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[Resolved] Ban Appeal

catgirl.xml

catgirl.xml

Noob
In-Game name: catgirl.xml
Time of Ban: 15:47
Date of Ban: 06-27-24
Steam ID: STEAM_0:1:40075109
Reason for Ban: Brown hat rule
Additional Comments:
I'd like to request an appeal for my ban, I am sorry for team stacking so frequently, I mainly do so just to play with my girlfriend (otter kemono friends is their name on the server). I also understand that I can come off a bit like an asshole especially given that I meow a lot over voice which can come off insulting but is more of just a thing I do often outside of the server. I also understand that I harbour more of a colder personality towards people I don't know on the server which leads to me being less friendly with some of the players on there. Regardless, I am sorry for my actions and if given another chance would work to improve myself in regards to maintaining the integrity of the server.
 
also, please correct me if i did something wrong with my ban appeal, which i'm confident i did because i don't think it's supposed to have the new tag and it's my first time using the forums, sorry.
 
Your appeal has been received, we'll review the details and get back to you shortly, typically within 2-3 days.

We use the prefixes to track the status of appeals, you'll see it has changed to "acknowledged" now :)
 
Based on what I can see, there are a number of things that contributed to your ban from our servers:
  • Use of derogatory terms like "fag" and "retard" in chat
  • telling people to kill themselves
  • Made fun of someone for getting upset at a rape joke
  • General obnoxiousness and disrespect towards other players and our staff in-game
I can also see there was some general discussion about this pattern of behaviour among our staff and that our ACM approved a request that this be escalated to a permanent ban under our brown-hat rule.

Per posted policy, you may re-appeal your ban for a second chance at least one year after the date on which it was issued, namely 06-27-2025.
 
fair, i am a lesbian so i do kinda haphazardly toss that around, which i understand some people are uncomfortable with "retard" is because i'm very autistic (and so i hear that word thrown at me a lot, which in hindsight isn't very nice to call other people understandably so) which isn't an excuse nor justification just being honest, i do bring in a lot of what happens around in my friend group into the server and those two words get tossed around often, the "kys" which i'm guessing happened on the 25th or so was because i got mad, i don't remember what the rape joke was that might've been around a year ago or two but that also could've been recently and i wouldn't be surprised. i do wish i was warned more maybe i was but i only recall being warned twice, once about being in spectator because I was AFK for a good amount of time, and the other was for team stacking, prior to this i was never punished, gagged nor banned as far as i remember but that may not be the case. as i'm sure at least with the rape joke part that could've been a mute. as of late before being banned i was practically just meowing the entire time and i understand how that can be obnoxious, however most people didn't seem to have a problem with that, and players do have the ability to mute me. i understand though that most players don't really know how to, so that's that.

i understand my behaviour isn't tolerable in it's current state and i am welcome to submit an appeal in one years time which is fine by me, i am saddened by not being able to play the game in a sense as vaultf4 is one of the more popular servers on here and most servers do remain unpopulated, say for knockout but all of it's servers are hosted in france and is more of a gimmick fest (but that's not related, lol). i do wish i was given what you call a "get out of jail free card"/second chance, but i also understand that i did have multiple chances to improve upon my behaviour, but to add onto that i do not recall being warned frequently about my behaviour, though as my memory isn't the greatest i understand that there could've been times where i was warned but disregarded it. as for the disrespect to staff i think the most i did was meow at them or just say "no" over vc when one would attempt to kill me in game and i would kill them instead. i am just kinda writing down whatever i think as i go on with this, so i'm sorry if it does come across as a mess of dislocated thoughts.

i understand my behaviour for lack of better words, sucks, truthfully. i am quite cold and off-putting to most people as i have a long record of most people taking advantage of me when i'm kind to them. so i act mean to most people as a filter of sorts, that's more of a personal issue than anything but hopefully should give more insight into why i behave the way i do.

i also understand that me saying any of this does not impact the final verdict as it's been reached already. thank you for taking the time to look over my ban appeal, and i will see you within a years time, thank you, and take care.
 
Hi there,


After having a few days to reflect on the situation and properly understand the server rules, I can say that I am sorry for any harm or disruption caused to members of the server and any staff that I may have upset during my time on the server. I understand that this filter I create of people isn't entirely right and I should at the very least be friendlier to people who are undeserving of any hate.


I write this apology even after all has been said and done because I believe my former post to not be the greatest apology or even explanation of why I said the things I did, I would like to once again apologize to the staff members that may have been off-put by my behaviour and players that could have been discomforted by my general toxicity and rudeness. Originally, I was going to write this as a PM but figured this should be left on the original forum post in question for all to see. I wrote my original post while in a sort of cluttered mental state, and while my writing may not be the most eloquent or coherent I hope that with this post clears some points up -- I would still like to give a proper apology nonetheless.

