[UK] Unjust Ban

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AlexMagus

Well-known Member
Jul 4, 2022
7
2
41
Your in-game name:
Alexander Magus


Your SteamID:
STEAM_0:0:171534768


Your steam community link:


Date of ban:
05/09/2022


What is your exact ban reason (shows when you try to connect):
1662408420130.png


Who banned you:
Yeke Maot at the behest of another admin (what he said in the sit), I am unsure of which.


Ban length?:
3 days.


What server were you banned on?: (SCP-RP UK or SCP-RP USA):
UK.


Link a copy of the in-game rules here (the url):


What will you do to stop this from happening again:
Refrain from posting links to (seemingly) IP grabbing websites.


Prior to this, have you ever been warned/kicked/banned?
Not once.


Why should you be unbanned:
One of the first reasons I wish to be unbanned is as the ban reason is wrong. I linked https://grabify.com - A website that does not exist, which in itself makes my ban unreasonable. If you want proof, visit the website or simply search 'IP Grabber' into google and you'll see the actual link to go to grabify.

I posted the link as a joke due to the fact that I posted the link to the cooking google sheet and people, as always, said 'IP grabber'. I have not broken any other rule on the server, nor have I been punished for anything else, and so this seems like a punishment that has been blown out of proportion and is extremely unfair.


How can you ensure that you won't break any other rule?:
Using common sense while playing the server. I haven't broken any other rule and been punished for it yet, so there is no reason to believe that I will break any of the other rules.


Why do you want to rejoin this server?:
I would like to rejoin the server because of the fact that it is actually a genuinely fun server (at times) and it gives me something to do which could contribute to the fun of others, not only myself. I have played the server for about a month now (mostly during the past week), and not only have I seen someone else post a link to grabify in OOC, but I have seen them not be punished for said actions.​
 

Yeke

Community Manager
Community Manager
Group Moderator
Mar 20, 2022
1,038
6
273
111
Good Evening @AlexMagus

Thank you for taking the time to appeal, this ban was issued at the behest of @Kw1ll which was brought on from the following screenshot;

1662411460459.png

As such, staff and players would not click on the link in the eventuality that this is a IP grabber, however grabify is a known URL for IP grabbing, as such, with this belief the ban was issued as it was believed to an IP grabbing link.

With this in mind, even if the link does not point to a IP grabbing site, this does not instil trust and faith in the community and staff team if these links were allowed to be kept up and treated as mere jokes, as it only takes one of these to be a real link and we have a more severe issue on our hands.

Thank you for taking the time to appeal and I wish you the best of luck.

Kind Regards,

Yeke
 

AlexMagus

Well-known Member
Jul 4, 2022
7
2
41
With this in mind, even if the link does not point to a IP grabbing site, this does not instil trust and faith in the community and staff team if these links were allowed to be kept up and treated as mere jokes, as it only takes one of these to be a real link and we have a more severe issue on our hands.

Does banning a member of the community for joking about something that others were joking about with a fake link instill trust and faith in the staff team? Because I don't think it does.

As I said, many others were joking about the same situation which I described in the ban report as I, though did not send the link and therefore did not get punished. The link was clearly a grabify that would not log someone's IP to anyone except the host of the website. The host of the website clearly does not exist, as the website doesn't, and so effectively zero people had their IP grabbed due to this experience!

As well as this, those with a shred of common sense would disguise their IP Grabbing links. If someone posts an actual grabify link in OOC with malice intent, they are an idiot. Especially in discord, can they disguise it, due to the hyperlinking and embedding. The link does send you to the video entailed, while taking your IP. Demonstrated:

1662413572543.png

however grabify is a known URL for IP grabbing

A quote said by you, in almost the exact words while in the sit:
'I know what grabify is.'

As seen in the image that led to the ban and quotes, it is clear that others in OOC chat also know what grabify is. This shows that the general public is aware of what a grabify link is. My message in the OOC chat did not highlight the ability to use nor did it instill the knowledge of grabify into anyone on the SCPRP server, for it only takes a few keyboard pressed and mouse swipes to find out how to make an IP grabbing link.

It is the first search result that shows up while searching for the query 'IP Grabber'. At least on google, that is. Banning me did absolutely nothing to take the link down, I'm sure even now it's still in some people's chat boxes if they scroll up far enough, despite you saying:

were allowed to be kept up

And so, absolutely nothing was achieved from my ban other than removing a player that could potentially spend money and make what the ultimate goal of most GMod servers are: Money. While it may result in one of the younger members of the servers being aware of IP Grabbers, if they post it with intent to grab IPs, grabify really isn't the place to do that. Not only are the links extremely easy to spot, they also don't give a very good reading of a member's location.

An owner of a grabify link will receive PC info and a rough estimate of where the user is. For me, It was Ashford, Kent. I am in the north. Kent is in the south.
 
@AlexMagus

It was I who asked for the ban to be issued, Grabify is very well known as a IP grabber, and even if it is a "joke" it is one that you have taken a bit too far. There are a lot of potentially vulnerable people in the community who would actually click on this, even if it is the wrong URL (Which I have now searched and found to be true)

Although it is the wrong link, you still posted a link very related to it, which may make users uncomfortable or feel unsafe. I feel as though the ban should be lifted, but the warning shall stay.

As such, you will be unbanned.

- Kwill
 
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