Ban Appeals

[RonaldLee[1up]]

BAN APPEALS

Establishment. There shall be established a procedure for appealing the imposition of a ban. The procedure shall ensure an appellant receives a fair and just disposition, including the issue of final punishment, if any.

I. ADMINISTRATION

Filing. An appeal from an admin imposed ban decision shall be commenced by posting a thread in the "Appeals" section of 1up Forum. There are subsections to govern classes of appeals: Radio Ban, Chat Ban, Vote Ban, Server Ban, and Teleport Ban.

Classifications. There shall be two types of ban appeals permitted: (a) cheating appeal: an appeal from a ban imposed for cheating or hacking; and (b) asshattery appeal: an appeal from a ban imposed for asshattery or any other violation of 1up Servers Rules that is not cheating or hacking.

   a) Cheating Appeals. A person who files a cheating appeal shall be entitled to a clan vote if the admin who imposed the ban believes that the allegations of cheating are not supported by a credible demo, or if there is no demo evidence, or if extraordinary circumstances otherwise justify the use of an appeal.

   b) Asshattery Appeals.[1] A person may file an appeal from an admin imposed asshattery ban. The procedure in such cases shall be as follows: (i) if the admin who imposed the ban (or impacted-admin, or impacted-referee, and/or the impacted-victim-member) agrees that the ban should be lifted, and the appellant (the person who appeals) agrees to comply with 1up Server Rules, then the ban shall be lifted; or (ii) if the admin who imposed the ban (or impacted-admin, or impacted-referee, and/or the impacted-victim-member) does not agree that the ban should be lifted, or if the admin who imposed the ban (or impacted-admin, or impacted-referee) fails to respond to the appeal within two days of the filing thereof, then the clan shall be called into service to vote on the matter of punishment.

II. LIMITATIONS

Limitations on Appeals. There shall be limitations to the number of appeals that may be filed by a single player.

  a) Cheating Appeals. In cases involving a cheating appeal, only a single appeal may be filed and disposed of, unless new evidence becomes available after disposition of a first appeal, which tends to show innocence. "Evidence which tends to show innocence" may come from reliable sources, such as the UAA, where the UAA has reviewed a demo or other evidence and has concluded that the same does not rise to the level of cheating. Such evidence would support a justifiable claim of innocence or a request to mitigate punishment.[2]

  b) Asshattery Appeals.[3]There shall be an upward minimum punishment criteria established to regulate the disposition in asshattery appeals:

      1) In the case of a first appeal, the punishment options available for clan vote shall be:

                       Remove ban; (compliance agreement)[4]
                       7-day ban;
                       14-day ban;
                       30-day ban;
                       60-day ban;
                       90-day ban;
                       120-day ban;
                       180-day ban;
                       1-year ban.

      2) In the case of a second appeal (a second incident of asshattery), the punishment options available for clan vote shall be:

                       30-day ban;
                       60-day ban;
                       90-day ban;
                       120-day ban;
                       180-day ban;
                       1-year ban.

      3) In the case of a third appeal (a third incident of asshattery), the punishment options available for clan vote shall be:

                       90-day ban;
                       120-day ban;
                       180-day ban;
                       1-year ban.

      4) In the case of a fourth incident of asshattery there shall be no appeal, and punishment shall be imposed immediately in the form of a 1-year ban.

      5) In the case of a subsequent incident of asshattery, subsequent to a fourth incident of asshattery where no appeal is permitted and punishment is an automatic 1-year ban, every such subsequent incident of asshattery shall incur a 1-year ban. 

III. VOTING

Clan Vote. In appeals where the clan is called into service to vote, the vote shall be a voluntary condition.

Eligible Voter. The Clan Founder, Clan Voting Members, and Clan Members are eligible to vote in appellate cases. In limited cases specifically so designated, Clan Trial Members are granted minimal eligibility to vote in an appellate thread.

Voting Timetable. An appellate vote will ordinarily last 24 to 120 hours (1 to 5 days). The person who calls the vote shall exercise discretion to elect an appropriate voting duration. In no event shall the vote exceed 120 hours / 5 days.

Calling Appellate Vote. Subject to established Voting Limitations, a voting poll may be called up by the Clan Founder or his authorized agent-in-fact.[5]

Majority Vote. The majority vote will compel the decision on appeal. In the event that there is a tie between one or more options, then the option providing for the least punishment (from those tied by vote) shall be the decision on appeal.

IV. ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS

Circumvention. Any person who circumvents an ip ban or other ban employed and thus returns to a 1up server shall have the ban period restarted from the date of returning to 1up servers (banned under the newly used ip or other identifying ban method).[6]   

Hacking Bans / Evidence / Self-Admission / Burden of Proof for Removal. 1up shall ban people who admit to prior hacking where there is reasonable indicata of reliability in the admission. Evidence must come from sources that are reliable. For example, some sources would be our own demos, demos from other trustworthy clans, mixed with statements or log excerpts of other trustworthy sources.

