There are different factors that go into these bans, and I'll detail that more further on in the post.

While you're correct that racism itself is much more than racial slurs and has deeper roots than those slurs, the use of racial terms and slurs is still racist and we can't condone it. Your punishment was not for this singular racial slur, however, which was only a factor that led to your eventual ban for Toxicity. I understand the regret you may have for using the racial slur, though I don't believe there is an excuse for this sort of thing.

As these two points are similar, I'm going to be grouping them together. First and foremost, history is not solely based upon a user's bans. The history of a user refers to their overall behavior on the servers, teamspeak, forums, and etc., which includes the user's bans and other offenses. This is not the first time that you've exhibited this behavior. Similar behavior has nearly led to shoutbox bans, and has been noticed as a habit; the only time it seemed to matter to you is when you were banned for it.

As I covered in the previous point, history is not limited to one's bans. While you may only have a few bans, you have a history of overall toxic behavior on the Shoutbox and in game, and the spam and racial slurs seem to be reoccurring events. During the incident which led up to your ban, you had been warned for spamming on a separate occasion only a few hours earlier by the moderator @Aco Taco, though proceeded to do it again after he had left the server and @YeezusChrist had joined. Clearly, the warnings you've been given have not been enough, and there hasn't seemed to be any remorse for these sorts of incidents until now.

I'm sorry that you haven't been able to play on the servers, though we simply cannot condone toxic behavior from anyone. When we had spoken in private before your ban, you had expressed to me that you had wanted to show change and that you hadn't been in your best mindset, though we need to see change, not just trust that you will change. The very nature of this appeal has been drastically different than the forum conversation you had created with myself, in which you had detailed your understanding of the ban and how you did not want to appeal the ban, and now I'm just not sure how sincere this desire to change seriously is. If you wish to be unbanned, you're going to need to prove to us that change is occurring; other than that, we cannot tolerate toxic behavior. The ban is not a made up offense, it was not given out for one racial slur, and the amount of time is not arbitrary; this sort of behavior has been happening for some time now, and you've had plenty of warnings, even nearly a shoutbox/forum ban. We cannot keep going in this cycle of change and toxicity.

This ban appeal will be denied, and you'll serve the remainder of your ban. There will always be the opportunity of having the ban shortened, though we will need to see evidence of change before considering doing so.

Have a great weekend,
CDriscoll