Banned for 10 years!?! What??? - Reinstated!!! Woo Hoo!!!

[schnerk]

I just got banned for 10 years fortrying to scam another player. I have never made an unfair trade or even a questionable trade since I started playing. If anything, I have been overly nice. I always give out items when ever I have enjoyed talking with another player or see someone doing something nice. I am utterly confused by this ban.

Here is what I sent VMK...

I just got banned. I have never tried to scam or steal anything. I always give my items away to new players and this is the only type of trades that I do. This ban is unfair and unjust. Can you please retract it or provide me with information regarding my violation?

Do I have any hope?

Happy 100th post to me...

 

[tolkien7]

Wow- bummer. Perhaps VMK keeps transcripts of conversations and trades and this will help to prove your innocence. Good luck.

 

[schnerk]

Do they generally ban first and research it later? This is crazy!

 

[Nanoer]

try to remember what was the last thing you were doing before you got banned... are you on vmk trades? because people scam on their and report the wrong people for scammingfor the fun of it

 

[PirateDaisy]

Do they generally ban first and research it later? This is crazy!

Seems easier to them, rather than make an investigation whether or not this was a false claim or not. They need to seriously check their records first before pressing that "ban" button.

Hopefully things will work out for you, best of luck!

 

[schnerk]

Right before I was offered a trade by a player I don't know. I offer to help questers in my sig line, and a lot of them use the trade screen to talk to me so they don't clutter up the room with chat. This guy offered me a Treasure Chest, and I said, for what? He said make an offer, so I started putting objects in the box. He said he had it all, so I said ok and closed the box. That was it...

Could that little **** have reported me? Would they give me a 10 year ban for that???

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!

I just sent this to VMK as a parent and player

I got banned today for supposedly "Scamming" another player. I have never done anything of this nature. I enjoy playing VMK because I love everything about Disney and this was a fun way for me to stay in the park even after my vacation had ended. I have never recieved a warning at anytime and would like to consider myself a model player. I am writing in because I am concerned about how easy it is for someone to be falsely accused of trying to cheat another player.

What steps are taken before a ban is imposed?
What recourse is there for someone who is banned unfairly?
What happens to players who make false accusations against others?

As a parent I understand the need to keep the online community a safe and fun place for everyone to play. But what stops people from abusing the whistle blower techniques? I am concerned because not only have I been unjustly banned, but my entire family has been banned.

 

[threeboysmom]

Wow! I am so sorry that happened to you! I have heard that VMK does indeed keep transcripts of all conversations and trades, so if you can get them to review them, you should be in the clear. Keep us updated, please!

 

[schnerk]

Thanks for your support. Does anyone know if they often review the transcripts to see if they can find out what really happened?

I am about to tell my daughter that she can't play tonight. Wish me luck ...

 

[Dagny]

Oh my goodness. I am so sorry. I hope they look into this. There is definitely hope, it just might take a while, unfortunately.

 

[SassySavanah]

I too have been unfairly banned before. Seems to me they take the person word whom ever is reporting and thats it. I wish they would check chat transcripts before banning people. Now the 10 year banned??? Ridiculous!

 

[robynbird]

That's horrible! I hate how vmk does this to people! It's like Neopets too, they just ban like crazy in the hopes of keeping their sites safer. Well it doesn't work very well at all, the real scammers get away and the innocent players fall victim to false reporting. I'm so mad for you right now! I hope they give you your account back, that is just plain rotten.

 

[Maleficent2]

just keep on contacting them via the site...if you do not hear back tomorrow send another contact and so on and so on...until you hear something that makes sense.

Sorry this happened to you and I hope you get your un banned soon.

 

[Julesoola]

This happened to a friend of mine this morning too!!!! All he did was do his credit run, didn't even talk to anyone. Now I'm wondering if it isn't a bug..

 

[Laurabearz]

I am so so sorry this happened to you. I hope the black hole responds quickly.

(((((Hugs)))))

 

[LisaInNc]

I would keep writing to them over and over and OVER until they addrressed it.

I sometime get a threat that if I don't give someone somthing or trade with them they will report me and I always say go ahead with full confidence that VMK would never ban me for that. Now.....well I am sad to even think that some person would have that power over another. That is just sad.

 

[AmberDaze]

I am so sorry this happened to you . That is just plain wrong -- they need to make major changes in the way they do their banning. There is hope though...There are a few people on DIS that were banned and have gotten their accounts reinstated. Don't give up!

Good luck to you!

 

[schnerk]

Thanks Guys.

I am just going to keep sending them requests, both as a player and a parent. This is crazy.

I am not a vendictive person, but I hope that there is some recorse for the person that reported me. I can't believe that there are people out there that would do this kind of a thing.

It makes me wonder how many people have been unfairly banned and just written off the game, or even Disney all together. How many kids have gotten in trouble because they got their family account banned?

Wow, this just stinks...

Hopefully I will see you soon. ::

 

[qruthie]

This banning stuff bothers me more than any other problem with VMK. They really need to change their banning process. I can understand the need to ban immediately and investigate later but it's clear that they just do the big ban and move on.

Here's what I would suggest for handling reports from players:
Put a temporary ban on the reported player's account. I think it's safer to initially ban the player just in case the report is valid. I'm guessing a two to four hour ban would be adequtate. A simple message stating that the player has been reported by another player and their account has been temporarily suspended while VMK staff are verifying the report is valid would be adequate.

Do a quick investigation of the report. If it's totally unwarranted, reinstate the person's account, give them some credits for the inconvenience and put the person who issued the report on warning or ban them for filing a false report. I think most reports could be resolved this quickly. If a player is reporting people for no reason, ban THEM for 10 years. If the report is valid, then issue a longer term ban based on the circumstances and notify the player.

If the quick investigation isn't conclusive, extend the temporary ban to perhaps one or two days and notify the player of the status. This would allow the staff time to have a discussion about how to handle the situation. Again, if the report is determined to be not worthy of a long term ban, then reinstate the player's account. If the report is valid, then issue a longer term ban based on the circumstances and notify the player. In this case, I probably wouldn't punish the player who issued the report because the situation did require a more thorough investigation. In other words, it wasn't a false report but the circumstances didn't warrant a long term ban.

I would also try to avoid banning an IP address, using that ban only in the worst case scenarios.

It's not rocket science, the above procedure should work fairly smoothly although it might need a few tweaks here and there.

Feel free to submit this suggestion to the VMK black hole if you think it makes sense.

qruthie (the 'q' is silent)

 

[schnerk]

Wow, that will look great in tomorrows issue of the Reinstate Schnerk Report. I think that is a great idea. I know that I would be upset about a 2 hour ban for a little while (Like 2 hrs...) but that I would much prefer it to a 10 year ban.

Thanks qruthie!!!



Any other ideas to include?

 

[Nanoer]

did you try going to contact us and clicking i think i'm banned? and there's a vmk number somewhere i'll send it to you if i find it someone got unbanned within less than a week of her call