Posts from Appeal - Mestear - No. 4.17

The violation in question has a long history, so I ask the esteemed voters to be patient. All facts provided below are necessary to explain on what basis the user was accused of violating the rules.

1. In April 2011, user Mestear first appears on the forum and registers for the game Mafia #29. In that same game, someone named Silence by~ attempts to register (twice, but unsuccessfully due to circumstances), who later turns out to have the same IP address as user Mestear.

2. In June 2011, user Ren-Cerera appears on the forum. Checking the user's IP shows that it matches Mestear's IP. The clone is banned by coordinator Lu41k.

3. During the investigation, Lu41k finds Silence by~ and also bans her account. Since this already reveals an attempt to register in the game with two accounts simultaneously, Lu41k not only bans the clone accounts but also issues a one-month ban to Mestear's main account. However, she retaliates by creating three clones one after another: WereLynx, Lynx Shadow, Lynx on the Lynx. Lu41k bans them one by one, and Mestear's main account receives a one-month ban based on IP from the Creator himself.

4. At the beginning of July 2011, registration for the game Mafia #31 begins. After all of the above, understanding that identification by IP will be circumvented using an anonymizer, I make an announcement in the game thread limiting new player registrations. Three newly created accounts try to register, all with different IPs (Luis, Mikh-Mikh, Razvratnaya_Markiza). I only register the first one. The other two "newbies" never appear again anywhere or ever.

The Luis account writes almost every message from a different IP, and although during conversations during the game he mentions living in Ukraine, most of the IPs are American. This is quite telling – but not punishable, and I don't accuse the user of anything. After the game, the user also disappears forever.

5. In August, Mestear's main account comes out of ban, and she immediately writes a complaint to the Creator about me. The complaint states that I allegedly accused her of creating the accounts Luis, Mikh-Mikh, Razvratnaya Markiza – which I actually did not do, as I saw that the accusation was unprovable.

At the same time, she posts constant attacks against me on the open forum in the spirit of “she won’t last long as a moderator,” “the moderator lied and will be punished,” etc. (most of them were deleted - if I'm not mistaken, by the Creator, but in any case not by me - last year, but the Creator received an email with links to them and should be able to confirm their existence). Players who are unaware of what is happening really believe that I am unfairly persecuting Mestear for no apparent reason.

6. After explaining what actually happened, the Creator offers the user either to apologize to me or receive 50 violation points for creating clones and 50 – for slander against me. She refuses the offer to settle the matter peacefully, and the Creator assigns her points with a corresponding announcement.

7. Very recently, user Mestear, in response to someone's question about which faction she played most often in Mafia, wrote the following post: /topic/at/619312/

There, among the games she has played, Mafia #31 is mentioned, where Luis was registered instead of her. Moreover, there is a fairly clear clarification – that she played as “mafia,” which narrows down the possibilities. At that time, 6 people were playing for this faction: Kits Kitsunka, Rimpel2, Xostor, Amko, me, and Luis himself.
All except Luis are long-time users who are well known and real people.

In accordance with the above, user Mestear received violation points under section No. 4.17 (registration of two accounts by one user).
I will not consider the question of how to treat the attempt to accuse the Creator of my own violation – I believe that one instance of assigning points for slander is sufficient.

UPD.
Clarification added by coordinator Lu41k:

The IP address of user Luis coincides twice with the IP addresses of other forum users: Dzhia and Kits Kitsunka. User Dzhia, in turn, has matching IPs not only with Luis but also with Mestear, WereLynx, Lynx Shadow, Silence by~, Ren-Cerera. Dzhia played in Mafia #36 and replaced Mestear there. Here is her post, in which she says that she is her friend and will write through her account (Mestear was known at the time under the nickname Lynx). Thus, it can be said that user Luis has matching IPs with accounts that have been proven to belong to Mestear.

To be honest, I do not believe there is any parallel between the violations of ??.04.2011 and 09.11.2012.

I have filed an appeal for a specific case, namely the one listed as the last, which concerns the account of user Luis.

In many actions and situations, a clear influence of personal factors can be traced; further explanation follows.

