Banned for a week without warning for shortcut camping

[PeepPeepImACreep]

I just got banned without warning for "spawn camping" on badwater.  We were approaching Point B with the cart, and I stickied the shortcut.  Since it is just a shortcut, and not their spawn (since they can go around after all) I assume that's not actually spawn camping. 

Someone said in voice chat, "Peep - just to let you know, don't spawn camp." At which point we had this brief encounter (in reverse order)
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Feb 19, 2011 6:04:08 pm   558   Peep Peep I'm a Creep    i havent
Feb 19, 2011 6:04:24 pm   558   Peep Peep I'm a Creep           wtf i havent even been to their side of the map
Feb 19, 2011 6:04:31 pm   13   TE | Lyriq   Dropping stickies at the spawn gate is spawn camping
Feb 19, 2011 6:04:34 pm   13   TE | Lyriq   I watched you do it
Feb 19, 2011 6:04:36 pm   558   Peep Peep I'm a Creep   i stickied the shortcut, but thats not their spawn

A second or two later, BAM - banned for a week.  I assume that the ban came from someone who misunderstood and thought I was actually at their spawn, but really I was just keeping them from using a shortcut door.  That is, a door not attached to spawn that red could circumvent and continue their defense.  I wasn't able to view the motd before I was banned, so I'm not sure what the rules say there.

[PeepPeepImACreep]

My Steam ID: STEAM_0:1:19814495
Admin who did the banning: DiscoStan

http://bans.theelders.net/index.php?p=banlist&advSearch=STEAM_0:1:19814495&advType=steamid&Submit

... I saw that this site suggest to protest a banning at the above site, but I can't find a link there, which is why I posted here.  Sorry if I'm obtuse.

[Lyriq]

First and foremost the shortcut for that point is essentially spawn as no one is going to go around. Secondly, I did think that banning was a little overzealous, but I do stand by my fellow admins. It's only for a week, so feel free to come back then. The fact of the matter is, however, that an admin told you to stop doing something. Our admins enjoy banning people. We have fun with it. Give us an excuse, and we'll do it in an instant. And it's generally not permanent, as in this case. Thirdly, you were temporarily banned for violating the spirit of the law. As I'm sure you noticed, every so often large bright words will pop up saying "DO NOT CAMP THE SPAWNS." I'd say that's fairly clear. I'd also think that would imply that we enforce that policy. We have had problems with spawn campers in the past, and we tend to deal with spawn campers, perceived or real, very harshly. Again, the ban is not permanent, so feel free to come back when it is over. -- Lyriq

[PeepPeepImACreep]

Hmm... I did not intend to violate the spirit of the "DO NOT CAMP SPAWNS" rule, as I assumed camping spawn was banned simply because there is no way to get around it, whereas once a single player notifies their team that the shortcut is no longer safe, they will go around.  It seems, to me, to be akin to camping a teleporter.  Is camping a teleporter banned, since the entrance is right outside spawn?

A second reason why I figured the "DO NOT CAMP SPAWNS" rule would not apply to a door that is not spawn, is that Badwater is built around attacking chokepoints near the cart.  When the game starts, red shoots in to blu spawn because the cart was there.  (In fact, I was killed by someone with a TE tag while still inside the spawn.)  It seemed reasonable, then, that if red can do that, blu should be able to make the cart more difficult to get to by cutting off a shortcut.

And finally, you may notice that I was kicked without any explanation that your interpretation of the rule was broader than some might expect.  Others on these forums have mentioned that a player would normally receive a warning first, even in the case of blatant spawn camping.  I received my warning, did not continue (after all, we were past the second point by this time), and was still kicked.

I understand that the ban is not permanent, but that doesn't make it trivial, and a 1 week ban seems excessive especially since other bans I noticed were for 10 minutes.  I was under the impression that admins had to answer to their community for their own set of rules.  If an admin can just ban whoever they want outside the rules, what is the point of having standards for an admin?

[Fraggle79]

This Ban sounds excessive to me. First a kick or 10 min ban, Maybe 1 day at most for this.

PeepPeepImACreep Thanks for posting the information in a polite way. I'll see if there's something I can do to lessen the time.

[DiscoStan]

Thanks for responding in a mature way.  The length of the ban was a mistake on my part since the admin plugin on the server changed since the last time I had to use it, and it ended up confirming the ban before I could use the game's chat function.  I was also hearing on over the Vent channel that you'd already been warned, got indignant about being told not to do it anymore, and were repeatedly stickybombing the spawn door anyway. Not technically spawn camping, maybe, but violating the spirit of the rules as Lyriq said above. No one likes getting killed 5 seconds after respawning and our server is meant to be fun, not strictly competitive.

I'll work on taking off the ban. I admit that I get overzealous about it sometimes.

[Giant Flying Head]

Ban removed.

[PeepPeepImACreep]

Thanks for catching the mistake and rectifying it. . . Maybe I'll blow you up soon!

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