[Resolved] Ban Appeal

[Makka Pakka]

In-Game name: Makka Pakka
Time of Ban: 15:00ish?
Date of Ban: 29/06/2025
Steam ID: STEAM_0:0:54949364
Reason for Ban: None given
Additional Comments:

Hello,

I am not sure how bans appeals work on servers, I just made an account for this as I have been enjoying tf2 classic a lot recently and would like to continue to do so.

I was mid game on vip_mineside as VIP capping last point and got banned, hopefully not harming the game too much. I don't know why I was banned from every server permanently, so in order to appeal I need to know that first. I did not see any warning or messages sent to me, I was not using and have never used voice chat if that's important as well.

If any more information is needed please let me know.

 

[VintagePC]

Your ban was issued for repeated violations of our spray rules, and according to your chat logs it's pretty clear you know why you were banned.



---> Server rules <---

4. We do not allow sprays with pornography, overly sexualized images, or ANYTHING including genitalia. We also do not allow sprays that violate rule 3, have excessive gore or harmful links.

Since our staff blocking the spray clearly wasn't getting the message across, you were issued a 1 day ban, which is standard policy for a first infraction.

Your ban will not be adjusted at this time.

 

[Makka Pakka]

Thank you for your response, I did not realise it was only 1 day as it was not indicated anywhere, if I had know it would have likely not put in an appeal.

I was aware you did not like my spray, I did not know that was the reason I was banned from everything, seemingly permanently. I am unsure how I was meant to know that? However, thank you for highlighting the rule as I did not realise it specified genitalia, I think the spray is pretty minimally graphic, especially compared to what other peoples have as their sprays, but I understand you have rules for a reason and are just enforcing them and I will obviously remove it.

----An explanation-----

Although as a 1 day ban it is not super important I would like to explain what happened as you state since our "staff blocking the spray wasn't getting the message across". The spray was blocked maybe last night, it just was being flagged and when I tried asking the staff member on at the time what had happened and why but got no response. I continued playing and uploaded a second VTF spray and that also wasn't working so I assumed all my sprays were blocked. Until I played today with the same spray Mike Wazowski spray it worked for a while but then when I would spray it and it would display and then get taken down quickly, this is when I put this message in chat, I could have been more clear at the time with the message but I did not realise it would be involved in a banning and was obviously mid game. I was confused why it was limited initially then allowed then allowed but taken down after a few seconds?

Apart from initially having the spray which I totally understand and was at fault for due to skimming the server rules. I do not understand how what I did warranted a ban unless the spray being flagged meant I was to know not to try spray it again? Was the initial spray ban just temporary and so when I sprayed it again thinking it was alright now that was the infraction point?

Thank you for any response and explanation.

 

[VintagePC]

Our sourcebans page (https://sb.vaultf4.com) mentioned in the game dialog you screenshotted will list both reasons and duration of any bans issued.

There are some game quirks surrounding sprays that probably contributed to the confusion, for example I believe you have to disconnect and reconnect to a server before a spray change takes effect. Additionally, you _should_ see a message printed to chat indicating your spray has been blocked (and the same if you try to re-use the same spray file again), which we consider serving as an initial courtesy warning.

We regularly see people with sprays that violate our rules slightly modify the spray image in order to circumvent a block, which is probably what the issuing staff member thought happened here. I can see three different versions of the same image logged, which is something we rarely see under normal circumstances (and this is not caused merely by selecting another spray and then changing back to the original spray - the original spray will still have the same ID)

In any case, for non-voice/chat violations, a 1-2 day ban is our lowest tier of punishment we issue and usually a slight escalation of a warning. Some people ignore chat or voice entirely and so it tends to be the most effective way to get a message across. We've toyed with shorter bans in the past, but we've found that anything under 24h usually goes entirely unnoticed by the recipient - especially if the ban is issued after the player has already left the server.

I hope that helps clarify.

~Vintage

 

[Makka Pakka]

Thank you for your response and clarification, I can see now why it was seen as an issue. Although I am surprised by the three different versions of the spray, it might be when I was testing as I know I changed the name of the spray as I only had one before and now had multiple so I could tell which was which but I only did that once and it was the same file.

But its not an issue and thank you for your explanation.

 

[Makka Pakka]

Our sourcebans page (https://sb.vaultf4.com) mentioned in the game dialog you screenshotted will list both reasons and duration of any bans issued.

There are some game quirks surrounding sprays that probably contributed to the confusion, for example I believe you have to disconnect and reconnect to a server before a spray change takes effect. Additionally, you _should_ see a message printed to chat indicating your spray has been blocked (and the same if you try to re-use the same spray file again), which we consider serving as an initial courtesy warning.

We regularly see people with sprays that violate our rules slightly modify the spray image in order to circumvent a block, which is probably what the issuing staff member thought happened here. I can see three different versions of the same image logged, which is something we rarely see under normal circumstances (and this is not caused merely by selecting another spray and then changing back to the original spray - the original spray will still have the same ID)

In any case, for non-voice/chat violations, a 1-2 day ban is our lowest tier of punishment we issue and usually a slight escalation of a warning. Some people ignore chat or voice entirely and so it tends to be the most effective way to get a message across. We've toyed with shorter bans in the past, but we've found that anything under 24h usually goes entirely unnoticed by the recipient - especially if the ban is issued after the player has already left the server.

I hope that helps clarify.

~Vintage

Hi I will make a new ban appeal if needed but I just booted up tf2c and it says I am banned again, no reason given? Could you explain what reason was given?

 

[VintagePC]

Let me look into this for you, I'll follow up once I know more.

 

[VintagePC]

Sorry about that, it should be fixed. One of our staff made an error when issuing a different ban that accidentally re-banned you.

~Vintage

 

[Makka Pakka]

Sorry about that, it should be fixed. One of our staff made an error when issuing a different ban that accidentally re-banned you.

~Vintage

Appreciate it, not to worry