The provided points also require correction:

1-3. This does not concern the situation we are currently considering. Points were already assigned, and punishment was long ago decreed. It is irrelevant. In this instance, only one alleged clone account is being considered, not the entire heap of violations from which a lesson was learned long ago.

4. Firstly, it can already be seen here that moderator Slonysh exhibits somewhat paranoid suspicions regarding my person. The IPs of new users are constantly monitored, game access is restricted, and a database for potential accusations is being formed.

Secondly, I would like to emphasize that the IPs of new players were different; however, their access to the game was strictly limited by a rule for which there had previously been no equivalent in the forum mafia thread. The highlighted point about newcomers disappearing is quite understandable, as their freedom was brazenly restricted. For obvious reasons, few people would want to undergo some kind of harsh probationary period, so focusing on the disappearance is nothing more than baseless suspicions and conjectures.

Thirdly, the behavior of user Luis, called exemplary, is due to his personal rights and personal reasons. 45.5 million people live in Ukraine, and finding something objectionable in this fact is ridiculous at best (not to mention any dislike/racism). Furthermore, no direct evidence proving this has been provided. As for the anonymizer, its use is not restricted by forum rules, nor is a user's right to their own reasons for maintaining confidentiality restricted. There are also many reasons for absence after a game; user Luis is not the first to disappear in such a manner. The accusations on this point are "far-fetched"; they are based on guesswork and the construction of logical chains that differ from reality.

5. My complaint was not unfounded, as suspicions about the creation of new user clones were heard more than once from moderator Slonysh, and a considerable number of users in the "Forum Mafia" section were made aware of these suspicions. Only complete unprovability stopped the moderator from making direct accusations. The essence of the situation was that it occurred on the basis of personal dislike; all suspicions and conflicts were merely its result. Any disputes in an attempt to resolve the conflict and "agree to disagree" failed due to the unequal position on the forum.

6. As we see from the provided announcement, the thread regarding false accusations of creating clone users Luis, Mikh-Mikh, Razvratnaya_Markiza was dropped, and points were assigned based on actually registered violations specified in point 1-3 of the current accusation. There is not a word about the three new users in the verdict.

7. And this point of accusation is not devoid of conjectures and hasty decisions.

Knowing about moderator Slonysh's suspicions and her constant control over the thread (based on comments), I wanted to play a joke on Slonysh with the specified message. I did not explicitly say anything about playing from another account, I did not admit to violating forum rules, and I did not believe that this post would turn suspicions into an absolute or lead the moderator to take extreme measures.
Furthermore, there are—albeit indirect—truthful grounds to consider my statement about participating in the game as true. In game 31, based on punishment, I did not take direct part; however, I followed its progress very diligently and discussed the game's actions extensively with "Mafia" team members Xostor and Kits Kitsunka, who were good friends of mine.
No real evidence with actual identity confirmation was provided. User Luis himself, apparently, was not questioned either, although minimal means of communication with him exist, at least the registration e-mail. The current accusation is built on conjectures and biased conclusions; it lacks specificity and relies more on past violations than on reality and facts.

I hope that moderator Slonysh's friends among the forum moderators will carefully study the provided information rather than simply supporting a colleague.

Added clarification to the clarification from coordinator Lu41k:

"User Luis's IP overlaps 2 times with the IPs of other forum users: Gia and Kits Kitsunka":

According to Slonysh:

Then 6 people played for this faction: Kits Kitsunka, Rimpel2, Xostor, Amko, me and Luis himself.

Luis and Kits Kitsunka were in the same faction, meaning they played on the same team. Thus, it is most likely that Luis asked Kits Kitsunka to write a message in the thread because he apparently did not have the opportunity to do so himself.

Regarding Gia, I sometimes logged in from her account (which I wrote about in mafia) for my own convenience, which is why there is a match with my IP (naturally). If Gia's IP overlaps with Luis's IP, wouldn't it be more logical to assign points to Gia? In my opinion, that would be far more logical.

By the way, note that information for already assigned points is still being added; meaning there was no particular confidence in the initial data used to ban me—and from this follows a question: if there was no 100% certainty, by what criterion were my points assigned? And here one can recall the far-from-loyal attitude of the moderator toward me.

Adding:

In many actions and situations, a clear influence of personal factors can be traced; further explanation follows.

