[iiMonkey]

I ask that you take the time to read this.

Server you were banned on (SMP/Discord): SMP

Minecraft name: iiiMonkey

Reason for your ban: Alleged X-Ray

Who banned you: LegendaryRTY

Why should you be unbanned: I should be unbanned because I did not x-ray, and I'm aware that this ban is no appeal. But I must say something. Ever since I was banned, I learned my lesson, and never touched a cheat again. I was falsely incriminated, and I know I'm not the first to be. I was never used X-ray at all since December. I've learned something though. I don't mean to sound rude, but I've realized that staff believe that random mining + finding ores = x-ray. This is simply not the case. It never will be. Ores are extremely common through out the world; they make up a large portion of it. In this instance, I was falsely banned after mining. There was no evidence that I was x-raying, and if there is I'd like to see it, but I won't, since there is none. I have proof that I'm innocent, and that I wasn't cheating, or x-raying like you suspect. Before banning people without evidence please, listen to their points. If you want to hear about the evidence, well, it will prove my innocence. I'm sure of it. By using a screen recorder, I recorded the entire session I was on (the one I was jailed and banned during). I have the file. I don't know how to send it to you, or how you'd prefer it but I'm telling the truth. I did not x-ray. I'd never do it again on this server. Please let me know how you want the file given to you. Thank you for reading this. I appreciate it.

Why do you want to come back: I really enjoy playing on the server with all of my friends I've made. It's one of the best I've come upon, and out of the dozens of servers I have visited I have never been able to find one as fun and well-made as this one.

[LegendaryRTY]

You can send the video to me on discord. You can find me under staff in the HT discord.

[iiMonkey]

Here's the proof that I'm innocent. https://youtu.be/duuGdl_jq-E

[Star]

Can you provide more videos of your mining? It would just help to see multiple examples. Also, please send along the chat logs of you explaining your innocence when you were asked to do so by the online staff member before any ban was issued.

Once I see these, I'll reply further.

[iiMonkey]

So LtBushyBoiRR and I decided to do an experiment because we were trying to test the accuracy of staff (Guardians, Moderators, and Admins) in detecting x-rayers, and because many others who seemed innocent were banned. I'll include screenshots of our discord messages. We formulated a plan to do this, where I would be mining randomly and find ores (ores are surprisingly common, especially gold, redstone, and iron, which are everywhere at y-11, and which I kept finding by chance) while I would D.M. LtBushyBoiRR saying things which would "grab" the attention of staff, because I know they use /socialspy. The things I said did not say anything about x-ray or cheats, just chat like "do you need any ores'' or "I found diamonds!" or "I'm finding a lot of ores." None of these would instantly incriminate someone who isn't using x-ray. It's just friendly chat. Anyways, I started the screen recorder (I cut out the first and last 2 seconds because it showed real names) and did /rtp and began mining. As I usually do, I mined directly to y-11, but just started randomly mining. I zigzagged, mined straight, changed elevations, and mined erratically which proved to be a useful way to obtain ores. I believe I found 45 diamonds (all from chance, and I had fortune III), over a stack of iron (which is extremely common, gold (I don't remember how much, either a stack or more), and blocks and blocks of lapis lazuli and redstone. Lapis and redstone are extremely common and drop excessive quantities of the material when mined, especially with fortune. I compacted these using /compact. The entire mining trip was a little over 33 minutes as seen in my recording, and I did not touch any cheats. I also have accidental screenshots (when I use f3, but on Mac it’s fn+f3 which Is why I make mistakes in this and accidentally use fn+f2). A lot are accidental, but others were from past mining experiences where I wanted to see how effective random mining is, such as when EnragedMallard was banned. It is very effective. I have many many screenshots which I will include (either on forums or discord, whichever you choose) but I do not have any logs of me explaining my innocence when I was jailed by RTY because I needed to get banned in order for the experiment we were conducting to become a success. The experiment was not meant to criticize or imply negative things about staff, but to show that not all people who randomly mine and find ores are x-rayers. Thank you for taking your time to read this.

[Star]

Congratulations.

This has to be one of the most frustrating appeals I've read in a long time. Not only did you manage to actually waste my time along with other staff members by intentionally setting yourself up to be banned for one of the most serious offenses on our server, but you brought another player down with you. The effort and planning you put into this is the most concerning. You went out of your way to get evidence of "innocence", spoke in such a scripted way to your friend and just happened to have a video of you mining with a full inventory which no real miner would (which is why I asked for further videos, we figured you didn't have any and that this was a set up). Not gonna lie, I'm really pissed you went and tried screwing with my teammates like that. RTY along with every other staff member on this server, past, present, and future, graciously donates their time to keep order and solve player issues on the server and make it more fun for players by preventing cheaters from draining the fun from everything, yet they're just not perfect enough for your standards. Mistakes will and have been made, but I can confidently say we try our best to avoid making mistakes in the first place by frequently asking other staff to double check our work, but even if something slips through we apologize and unban the person when appropriate.

