Pal, let me make this quite clear. We don't NEED proof in order to ban somebody that we have a good - or even a half-decent - reason to think might cause problems for the community on this server. We act - as fast as we can - to protect the greater population.
In your case, we received a warning about you - on the basis of your name. At a crucial time when this name was 'an issue' for us and a number of other servers. The information came from a reliable source, in good faith. We acted promptly to protect.
As it turns out, that reliable source turned out not to be 100% reliable in this instance, but as soon as we had the time to drop everything and go digging out IP addresses, comparing backstories, finding out more info on 'the bad person' and comparing it with your information, and doing the other legwork and research work necessary in order to satisfy ourselves of your innocence, we did so.
Turns out you're not the droid we were looking for. Great. I'm pleased for you.
You'll get your comps in due course, but I must say I find your attitude a little bit shitty. We didn't have TIME to 'run all the numbers' at the precise moment you were banned. We didn't have TIME to do all the legwork necessary to prove your innocence. That's not our problem; it's yours. Your arrival in the forum was the first signal of possible innocence; comments (unsolicited) from some of your pals in FFE was the second. When we had the time, we cross-referenced, and spent a significant amount of time - time which is far, far better spent on development, and running this community and its server - unpicking the spaghetti ball of information to convince ourselves that you were SAFE to unban.
We didn't know until today - as part of this process - that the original 'bad person' was American. Neither did the group who warned us. These are all jigsaw pieces that have come to light after research, so it's not a case of us 'knowing if we'd spoken to you'. Most often, in these cases, people lie anyway, sad to say. Discussing things with them directly, in cases where hacking or other 'difficult-to-prove' high-risk cases are concerned, is usually a total waste of time. We've been there before. Perhaps you haven't.
Thank your FFE buddies for raising the issue and speaking up for you. We don't care if you thank us for finally proving your innocence, but we don't expect to be griefed about it. You asked "who in their right mind would try to evade a previous ban and come back with the same name?" The answer is, sadly, plenty of people. Again, we've been there. Have you?
We appreciate you're upset. So are we. We don't ENJOY banning innocent people, any more than we enjoy wasting an afternoon wading through IP logs and digging through WHOIS data and cross-referencing posts on rival group forums, to look for 'clues'. It's a pain in the ass for us all - you and us. But that's the luck of the draw, sometimes. You had a 'hot' name, and we got given a tip-off. The nuke got fired, and only one person 'died'... you. But we might've saved a community, assuming you'd been 'the bad guy'. Deal with it. You're out of the hole you were in, and you're back in the game. Just be cool with it, and play on. You'll get your shit; be nice. Please.
