Since I was brought into this might as well add my opinion. TBH the whole thing never adds up. From the beginning Pistol had already made one mistake by Banning me he went and saw that my name was on the sign of Ownership. Pistol had taken time out of his schedule to teleport to other people in the server and me, Huggable Zombie, Arena had started building a base due to the map reset where all houses were removed. We had started building where Pete had come and said to us what we already knew (He probably did it because it was role of an admin). So he places a claim flag down on the ground and prevents us from building in our base because the claim flag. When we go to place our claim flag we destroy his and then he asked why we did this and we responded with "It was blocking our claim flag". He says that the reason he placed it was to show why you place a claim flag first before the base. When it's a sky base you can't really place the claim flag first because why would you place it then. Then when one of our friends get on the server being a fresh spawn he threatens the admin and end the sentence with :3 which he only got kicked for which was understandable. Then a few minutes later Arena claims that there was someone trying to get into our base as a joke between Arena and Spongegar. Pete teleports to us as he thought it was real. Originally Arena was helping Spongegar get into the base but after many failed attempts Arena hands the job to me and so after placing 3 plates down I notice the green wording of Dagerelf has been banned for griefing. Few minutes after Arena says that it was a false report for griefing and he ends up with a 3 day ban. Huggable Zombie being the only one on the server he questions Pete's reasoning and narrows My ban and Spongegar's ban to 3 hours with is okay but now that they are continuing with the issue I figured I would post my comment upon the forum. Personally I have never actually read the rules but after reading them after I got off the most severe ban time is 1 day ban there are several warnings before one gets banned like that. In my opinion Pete should at least get an answer from the griefing party before banning them or take another look at the rules before banning them. TBH this is drama that I never wanted to be involved in but if it means to remove someone abusing admin powers then at least I'll submit my opinion on the subject and another request would be that after someone if banned the admin must submit a report for it or they get a warning themselves.
Storm Trooper: The ban was for griefing, not for the chat violation. Once it was revealed by Arena that it was a false call for griefing -- the bans were removed. Arena was banned for making the false call and getting two innocent players banned. I have one account. This is it. Now for the fun stuff: 1) I didn't change the poll. 2) Dagerelf, Spongegar: Even if you are banned in error I still must file a staff report. Every ban done by staff is reported in the Staff Area on the forums. The reports in the case of Spongegar and you start out showing the ban, the information that came later revealing you were wrongfully banned based on a false griefing report from Arena, and also shows that you were unbanned. I had to document the ban in the first place before I could document the unban. Sorry that doing the proper reports for all of the BS that Arena caused takes time. I don't wait until the next day, I file my reports promptly. 3) Plating up to a base in and of itself is a griefing violation. We do not have to ask the plater what he or she is doing or wait until they flatten a base before taking action. Next time Arena calls out I'll wait for the destruction to start based on your criticism -- just to be sure it's not another false call. 4) The ban times are guidelines. They are not set in stone. There may be extenuating circumstances that result in a ban that is either shorter or longer than the basic guideline. There are also some infractions not addressed in the guidelines that result in temporary or permanent bans the first time out, without warning. Any other moderator reviewing this will consider information available at the time: A call in world chat for a griefing in progress answered by a Moderator who sees players plating up to a base that has a claim flag in it. The original pine floor below could have been used by the group owning the base to erect a new set of stairs to allow new members to get to the base. The player called out as a griefer was not in the group and started the path of plates outside the claim flag radius. A second player joins the first in placing plates. I take several screenshots of both parties, during which time anyone could have posted in world chat that it's a "joke". No one in the group, who are all in a party-line call together but not saying anything in the game, say that it's a "joke" until after the two bans for griefing are placed. Everyone then cries about admin abuse at that point and it takes two additional players being kicked for chat trolling before someone finally lists the chain of events and how a "joke" was "accidentally" posted in world chat. Two players are unbanned as a result but the party making the false call receives a ban. The ban for griefing is three days. In all fairness I think the ban for making a false report that gets an innocent player banned should be permanent, but I err on the side of caution and simply limit Arena's ban to the same three day period. More cries of admin abuse for doing my job in policing the servers. Two hours of reports and screenshots later before everything is resolved. That's two hours I could have spent checking other players and any of our 23 other servers. You want me to do my job banning griefers and thieves? Stop BSing about griefing with your friends, especially when you post it in World Chat. I doubt any other Moderator would say I abused my powers in this case. I know at least two other moderators who say that since all of you were in third-party communication during all of this... All three bans should have remained in place. Since this thread has been reduced along the way to catcalls I am closing it. Any further comments should be PM'd directly to Sr. Mod Max.