Unjustified ban

[Killgore9998]

Hello, I was just recently playing on your pub server. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, and everyone was following the rules.

Near the end of a match, I went to the bathroom. I was not gone long, but by the time I came back I had been booted from the server for being afk. 'Oh well', I thought, 'I'll just reconnect.' Right after I did, it was announced that there was 30 seconds left in the match, so I elected to stay as a spectator until the next match started. When the match ended, I was suddenly booted from the server again and informed that I was banned. The entirely unhelpful message was "check htt" or something..?

Is there some completely bizarre, obscure reason why this happened? Was I the victim of an irresponsible and overzealous moderator? It was a good server, they were good matches, and I'd like not to be banned from good servers, hence this post containing my protest.

[crazydog]

You were banned by Spevf. He'll respond to your post soon.

Also, if you open your console you'd see the whole message which says to check http://theelders.clanservers.com/sourcebans/ (Reminds me that I want to change that message...)

For future reference (and anyone who happens to read this) please post ban protests here:
http://theelders.net/forum/index.php?board=43.0
I'd move this thread but I can't =/

[Spevf]

Yes I banned you. I did not kick prior to that but the reason for your ban was simple. You had changed your name to mine. I warned you to change it back and you did not. So I banned you for a week. We do not tolerate people who think its funny to play around like that. I don't normally lay down the law but this time I had to.

[Killgore9998]

Excuse me?

My player name is Killgore9998. That's all I have ever used. That's all I ever used on the server. I noticed that there was one or two people who were somehow copying names, in fact one was copying me for a while. You're 100% wrong that I did that and it's really disappointing that you think I did, since it's pretty much the opposite of justice that you're banning the wrong person. I realize that I have no evidence to prove this beyond a shadow of a doubt, but I hope that you realize that it's 100% possible (and in this case 100% true) that you banned an innocent player.

[Killgore9998]

Actually, I just thought of evidence which may help to prove my innocence: at the time that I was banned, I had just reconnected to the server. I was on neither team. Anyone who was guilty of duplicating a player name would have been playing at that time, rather than having just joined, wouldn't they? Surely your aim was to ban the offending player who was currently playing. I don't even know how to change my name in steam much less some how hack it so that it copies someone else.

No warning was given to me regarding names. Did you type it in chat? Did you say it over voice chat? If you did, I never saw it, possibly because I was afk in the bathroom at the time. I did receive one warning in the game, but that was one time when I was playing as a scout and I went too far behind enemy lines and I was asked to stop spawn camping. I immediately stopped after that warning, because I'm not the type of person who enjoys breaking the rules.

It's the most frustrating thing in the world to be blamed and punished for something that someone else did. It's even more frustrating to not be able to prove that it wasn't me. Is it possible that the ban was sent to the incorrect person as a result of more than one person on the server having the same name? I don't want to accuse anyone of making a mistake, but something went wrong.

I hope you are mature enough to recognize another mature person. I'm 27 and I own a house with my wife, and I play tf2 for fun. Would a mature person do something as childish of what you're accusing me of? I suppose my strong reaction doesn't lend a lot of credence to my claim of maturity, but there are few things that upset me more than someone other than the perpetrator getting blamed and punished. Unfortunately, what was turning into a night of fun was already ruined, and it's not like that time can be recovered.

Even if you insist that the ban stay in place since I can't 100% prove my innocence and since it's only a temporary ban, I hope that you are willing to at least admit that there's a chance that justice was not served in this case, since that is what happened. If you're not, then I suppose my frustration would be mitigated by the fact that I was only banned from a server with moderators who are comfortable with banning innocent people and therefore no great loss on my part.

I attempted to add you to my friends list in case you want to talk about it at all. For what it's worth, I swear to God, with my hand on the Bible, on the lives of everyone I hold dear, that I didn't do what you're accusing me of. I don't know how much more convincing I can be than that.

[crazydog]

Upon further investigation, you are innocent (sorry for making you type so much! ).

There were 3 other people who were changing their names to Spevf, and your name. I've permabanned those three.
In case you are interested:
1) http://theelders.hlstatsx.com/playerinfo/24386
2) http://theelders.hlstatsx.com/playerinfo/24385
3) http://theelders.hlstatsx.com/playerinfo/24384

And you
4) http://theelders.hlstatsx.com/playerinfo/24359

The ban has been lifted. Sorry for the inconvenience. (Ban info, for unban proof )
Also, thanks for taking this so well. We've had some other accidental bans turn much worse due to the banned person just acting like an idiot.

[Smurfette]

I have had another member of our community do some digging into the server, since you have claimed that your name was also copied.  I want to express our most sincere apologies to you for this incident.  It does show that there were a total of 4 ppl with your name as well as our admin, TE Spevf's name.  Your steam id was the only one who stayed consistent.  When we went to do the ban, it just so happened you were the one in the server at the time.  You are welcome to come back and play at our server any time and again, we express our deepest apologies to you for this situation.  This is a perfect reason why we have this thread and you have the opportunity to protest.  Sometimes, things happen and the wrong person gets banned.  Especially when ppl are changing names.

I look forward to seeing you in our server and I thank you for your patients in this, and giving us the time to sort this out.  I assure you that the other 3 ppl have been banned and your ban has been lifted.

[Killgore9998]

I can hardly describe my relief, and I mean that in all sincerity. I'm aware that I'm probably coming off as excessively earnest about the whole issue, and the reason why is that this sort of thing has been my pet peeve since birth.. or at least since my little brother discovered that it was easy to frame me simply by running to my parents, crying, and claiming that I had hit him or something.

Thank you folks for your professionalism and your willingness to look into the matter. I'm so thankful that the evidence existed on the server, even though I wasn't able to provide it. For what it's worth, you guys seem to run an extremely tight ship, and I'm impressed by your organization and maturity.

Sorry for my going a little nutso over this. I added the server to my list of favorites, and I hope to see you guys around. No hard feelings to you, Spevf, in fact I applaud you for doing your best to do your job and enforce the rules.

[Giant Flying Head]

This topic has been moved and locked. Thanks for your patience and understanding Killgore.

Cannot access offset of type string on string