No apparent reason, no warning, and admin left

Hello HOG,

I was banned at about 12:30am Eastern Standard Time from HOG, playing Saarema. I was given no reason and when I was banned, I could hear my squad members saying "why is he banned?". The only thing I did right before the banning was to shoot a SMAW AP round at enemy CAS helo that was loitering above a contested point. The CAS in return rocketed me, once to wounded, and once to death.

Two days earlier I was kicked by someone who appeared to be an admin - he had a very young voice, like he was going through a voice change - which I found odd for HOG. He told me not to play "Remove Kebab" over my comms, when my squads name was Remove Kebab and I thought it would lighten the mood. In any case, it appears that he kicked me without even warning me. It's not like he said "I am an admin and this is against the rules". He just said "stop it" and then I was kicked. Or maybe that isn't what happened. I don't know. It's hard to know what rules are being enforced or what is going on when admins just pull hair triggers.

In this incident tonight, I was given no warning. I went to the TS channel to speak to someone. The response was "the admin who banned you left, so I can't help". This means that the admin banned me, and then almost immediately left the game and his admin duties. This indicates to me that I was being vindictively banned.

I'm an older gamer. Obviously the weekends are full of some crap games. However, I never expected the admins to act like this on the weekend too. The best servers have good admins that step up on the weekend.

Let me know if I did something in violation of the rules - no one can correct their behavior if they don't know what they have violated. This is a very basic aspect of deterrence in a participatory server.

UPGRAYEDD

Waiting for a response - would assume an admin that kicks someone would be accountable for their shift, instead of banning an running, as what I've been subjected too.

i manually added your ban after this player brought us that video. Somehow, you were able to join after this ban was added. However an attentive admin noticed you were playing when you were supposed to be banned and he banned you.

> This makes more sense. I'm glad that I finally found out why I was banned. Part of my complaint was a connection between the action and the punishment. I was disappeared from the server days after this video-related incident. I wouldn't know the connection if not for pursuing this inquiry.

Your actions are horrible, in the game as well as here.

> "horrible" - really? A single incident of a TK. That's "horrible? My actions here are "horrible"? I sense some hyperbole here.

Did you really have interaction with this admin? Did you speak with him prior to the ban? The guy that banned you is no child, so, are you lying?

> Did I have interaction with this admin - what admin? I stated very clearly that 1) I did not know the source of my sudden ban last night; 2) I said the action that I took prior to the ban (appropriately shooting at enemy CAS); and 3) seeing as that isn't bannable, I mentioned a previous kicking (days earlier) regarding playing of "Remove Kebab" over comms, which I speculated might be the source of the ban. Since I have no warning or indication of why I was banned last night, I am only left with speculation. This is what happens when there is no communication. My reference to the previous kick only had my interaction with someone who sounded like a child, said "stop it" and then I was kicked. I cannot connect the reason for a ban and the admin who banned me when there are, as I said, hair triggers or at least unwarned and unpublished kickings/bannings. I also clearly stated "Or maybe that isn't what happened. I don't know."

> Regarding the person who banned me last night, I never indicated that they were a child. I only indicated that they banned me and ran, which they did. Either that or the person on TS with whom I spoke about the incident was lying as to the status of that admin (he said, 10 mins after my ban "that admin is no longer around, so you have to go to the forum". Again, without clear communication, it's hard to know what happened. I can speculate that the admin simply didn't want to have to discuss it on TS or he was waiting to set up this incident where he could publish a video in response to a random unwarned ban - I don't know what motivates this admin, I'm simply presenting facts as they appear to me.

>Since I can't really understand your accusation - maybe you can tell me about what you think I'm lying? It's a very serious charge, along with the 'you're horrible' claims you make.

Even if the guy took your kit off the steps, it does not give you permission to teamkill him to get it back. What you should have done was get in touch with the child admin and ask him to sort out the issue.

> There was no "child admin" in the video-related incident. I never claimed there was. You'll see above the claim regarding someone I thought might be an admin, who sounded like a child, stems from the "Remove Kebab" incident. You really seem intent on irrationally mixing together clearly delineated incidents and arguments into one big "horrible, horrible" construction - it's like you're reacting emotionally (much like the TK video guy) instead of rationally here. I TKd a guy - it was wrong. I apologize to him here. I even apologized (albeit sarcastically) for the butthurt it caused this guy, because he complained about it for 10 mins after, on and on, whinging all the way into the closing screen.

Your actions are not what we want on our server, in fact, many that have watched this have indicated that your ban should not be lifted, i agree, you are a toxic player and what you did was definitely not team work, not friendly and simply stupid and of course, you were wrong in assuming that guy "stole" your kit. In fact, you stole his kit.

> I TK'd a guy for a kit that I thought he stole. That was wrong. If I knew I was responding to THAT incident, I would have been able to clearly said I was wrong and we could have addressed it. However, because there was NO communication with me regarding the ban or anything - I could only write a request here that mixed together speculation. That speculation appears to have led you to believe I was calling your admins children. I can understand how that might hurt your feelings. I just didn't know who was the admin, who was banning me, and why I was being banned. Again, you understand the role that lack of clear communication from your admins plays in all of this right?

> If you think this single incident of TKing someone is evidence enough to ban me for three months. Then go ahead. I'm not at all sure how this is evidence of "toxicity", which is generally systemic. I play(ed) HOG almost every day consistently for months. If I was so "toxic" then I assume there would be a large record of evidence against me to show this toxicity. Instead, I see players on that server committing much more egregious violations of 'teamwork, friendliness, and non-stupidity' and I'm getting punished? Someone stole my kit - result: a guy gets TKd wrongly. I apologize. I stole someone's kit - result: I get banned for 3 months and your defense can't even put together the incidents clearly or acknowledge the poor communication which resulted in misunderstanding. Seems totally rational.

Request to be unbanned denied, you can come and ask again in 3 months.

> It would appear to me from your reaction that leveraging reason and evidence is less important than emotional responses. That is your clear manipulative use of "child admin" and "horrible" and "toxicity". This is unfortunate since my own TKing over a wrong assumption was also emotional. However, I at least have been clear and straightforward in accounting for everything I've done. The response you have given here indicates absolutely no accountability for the confusion poor admin communication created and how that might play into my response. I would ask that you take this into consideration and reconsider this 3 month ban.

> If the player who I TKd is of some special importance, please let me know. That's fine and I would understand why you would hand out a 3 month ban to protect his honor. However, I don't recall seeing this guy on HOG much, whereas if you check your records, you'll see I'm on HOG many hours every single day - again evidence that I am positive and contributing member of the HOG community, and, as a result, more statistically likely to make a stupid mistake due to the amount of server time I have.

Untgraad

Also, you said:

"Somehow, you were able to join after this ban was added."

I am not some hacker who is intent on undermining your authority. Seriously - I'm just playing the game like anyone else. This whole paranoid and hyperbolic construction I sense from your response is very concerning.

Please just look at this clearly and rationally.