VERY REAL, SERIOUS ISSUE

[Gemstone]

EDIT: The Marketplace is safe! Click here to see proof!
http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15829233

EDIT: Another thread, explaining what's going on, why, and what to do.
http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?page=1&t=15810691


http://www.gaiaonline.com/journal/index.php?mode=view&p=4384205&start=0
This is Jakobo's Journal. Read the replies to find out what's happening.

http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15793813&page=1
This is a thread made by the users, discussing the issue. So far all that we have in the way of a response from the Admin/Mods is to not do anything. As in, don't sell items either in the Marketplace (lest someone with botted gold buy said item from you, leaving you with botted gold, and a perma ban) or in Mini Shops (lest someone pay you with botted gold and leave you with a perma ban) Don't Exchange, the items you're getting could have been bought with botted gold, or if you're selling they could pay you with botted gold (leaving you with a perma ban) Don't accept Donations from users, don't do anything on Gaia that involves gold, or items, at all. What the hell?

Jakobo

Unfortunately, in may cases, they directly purchased the gold through a reseller. The reseller acquired the gold by botting. This is not to say all cases are like this, but the popularity of people buying gold on ebay is on the rise. However, this only comes into the open after they are asked how they got xxxxxxx gold from acount yyyyyyyy. icon_sad.gif

There are legit trades, those people are not banned. Only those banned are banned with a certain degree of proof that the ToS was broken. It wouldn't be fair to someone who was donated a large chunk of money. In those cases, we as a collective group, would much rather just reverse the trades and put the world to right (in an economical sense).

WRONG. They ARE being banned.

DJGeriGoGo

And how do we fight a ban when we received botted gold unknowingly? I thought I was receiving donations through my buying university credits from the Word Bump game. Everything was going fine and then BAM - banned. No warning, no talk, just a ban and the only thing I can come up with is that one of the people that donated had botted gold.


Right now I do feel as if I was scammed - not buy a botter who donated gold to me and then I was banned for it. No, I feel scammed by GaiaOnline. I go to work everyday and go to college full-time and the money I have is hard earned and I chose to spend it on donations for a cause that I enjoyed (GaiaOnline). Why not pay a little extra to the people that make it fun for me online?

I was so wrong. I've lost everything I put into this game and I feel betrayed to have ever donated now. If I had known that I would be permanently banned because someone else botted (and I have their name and they are STILL not banned) without anyone asking a question of me or starting an investigation, then I never would have donated or even joined for that matter.

It seems as if the players of this game have no rights. We have a question to ask why the account was banned but is anyone even listening? And please don't tell me to leave if I don't like the service. That's way too easy to do and I didn't deserve it nor ask for it.

I never had sympathy for people that had their account banned. I thought deep down inside, "You did something and now you're getting kicked for it." Well, now I have the utmost sympathy for people that have been unfairly banned from GaiaOnline without investigation. I would have been more than willing to give up the gold and the items that were given to me, but a permanent ban? Why would I donate so much of my actual money to a website when I could have just cheated my way through it? Doesn't make much sense.

I have all of my PayPal transactions to date as well - but apparently me bringing that little bit of information up seems to be asking for "special treatment" instead of consideration in an investigation.

Tywyll Angyles

Ok, I have donated $2500+ to this site in the year I have been a member. I have forwarded the proof via email as I was told to by someone at Gaia HQ. Again, no repsonse. It has been 2 months and still my feedback has not been replied to.

I know why I was banned for this supposed "Botting", but I explained the circumstances. I accepted gold from someone who had botted to get it. How was I to know? Why would I, someone who has donated their hard earned cash, risk a ban on my account?

You indicate to send a feedback and we will get a reply, but why aren't the feedbacks being replied to?

When will this issue be taken care of?

Goddamn. Gaia is going the route of Neopets? This is NOT OK and HAS to STOP.  

[Gemstone]

Thank you Arwen.

My friend Scott is a coder and he says if you can trace the fact that the gold is botted then you can trace it's source. Surely the Admins would benefit from banning the sources rather then the victims?  

[Gemstone]

More info added to first post. Thank goodness, the Marketplace is safe!