Are people suspended/banned actually aware appeals exist?

[SparkingJay]

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I remember when I was suspended after the data breach I was absolutely clueless on what to do and never used the forums so wasn't aware that appealing existed and waited weeks for nothing because I didn't actually appeal so how are people informed that appealing exists?

[Flavorable]

While it isn't openly broadcasted, it is actually quite obvious that a game has an official website, since the majority of games do.

If people play via webbrowser: they should know a forum exists, because it's there on the website.
If people play via Steam: They can post and ask, or read the pinned posts in which it's mentioned and linked.
It's linked on the Wiki.
It's referred to in multiple posts on Reddit.
People can use Google and there's multiple results coming up with a link to the forums.
People can ask in Discord.

[SparkingJay]

While it isn't openly broadcasted, it is actually quite obvious that a game has an official website, since the majority of games do.

If people play via webbrowser: they should know a forum exists, because it's there on the website.
If people play via Steam: They can post and ask, or read the pinned posts in which it's mentioned and linked.
It's linked on the Wiki.
It's referred to in multiple posts on Reddit.
People can use Google and there's multiple results coming up with a link to the forums.
People can ask in Discord.

People could just think uplifting a suspension/ban isn't possible and would wait for their suspension to end even if they were wrongly suspended in the first place.

If people play via webbrowser: they should know a forum exists, because it's there on the website.

Even if they were aware, they could still be unable to know how the forums work and how to navigate themselves towards where they need to go to appeal.

This would come under suggestions but eh I may as well say it in this post:
Why not implement a link which directly takes you to the appeal section of the forums within the message upon logging on (whilst suspended) which says something like "You have been suspended for 24:00:00". I personally don't think people should have to ask around to find out, it'd be much easier and beneficial to the players if they were told straight up that appealing exists and this is where you do it.

[Flavorable]

While it isn't openly broadcasted, it is actually quite obvious that a game has an official website, since the majority of games do.

If people play via webbrowser: they should know a forum exists, because it's there on the website.
If people play via Steam: They can post and ask, or read the pinned posts in which it's mentioned and linked.
It's linked on the Wiki.
It's referred to in multiple posts on Reddit.
People can use Google and there's multiple results coming up with a link to the forums.
People can ask in Discord.

People could just think uplifting a suspension/ban isn't possible and would wait for their suspension to end even if they were wrongly suspended in the first place.

If people play via webbrowser: they should know a forum exists, because it's there on the website.

Even if they were aware, they could still be unable to know how the forums work and how to navigate themselves towards where they need to go to appeal.

This would come under suggestions but eh I may as well say it in this post:
Why not implement a link which directly takes you to the appeal section of the forums within the message upon logging on (whilst suspended) which says something like "You have been suspended for 24:00:00". I personally don't think people should have to ask around to find out, it'd be much easier and beneficial to the players if they were told straight up that appealing exists and this is where you do it.

I'm going to run on an assumption here and say that currently this might also have to do with the fact that the majority of guilty reports are unappealable because of the new Pay to play rules that state only invalid reports may get appealed.
And while yes, it would possibly be beneficial for people to have a link of the appeal's section of the forum, one could also play devil's advocate (and I would like to say that this is just a general statement and not a personal opinion per say) and say: why would people who don't bother to read the rules have to get hand held to the forums so they can appeal their ban or suspension which is highly probable to be a valid guilty report?

Regardless, I do think there is talk of implementing some sort of new way of showing a guilty report to a player if they are banned/suspended, though don't quote me on that, because it's all still guesswork at this moment in time.

Last but not least: Afaik, the Devs don't even really support the Appeals subforum and it is only in place because TP insisted on running it and would do so in his own free time, and seeing as implementing a message like you propose requires Dev input, it might be something they might not agree with or believe in.

[MysticMismagius]

I'm going to run on an assumption here and say that currently this might also have to do with the fact that the majority of guilty reports are unappealable because of the new Pay to play rules that state only invalid reports may get appealed. But this was not always the case. Unless you want to suggest the devs knew back in 2014 that they would eventually change the rules to what they are now, which I highly doubt, this is not the reason why people are not informed about the appeals forum.
And while yes, it would possibly be beneficial for people to have a link of the appeal's section of the forum, one could also play devil's advocate (and I would like to say that this is just a general statement and not a personal opinion per say) and say: why would people who don't bother to read the rules have to get hand held to the forums so they can appeal their ban or suspension which is highly probable to be a valid guilty report? Because generally the people who break rules (or come close to it, like in this report which was guiltied in error) are the kind who need it. They're generally the ones who don't know about the rules besides the vague and broad in-game rulebook. They're generally the ones who don't read the forums, especially not the appeal forums where judges often explain the rules other people break in more detail. They're generally the ones who wouldn't know that the appeal forum exists, and would benefit from the knowledge of it.

Regardless, I do think there is talk of implementing some sort of new way of showing a guilty report to a player if they are banned/suspended, though don't quote me on that, because it's all still guesswork at this moment in time. not much to discuss here

Last but not least: Afaik, the Devs don't even really support the Appeals subforum and it is only in place because TP insisted on running it and would do so in his own free time, and seeing as implementing a message like you propose requires Dev input, it might be something they might not agree with or believe in. Whoa whoa whoa hold on. This requires further exploration. What was their plan for when someone gets banned in error, or gets hacked like what happened with Mannequin? Were they expecting players to just accept it with zero chance of recovery?