I am sorry for using derogatory terms as stated in the previous post; I have autism, yes, but it does not excuse the actions I did with my time on VaultF4. I know there are others who say both of those words way more than I do and may be something worth looking into, but that is not the point of this post. I am sorry for using offensive terms that are hurtful to demographics of people especially the latter of which I belong to. I am aware that it gives a bad look and may invite people who wish to cause harm with said word to use it more openly, and I do not want to encourage but rather discourage the use of the word in that way. As for the "joke" part, I understand that there is a chance of me doing such a thing in the past, however, I am not able to remember doing that at this moment. This isn't to say that I couldn't have done it as over 2 years ago now I was with a person who would frequently put me in uncomfortable situations and I may have stepped in to defend their actions when I should've been stepping up for myself, I apologize to the player in question, and anyone else who could've been upset at me doing such a thing. As a victim of sexual harassment and assault I understand that it is wildly uncomfortable and in the moment of my original post kind of shrugged off as a nothing statement. I didn't do this with the intention of not making it seem like a big deal, but moreso how I've learned to cope with my own situation. Which should not be the standard for any victims of something so traumatic. Joking about it especially shouldn't be allowed and I should not have made fun of the person who was rightfully upset about it.

For my general obnoxiousness I apologize as well, I do wish more admins told me my behaviour was unacceptable before this, but I understand that the fault lies with me more than anything to correct myself and I feel like over these past few days I have had the time to properly reflect on the situation and work towards improving my actions and behaviour. I understand me saying things that can come off as insulting to admins should not have been said and kept to myself, or should've been met with a friendlier approach than the one I gave off.

I also apologize to the player I told to kill themselves, I understand that I should not have said that and I very rarely do, however that one night, I was tired and upset and should've gotten off hours ago. It happened on a 2v1 on koth_nucleus where I was by myself against the other player and his friend, where yes, I did act up. I was understandably frustrated at the time, and did not want to let up. I understand that this is my fault and this kind of behaviour is inexcusable, and I would never repeat the same mistakes I did as even after all was said and done I felt more miserable having done all that than if I just gotten off.

I cherish the time I have put into the server, as well as the friends I have made with it. I don't want to tarnish that integrity and would rather promote it -- to be better than I once was and to stave off toxicity to promote a better environment and community. I am trying to be my best person, and I apologize for not being my best or rectifying when asked to. I miss being able to play with my friends as VaultF4 servers are the only servers (aside from Knockout, but that's different entirely) that are populated and not being able to play on these servers I essentially cannot play with them in a more populated setting (hopefully that makes sense, sorry if it doesn't). I really would not want to wait an entire year to play again even though you have told me as per the rules that I am able to submit another appeal in a years time. I have just had more time to reflect on my actions in the past few days than I had in the moment.

I hope this apology finds you well; thank you for taking the time to look at this follow-up and I look forward to seeing your reply. I hope to rejoin the community once more and do better.

- Sincerely, catgirl.xml
 
Hi there,

I appreciate that you seem to have gone through some effort to write your responses and an apology; in return I will certainly do you the courtesy of reading through them and providing commentary/addressing what points I can for you; I hope to set aside some time to do so this weekend.

~Vintage
 
As stated, I've read through both of your posts.

There are a couple of points I think are potentially worth elaborating on to further explain our previous verdict. You're correct we do often escalate punishments in tiers according to the severity of the infraction, and I certainly do, from time to time, offer folks a "get-out-of-jail" card in situations, either after they have served their time on a permanent ban, or where we think they've gotten the message and are reasonably convinced they understand we are serious about enforcing the posted server rules. This is naturally something evaluated separately for each situation, and can be a somewhat subjective decision.

For the circumstances here, there were a lot of separate things to consider, but these are the main ones:
  • You were explicitly informed it was against our rules ("#5 - brown hat rule") to keep doing something after being asked to stop (by anyone, not just staff)
  • You were directly told to stop meowing (by staff and also asked by another player), but continued doing so anyway
  • you called the staff member informing you of the above a retard after they left
  • also called TF2C's developers "weirdo sex pests"
  • have harassed/bullied other players
Individually, any one of these would likely have been met with a shorter ban and/or we would have considered offering a second chance up front, but all things together really didn't give us an impression of someone that has sufficient respect for our rules and staff that we'd feel comfortable giving them a second chance at this point in time.

Some other staff members also read your apology, and while we agree it is a step in the right direction, there is some sentiment that it acknowledges the surface issues while glossing over some of the bigger aspects.

I hope this helps clarify the specifics of our decision in regards to your appeal. I'm not going to say that there is nothing you can do that might make us reconsider things sooner than the 1 year threshold, but if I elaborate on that here it would rather defeat the intended purpose of something that (ideally) comes from self reflection on all of ones actions over an extended period of time to atone for them, and certainly more than just the handful of days between the appeal and now.

~Vint
 
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