Can we have a chance to defend ourselves?

[TexanAngel]

Pilotslover

TexanAngel

Holy Crap!! I donated since 1995 and have been buying Cash Card. What makes Gaia say that my account have been botting? How do Gaia investigate?? They send a standard reply and that's it!!

You have, have you?

That's remarkable since the site hasn't been running that long ... stare

I agree that members should have more chance to defend themselves and argue their bans but that would take far more moderators.

I edited my post!! It's supposed to be 2005. I'm sorry. I'm just so pissed right now. sad

[N3WW]

Kilarra

Rawrehh

But also, the least they could do is explain to me why I got banned. Actually tell me what happened. They still have yet to even tell me why I was banned, but what I typed before is most likely the reason. Until they fully or even partly explain why exactly I was banned, I wont feel that banning me was truly necessary, cause my friend said she never filled out a report. neutral

There's no point assuming you understand the reason for your ban - this is how misinformation spreads. If you have questions about your ban, contact a Site Moderator via private message for clarification, especially if you did not receive an email giving the reason for your ban as you are supposed to.

Alright confused

[Hyperdryve]

Kilarra

stormylane

The only thing I don't like about their system is that a person is guilty until proven innocent. It should be the other way around. It is soooo much easier to prove someone guilty if they are guilty then it is to make a case for innocence.

Not true.

The way it generally works is this - mods receive a report. They investigate and action is only taken if sufficient evidence is present to support it. Since bans are peer-reviewed you HAVE to have that evidence. It doesn't work the other way around as you are suggesting.

Once you have been banned, it's easy to appeal by firing off a feedback form. The banning circumstances will be reviewed but 9.9 times out of 10, because of the processes and the peer reviews, bans are correctly placed. Yes, mistakes are made, but they are honestly few and far between and when they are made, they are uprooted and corrected by the appeals process.

People are rarely completely honest when they are talking about their bans on the forums, or even fully understand the reason for their bans, so they end up talking and rumour-mongering about completely irrelevant content. "I was banned because X Y Z", and from the modding sidelines you can see "wow, you're just making it up, aren't you?" but the privacy policy forbids any moderator from posting that. And thus rumour spreads, fear grows.

You can always contact a Site Moderator for more information on your ban if you're not sure what the hell happened. But during my two years as a mod, all I can say is that banning is really not that scary and you're really not sitting on a wobbly fence between freedom and bannedom all the time. It actually takes a lot of work to be banned as many procedures are, in my eyes, stupidly lenient.

For the mistakes that slip through, there is the appeals process.

Quote:

Since I knew her password, and the Horns were rightfully mine, I took them back. I guess it wasn't that smart of an idea to gift them to myself. But apparently, when a rich item is gifted, its hacking biggrin . No. Way to make the wrong conclusion and ban an innocent person.

Hacking = unlawful access to an account. You broke the rules by going onto someone's account without their permission. Even sharing your account details is technically a violation of the Terms of Service. A vast portion of hackings are actually perpetuated by 'friends' and family. Still, seems unlikely that an omnimod would randomly come across this trade without an accompanying report . . . excuse my scepticism, but I've learned not to take accounts like this at face value ^^;

Some clarification around policies would be nice though. A lot of the fault around banning myths is purely because mods aren't allowed to talk about it without violating their NDA. Of course, a lot of information needs to remain confidential to avoid exploitation by people who want to violate the ToS, but an FAQ would be useful.

That made me feel both better and worse sad

I have made many appeals, I have talked to many people. They seem very certain of my guilt. I don't know what to do anymore.

[Hyperdryve]

diet otaku

3) most people who claim to have been wrongfully banned were, in fact, rightfully banned and just think they're smarter than the admins. see the darwin awards for good proof of the kind of crap that ends up in the feedback form queue EVERY DAY. so you can see why they resort to automated responses as a first line of defense against banned members trying to swindle their accounts back. if you've sent in multiple feedback forms on the same issue and keep getting the automated response, contact a mod directly. if the mod refuses to consider your evidence, contact an admin. if the admin brushes you off, all you can do at that point is contact eaTaiaG and let him know you got some crappy customer service. no guarantees he can do anything to unban your account, though.

Been there and back several times. I assumed because of the frequencey of the bad service I'd recieved it must have been normal. Perhaps I was too hasty.

[N3WW]

Kilarra

Quote:

Since I knew her password, and the Horns were rightfully mine, I took them back. I guess it wasn't that smart of an idea to gift them to myself. But apparently, when a rich item is gifted, its hacking biggrin . No. Way to make the wrong conclusion and ban an innocent person.

Hacking = unlawful access to an account. You broke the rules by going onto someone's account without their permission. Even sharing your account details is technically a violation of the Terms of Service. A vast portion of hackings are actually perpetuated by 'friends' and family. Still, seems unlikely that an omnimod would randomly come across this trade without an accompanying report . . . excuse my scepticism, but I've learned not to take accounts like this at face value ^^;

Some clarification around policies would be nice though. A lot of the fault around banning myths is purely because mods aren't allowed to talk about it without violating their NDA. Of course, a lot of information needs to remain confidential to avoid exploitation by people who want to violate the ToS, but an FAQ would be useful.

Ah but that's the thing, she gave me permission. And just now I got my horns back from her. Except we did it through trade and I didn't go on her account so just maybe I wont get banned this time. stare

[Hyperdryve]

Since I have been told not to fill out any more inquiry forms I think I have to find someone to speak to. I still have a few questions about what went on in my banning. Not a request to be unbanned but rather a request for more information. Does anybody know who would be good to contact about this?

I never know what kind of mod to contact or who is willing to listen. I either end up with someone who wants to help but doesn't have access to the information, doesn't care to answer my questions, or never responds at all ._.

