I was banned from a whole bunch of community servers I didn't know existed nor had ever set foot in before. The only reason I found out was because SMT-Gaming is partnered with Rep.tf, and my account on Rep.tf was flagged as having bans on record, banning me from a LOT of things. Least to say I was confused and angry that the clean profile I have spent years building was tarnished without warning, with some traders wanting nothing to do with me because of the giant red flag, so I came to find out why.
Turns out you can be guilty by association. Simply being in steam groups recognised as being owned/involving hackers is apparently a crime worthy of permanent bans. It doesn't matter why, or if you use hacks or not, you are guilty. Blanket Bans are generally a morally grey area since you are guaranteed to hit innocent people and I really don't like being unjustly treated. Let's just say I've seen and been hit by a few admins on power trips and leave it like that.
SMT-Gaming Forums were simple enough. after a carefully written forum post and frustrating week of waiting they finally pardoned me. Then I arrived at Wonderland and being an INTJ with a stick up my ass at the current situation, I promptly did the best thing I could do and started an argument with R4.
Now I'm not one to believe in things like fate, but out of all the admins to respond to me it had to have been R4. I might as well have shot myself in the foot. I will concede to R4 though, he put up with me longer than I expected. So after walls of text arguing on my innocence, my appeal was denied and I was stuck in this strange limbo, unable to join any Wonderland servers (Not that I had been able to beforehand anyway) but still able to be on the Forums and the Discord.
What do I do now? Well, I've gone through all this trouble to prove my innocence, if my words aren't enough then my actions will be. So I stuck around, hanging out in the Discord, responding to forum posts, generally being a part of said community. A few weeks after that (With a much cooler head) my second appeal was accepted. On the condition I don't join any more steam groups relating to hackers of course, though I had left the offending groups during the SMT appeal, so that really was a no-brainer.
Given enough time, maybe one day I'll apply for moderator and be in the same shoes as R4 used to be. Would be fitting to deal with someone on the opposite side, but I would like to think I would be a bit more understanding, considering my own beginning here in Wonderland.
It's funny thinking about it actually, if R4 had just pardoned me without a fuss I would have left Wonderland without a thought and forgot about it. The only reason I initially stayed around was to prove my innocence, I haven't posted on SMT since I was pardoned.
So, thanks R4.