From this rude dialogue, which unfortunately now rests among deleted messages, the fact is clearly visible that one of the users is set against me, who is more than closely acquainted with moderator Slonysh (for convenience, I have highlighted important moments in the messages that confirm my words regarding the close relationship between user Gil4 and Slonysh):

Screenshot №1 -
User Gil4 reacts extremely sharply to my quite neutral message. All I did was hint at the dishonesty of an unknown moderator. Why unknown? Because I do not specify a particular name, which makes it clear that the user is acquainted with Slonysh's opinion and more than acquainted with the accusations brought against me.

Screenshot №2 -
Now this message can be called almost entirely a treasure trove of evidence that, simply put, moderator Slonysh "does not like" me, and diligently instills this "dislike" in her subordinates/friends, etc.
1. The user somehow possesses information that the clones have completely different IPs, and that every new post is from a new IP. Question: how did a simple user learn so much information about a case that supposedly concerns me? The answer is simple: the moderator shared all her guesses and other proven/unproven information with the user. That is, there is a clear attempt to turn other users against my person. And as seen by the aggressive messages, the moderator's mission was completely successful.

Screenshot №3 -
Let's summarize. A certain user addresses me in an aggressive form, threatens a permanent ban, showers me with insults, and furthermore spreads slander, attributing all three clones from 31 mafia to me (referring to Luis, Mikh-Mikh, Razvratnaya_Markiza, point number 4 in moderator Slonysh's appeal letter). But, I remind you, it was never proven by anyone anywhere that all three clones belong to me. That is, the user operates on guesses, but since he himself does not possess administrative rights and cannot view IPs, it becomes obvious that he was briefed on my case. And who briefed him is quite clear, as the user repeatedly mentions the nick Slonysh or changes it to Slonik. Everything is obvious here. But if this is still not enough: http://forum.heroesworld.ru/member.php?u=26621 follow this link, which leads to that same user's profile, look at the signature, find the phrase "Bond for life", click on it, and... thus you arrive at the profile of moderator Slonysh.
The personal factor was reflected in Slonysh's actions by 90%, but that is not all.

In addition, clear trolling from moderator Slonysh - /topic/at/498639/ From this message, it is well seen that moderator Slonysh singles me out from the general mass of ordinary HW users and even knows the place where I study, namely in the philology department of Mohyla Academy, which abbreviated is "Mohila". After all, it's clear that an ordinary moderator cannot know such detailed information about all users, and moreover, they have no right to make information public, especially in such a mocking format.

One more addition, not as important but quite telling:


Moderator Ment notices that the ban of my accounts is carried out too quickly, and this only says that I was being watched; if you combine this information with what I have provided above, it is obvious for what reason I was under surveillance.

Information related to other users that requires confirmation:

Information	User	Status
In game 31, due to a penalty, I did not participate directly, but I followed its progress very closely and discussed the actions of the game with members of the "Mafia" team, Xostor.	Xostor	information confirmed
In game 31, due to a penalty, I did not participate directly, but I followed its progress very closely and discussed the actions of the game with members of the "Mafia" team, Kitz Kitsunka.	Kitz Kitsunka	information refuted

Information requiring clarification:

Information	Provided clarifications	Status
The moderator Slonysh repeatedly expressed suspicions about creating clones – new users.	/topic/at/485080/	information clarified

The topic is opened for voting by moderators and coordinators (in accordance with the rules for conducting an appeal)

User Mestear has been found guilty of violating the rules.

The violation has been confirmed.

My opinion on what I read:
Slonysh – we can only thank him for his vigilance.
Mestear – I recommend that he refrain from violating the Rules in the future.
Even a tarnished reputation can be restored over time.

I believe that this appeal should be rejected,
and then – objectively assess Mestear's behavior.

Violation confirmed.

The violation has been confirmed.

Violation confirmed.

The violation has been proven.
It's easier to apologize and make amends...
The coordinator rightfully takes their place, and given their extensive experience, it's well-deserved!

The violation has been confirmed.

Violation confirmed.

The violation has been confirmed.

Link's violation has been confirmed.
Although I wouldn't be too harsh on her for a violation that happened so long ago, if possible, and Alex Ghost is somewhat right.

Violation confirmed.