Mitigation. The Founder or Senior Admin[7] may unilaterally mitigate the punishment verdict in cases of asshattery appeals to include but not limit the following appeals: TeamSpeak3 (VOIP), Radio, Chat, Vote, Teleport, and Server (i.e., appeals that do not present cases involving the use of cheats). 

Definitions:

The term "Appellate Clan Vote" means a vote that only the following may participate in: the Clan Founder, Clan Voting Members or Clan Members.

The term "Clan Founder" means a person who both established 1up as a clan and who currently retains membership in the 1up Clan. The term shall be narrowly construed to recognize RonaldLee[1up] as the sole remaining Clan Founder.

The term "Clan Voting Member" means a voting full 1up Member who has held the seat of a full member for at least 90 days, i.e., a 1up applicant who has been awarded the 1up tag, fully accepted into 1up Clan for at least 90 days, and who is allowed to vote in the official 1up voting polls. The term shall not apply to any person who has not been awarded the 1up clan tag.

The term "Clan Member" means a non-voting full 1up Member who has not yet obtained at least 90 days of full membership, i.e., a 1up applicant who has been awarded the 1up tag and fully accepted into the 1up Clan, but who has not yet obtained at least 90 days of full membership. The term shall not apply to any person who has not been awarded the 1up clan tag.

The term "Clan Trial Member" means a 1up applicant who has been awarded the 1up tag and accepted into the 1up Clan on a probationary period. The probationary period runs a minimum of 30 days up to a maximum of 90 days. The term shall not apply to any person who has not been awarded the 1up clan tag.


Commentary:

The committee believes it would be extremely rare that any rehabilitated person would ever be in need of a fourth asshattery appeal. The committee elected to terminate appellate rights at the instance of a fourth incident of asshattery and every subsequent incident of asshattery thereafter.

The committee is informed and believes that each banned player who receives an appeal ruling shall not be given full credit for ban time served prior to the decision on ban appeal. This means that each day that a player was banned prior to the ban appeal decision shall not count as credit towards an equal day of ban time served (or time satisfied).

When we speak of the "impacted-admin", "impacted-referee", and/or the "impacted-victim-member", it is meant to apply to the admin, referee, or 1up Clan Member who was impacted, accosted or in some capacity the victim of an asshattery incident.

The committee has also been presented with the suggestion that weighted votes for victims could suffice to present a secondary voting rank. At this time weighted votes have not been drafted into the policy, but remain a future option for discussion. When we speak of weighted votes, we refer to a system where all votes have one vote, but the victim gets two or more votes. The intent is to satisfy the rights of the victim, but it may also carry with it the danger to unbalance an otherwise democratic function. Further review and discussion is needed if weighted votes are to be added.

The policy presents a substantive change and therefore is retroactive in application.

_______________________

Amendments:

May 21, 2010 Amendment, titled "Maximum Ban Period": 1up adopted a policy that the maximum ban is 1 year for any asshattery offense.
May 21, 2010 Amendment, titled "Punishment for Circumventing a Ban": 1up adopted a policy to extend ban lengthys and restart a ban clock for people who manage to circumvent a ban.
May 21, 2010 Amendment, titled  "Hacking Bans / Evidence / Self-Admission / Burden of Proof for Removal": 1up adopted a policy to ban admitted hackers.
Amendment: Effective October 28, 2010, voting is a voluntary act; mandatory voting requirements are repealed.

1.	Asshattery appeals are more common, particularly because 1up enforces a policy against offensive, profane and racist language.
2.	A cheating appeal that presents with it a finding of the UAA that the demo under review is a case involving an innocent who is wrongfully subjected to a finding of cheating shall be subject to immediate vacatur by the Founder. It is the intent of this rule to purge the innocent in a manner that is both just and speedy, where a confirmed UAA review holds the accused/appellant innocent.
3.	Chat bans, Radio bans and Voting bans are grouped collectively into "communication ban" appeals.
4.	It is suggested that a compliance agreement would at the minimum require that the player seeking the appeal and ban removal affirmatively agree to comply with 1up Server Rules if the ban is removed under the "Remove ban" first option.
5.	The rule contemplates that 1up Application Staff Admins satisfy the definition of an authorized agent-in-fact of the Clan Founder.
6.	This means people who are caught circumventing a ban will be banned under all ips for not less than 30 days, but if the punishment originally received was longer, then the longer punishment will be applied. Obviously, such a ban would restart the time clock for counting down the days to ban completion. A person who receives an automatic ban for circumventing a ban would not be entitled to an appeal.
7.	The term "Senior Admin" means the "1up Senior Admin" for the purposes of the "Mitigation" function of this rule.