I'm assuming one of the wrongful bans you mean is Mallard, who properly appealed, explained their case reasonably, and was unbanned with an apology and a clean slate with no further issue. While it would have been nice that they never had been banned, a mistake was made and honestly rectified by the staff member(s) involved. You did not have to try and take a vigilante route when it wasn't needed.

This could have ended differently too. When RTY asked you for further info, no, you didn't "have to get banned to prove a point". When you were jailed, that would have been a great time to go "Hey, I was recording that session as a way to show I didn't use cheats and still set off some staff alarms, the reason I did it was to prevent accidental bans in the future and help you guys see another side to this". But you, someone with a history of actually using cheats and talking about how wrong we are in social spy, decided THAT was the time to stay quiet and seal your fate. So now, you're staying banned. I'm probably one of the most if not the most irreverent staff member we have, but there are lines even I won't cross and expect everyone else to respect as well. This went from what you thought was somehow helpful to being an outright troll. Whether or not you didn't touch cheats this time, there's no appeal you could write that'll dig you out of the crater you're in.

[Grimm_Wolfe]

(03-22-2020, 10:43 PM)iiMonkey Wrote: So LtBushyBoiRR and I decided to do an experiment because we were trying to test the accuracy of staff (Guardians, Moderators, and Admins) in detecting x-rayers, and because many others who seemed innocent were banned. I'll include screenshots of our discord messages. We formulated a plan to do this, where I would be mining randomly and find ores (ores are surprisingly common, especially gold, redstone, and iron, which are everywhere at y-11, and which I kept finding by chance) while I would D.M. LtBushyBoiRR saying things which would "grab" the attention of staff, because I know they use /socialspy. The things I said did not say anything about x-ray or cheats, just chat like "do you need any ores'' or "I found diamonds!" or "I'm finding a lot of ores." None of these would instantly incriminate someone who isn't using x-ray. It's just friendly chat. Anyways, I started the screen recorder (I cut out the first and last 2 seconds because it showed real names) and did /rtp and began mining. As I usually do, I mined directly to y-11, but just started randomly mining. I zigzagged, mined straight, changed elevations, and mined erratically which proved to be a useful way to obtain ores. I believe I found 45 diamonds (all from chance, and I had fortune III), over a stack of iron (which is extremely common, gold (I don't remember how much, either a stack or more), and blocks and blocks of lapis lazuli and redstone. Lapis and redstone are extremely common and drop excessive quantities of the material when mined, especially with fortune. I compacted these using /compact. The entire mining trip was a little over 33 minutes as seen in my recording, and I did not touch any cheats. I also have accidental screenshots (when I use f3, but on Mac it’s fn+f3 which Is why I make mistakes in this and accidentally use fn+f2). A lot are accidental, but others were from past mining experiences where I wanted to see how effective random mining is, such as when EnragedMallard was banned. It is very effective. I have many many screenshots which I will include (either on forums or discord, whichever you choose) but I do not have any logs of me explaining my innocence when I was jailed by RTY because I needed to get banned in order for the experiment we were conducting to become a success. The experiment was not meant to criticize or imply negative things about staff, but to show that not all people who randomly mine and find ores are x-rayers. Thank you for taking your time to read this.

So I'll be taking over this appeal for RTY after the staff-team allowed me to.  Not only did they allow me to take this appeal, they have allowed me to disclose screenshots from the HT Discord's staff-chat.  You have no idea how we work and it shows, which will end unfortunately for both you and LT.  You see, it starts off with RTY asking for a review from both fellow [Mod]s and [Admin]s, which is very commonplace on the Discord.  (Take note of the time stamps, I live in the CST timezone of the US)


That request put me on the case as well, and I am very good at detecting x-ray.  I have spent up to an hour reviewing and collecting evidence in some cases.  Upon reviewing the previous discussion about how odd your mining sessions was, there was suspicion that you scripted the whole thing.  Guess what I found.


Evidence that would suggest you didn't x-ray, Ender further corroborated this evidence.

We found evidence to suggest RTY jumped the gun, which would have resulted in your pardon, an apology, and compensation (as I have done before for example: https://hometownmc.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=4913 ) only if we didn't suspect you of also scripting the whole thing.  Legit, RTY was about to unban for the x-ray ban, we stopped him because we needed to make a point, too.  

I decided to test you one last time, just to be sure.

If you had produced an archive of videos showing you mining for review, I would have been content with accepting your innocence on the charges of x-raying and pushed for your unbanning.  However, if you failed to produce any evidence, we would have to accept you scripted the whole thing--we got a step ahead of you this whole appeal.  Now, you've spilled your guts to us, making this very easy.  Congratulations.  In an attempt to ensnare a staff-member in a trap, you've only proved our ban-review system works.  You got cleared of x-raying charges but now you're perma-banned for this rule:  "...do not be annoying" - HomeTown Rulebook, 2:A

To close, you wasted our time with this whole facade.  No ban is frivolously handed out and forgotten.  We've all
been reviewing yours since Friday.  Not only that, but you're even trying to make this seem like some altruistic public service--you even got LT banned.  You have a chip on your shoulder, be man enough to own up to it and stop hiding behind your misplaced sense of self-righteousness.

Have a nice life; we know we will without you here.