I figure rather than aimlessly wandering around and choosing mods at random and praying for help it might be nice to have a few people well known for being helpful sweatdrop

[biglanky14]

Quote:

You know... out of curiosity, I actually looked up Gaia on the BBB and they gave Gaia an F D:

This is what they said:

"Our complaint history for this company shows that the company responded to and gave proper consideration to most complaints. However, more than one complaint is unresolved, meaning the company failed to properly address the complaint allegations or their response was inadequate."

However, Gaia is listed under "toys retail" or something like that, so it might be just the online store aspect, I don't really know.

But anyway, back on topic. I've been banned before and it's really frustrating trying to get someone to actually help you. I ended up wandering into Q&A and the people there were a hell of a lot more helpful than any response I ever received from a moderator.

I'm just swinging by really quick, but I saw this quote back on page 2. The original grade was for Gaia the site (not the store), but it was because the BBB needed information about the company from us that we apparently hadn't provided. That has now been cleaned up, and they've been able to give us the score we should've had all along, which is an A- (A minus). That's now reflected on their site as well. Just wanted to let everyone know.

[Aeddict]

I think the unjust bans are a serious problem that should be somehow fixed. And that it seems Gaia needs a lot more mods to set things straight. Good mods who have time and interest to figure the just solutions, that is.

Edit: And I also think that it would be nice if the rare staff member who says something on a thread would actually for once say something relevant instead of picking up a random reply that has nothing to do with the actual topic of the thread. With all due respect. sweatdrop

[windy_angel141]

What I fear the most is
1. Getting banned
2. Getting hacked
mostly cause I spent most of my days on gaia and gaia is kinda like my second life.
And I spent a lot of money on here O_O;;;
It scares me to think there are all kinds of people out there and some of those people would stop at nothing in order to ruin another's account for gains of their own.

And of course I would NEVER share my passwords not even with my friends or borrow stuffs from my friends and avoid random links and PMs that asks my passwords in order to avoid my fear. But it's still not 100% safe..althought I'm pretty sure this way makes me 90% safe. And there are people who still gets banned even after doing all these.

I wish there was SOME way that we can prove that we're innocent if any of us get banned...but how? Cause I do know few people who got banned innocently, very few of them got their accounts back though. So that's a hopeful situation.

[Au_Chante_Moron]

On most online chats or games that consits of online interaction, there are those people who just want to hind their wrong doing and blame it on someone else. I may be new but this has happened to me before. There needs to be some kind check list on the players to see who is doing the wrong stuff. None of us get a say in anything that happens to us. Maybe Gaia needs to have a court of some sort so that we can have a say in what or what doesn't happen. scream

[TL-Endita]

windy_angel141

What I fear the most is
1. Getting banned
2. Getting hacked
mostly cause I spent most of my days on gaia and gaia is kinda like my second life.
And I spent a lot of money on here O_O;;;
It scares me to think there are all kinds of people out there and some of those people would stop at nothing in order to ruin another's account for gains of their own.

And of course I would NEVER share my passwords not even with my friends or borrow stuffs from my friends and avoid random links and PMs that asks my passwords in order to avoid my fear. But it's still not 100% safe..althought I'm pretty sure this way makes me 90% safe. And there are people who still gets banned even after doing all these.

I wish there was SOME way that we can prove that we're innocent if any of us get banned...but how? Cause I do know few people who got banned innocently, very few of them got their accounts back though. So that's a hopeful situation.

LMAO! ANGEL SISSY!!!!! :33333333333
heyyy its me Ely!!! x333333
i got banned -_-'''
still havent been given proof or even been replied to by a mod v.v
it sucks that i've lost two pricey accounts already >.<
oh and uhmmm add meh sissy ;3333

[firebird_phoenix]

We ARE given a chance to defend ourselves if/when we are banned. General inquiry form.

Judging by some of the stories I hear from people who get banned (always taken with a grain of salt, people do lie, after all), Gaia has a lenient banning system. When I got banned from another site, I contested it through the proper channels, explaining what happened, and all I got was "Our records show that the accounts in question were accessed by the same user multiple times. The ban stays." I asked for clarification on just how their records showed that, and the response was "We cannot explain how our records are obtained, as people would find a way to circumvent them. Do not contact us again about this issue."

Also, I'd like to point out in the ToS that it does say that Gaia and it's moderators and admins can ban anyone for any or no reason, without warning.

[Hyperdryve]

What kind of mod would be able to look into the details of my banning? Most don't seem to have the access.

"Omni Moderators Responsible primarily for account issues, hacking and scamming cases, as well as special projects related to account security, site safety and moderator training."

This seems the most likely type to contact as far as I can tell.

[Hyperdryve]

firebird_phoenix

We ARE given a chance to defend ourselves if/when we are banned. General inquiry form.

Judging by some of the stories I hear from people who get banned (always taken with a grain of salt, people do lie, after all), Gaia has a lenient banning system. When I got banned from another site, I contested it through the proper channels, explaining what happened, and all I got was "Our records show that the accounts in question were accessed by the same user multiple times. The ban stays." I asked for clarification on just how their records showed that, and the response was "We cannot explain how our records are obtained, as people would find a way to circumvent them. Do not contact us again about this issue."

Also, I'd like to point out in the ToS that it does say that Gaia and it's moderators and admins can ban anyone for any or no reason, without warning.

Tried the general inquiry without success.

Your experience with that other site has pretty much been my experience here, with the exception that Gaia let me fill out a lot more inquiry forms before telling me to not to contact them again.

They don't HAVE to have a reason to ban us, but it's not good policy to do so. As far as I know they always have a reason, not that they might not be mistaken, but have a reason nonetheless. If someone is banning without reason it is my understanding that that person would be dealt with.