RYANSW00NEY_Unban
Banned
Unban Appeal for RYANSW00NEY_Unban
In-game Name: Ryan Swooney
Server: Community Banned
Steam ID: 76561198280582054
Ban ID: Unable to check due to being banned from the discord.
Reason given for your ban: C1.6
In your own words, please type why you think you were banned.: On May 7th I received a 1 week ban for baiting, After seeing this ban, I went into groups discord and made childish comments like "I'll do it again until I get perm banned". However after some consideration I attempted to wise up and open a staff ticket as I have been told that is the correct process when you feel you have been hard done by. I made a ticket to try and convey my thoughts to hopefully talk about it and explain my side. Liam responded to me and said that temporary bans cannot be appealed and then in the next post explained that my ban had been upgraded to permanent due to the comment I made in groups. As soon as Liam wrote this message, I replied with "go f*** yourselves" and called them "freaks", I then had a quick back and forth with Stavik before my ban was then upgraded to a C1.6 due to these comments, the ticket was then closed.
Why should we unban you ?: I take full responsibility for my actions and in writing this appeal I am not trying to create any excuses or worm my way out of anything. However context is key and I feel it's best that I give you an insight of my POV and how I felt at the time leading up to the 1.6.
I was initially banned for baiting during an altercation with the Ballas, here is the report for reference: https://www.roleplay.co.uk/topic/146215-report-a-player-robz-ballas-gta-rp/ .
So the report above was actually created by another Azteca member 'Michael Mason'. It was made due to the fact he felt that a balla member had broken the RDM rule. I was not involved in Michael's report nor was I directly involved in the situation that the report was referring to. The videos that were uploaded by a Balla member were shown as context to the type of relationship Ballas and Aztecas had at the time, it's no secret that in game it was not a good one. To be honest with you I didn't think much of the report, it wasn't my issue and I treated it as such, I left it to the people that were actually involved. After reviewing all the clips the staff team determined that I had been in breach of the server rules and was banned for baiting. I was initially upset because I didn't feel like the report was targeted at me or that I was deserving to be the focus of the report, I felt like if they had a grievance then they should have put a report up themselves so I could respond. I felt their response highlighting my behaviour was more of a point the finger attempt to convolute the report and confuse whoever was dealing with it. It was my reasoning at the time that what I did wasn't baiting, gangs have conflict, gangs upset, disagree, antagonise each other, it's something that you cannot escape and at the time both sides were doing just that. What I did was a response to what they did previously and what they did was a response to what I did and so on and so on, it happens with gangs all the time and is natural. I can admit now that what I did wasn't what I intend to represent as a good roleplayer, I could have come up with a more creative way to respond to the increased tensions I agree, but I can't always predict how people are going to react to what happens in roleplay as everyone responds to things differently. At the time I did what I thought was appropriate given our relationship and interactions in recent history. However, to be clear if I was given another chance to be on the server I'd definitely think more on my actions in situations like these.
Once I received my 7 day ban for baiting I made a huge mistake and went into the groups discord to vent my frustration. Some people were already bringing up my ban so I commented on it. I made the comment "I'll do it again and again until I get perm banned". I said this out of frustration and with sarcasm, I was frustrated, the people I spoke to were confused and frustrated and I just said something without a filter. I wouldn't actually have waited to be unbanned and then repeated my actions but that's impossible for the people reading my comment to know. Jack McKenzie messaged a staff member on my behalf to inform them of what I was doing and to not take me seriously as he had a handle on things. I know groups is not the place to vent, it is a community discord used to chat with each other across the wide variety of groups on the server so we can become closer as a community. It wasn't the place for me to discuss my ban or cause outrage, I should have ignored the discussion and not given my input as all that did was increase the rate of comments and caused for more people to join in discussing it.
After I made the comment in groups, I chilled out, relaxed a little and thought of what I could do to argue my point and question what had happened in a mature way. I was told by the people I speak to, to open a staff ticket. I opened a staff ticket and I made an attempt to get my thoughts and feelings expressed in order to hopefully open a dialogue about my ban, whether to successfully appeal the ban or just to gain a better more rounded understanding of the server rules and the way the reports are done and handled. My ticket was responded to and I was told that I am unable to appeal temporary bans, I felt like I was shut down and met with a brick wall, what I thought was the best way to deal the situation was in fact a dead end with no way to have a reasonable dialogue, that was my thinking at the time. I went into that ticket to attempt to have a conversation and to feel like I had been ignored in that way was very frustrating and in contrary to what I have been told by others as the correct thing to do. I was then told that my ban had been upgraded to permanent due to my comments in the groups discord. I lost my temper and called staff "freaks" in the ticket. I can't defend that and I regret it, it should have never been said and the staff team are never deserving of that abuse. Stavik then began typing and I told him to hurry up as I had to go.
I have no reasonable excuse as to the way I acted, I felt hard done by and felt like my response had been disregarded and my chances of a reasonable conversation were shut down and silenced for a reason I didn't understand. I regret my actions and behaviour in the ticket, the staff team are volunteers and are not robots that can gauge everyone's thoughts and feelings at every moment. They couldn't know how I was feeling or what my intentions were when opening the ticket, they just responded with what they thought were the policies of the staff team, I don't hold a grudge against them for doing what they thought was correct. I thought I was being purposely treated in an unfair way for no particular reason, I was naive. I should have taken a full step back and thought about the situation objectively before going into a staff ticket. It was hard to do so when I was being told by everyone - a lot not even in my immediate inner circle - that I had been screwed. I want to be here in this community, interacting with everyone, having good times and having a positive role to play within said community, my actions in that ticket were of someone that was angry, not by someone that wanted to do all the things I listed. I'm sorry for that, sorry you had to see it, I am also embarrassed more than I can articulate in this appeal. I showed myself up and displayed behaviour that isn't a representation of who I am and I hope to be able to redeem myself.
I have learned a lot from the experience and I have used the ban as a way for me to improve myself as an individual. Going in groups to talk about my ban was a major mistake, I was not in the right mindset and was fuelled by what others were saying, although I was being sarcastic at the time, people can not read minds and can only act on information that is apparent to them. I fuelled the discussion and was of no benefit to anyone in that scenario. My responses in the staff ticket were not appropriate either, once again I was not in the right mindset to open a ticket. I was having a bad day, and the events of that evening sparked the match. Looking back I knew I was angry and should have recognised that. Like I said previously in this appeal I should have taken a step back and thought about the situation objectively. Everyone gets angry, everyone faces frustrating things, the difference is I didn't allow myself enough time to calm down. I am embarrassed after my ban and I believe I have recognised everything that went wrong, I took some time away to fully allow myself to write this appeal with a clear head. I thank the staff member(s) that take the time to read my appeal and hope the circumstances surrounding my ban are hopefully not what you later think of me as an individual. I wish very much to correct the initial impression you saw.
I acknowledge that my roleplay has been criticised, this being shown by the 2 RDM bans and the recent baiting ban leading up to my 1.6. I'm aware I've given staff the impression that I'm only here to 'frag' and this couldn't be further from the truth. I'm not going to sit here and lie, I love the gang side of the server and I love wars and tension between opposing gangs. It creates excitement and gives a fresh feeling knowing there's going to be a bit of competition. However most people who genuinely know me and know what I do day to day on the server can confirm that I often spend entire days doing taxi jobs and interacting with other people creating different avenues of roleplay and building my characters financial status to pursue bigger and better things. Unless there is actual ongoing hostilities between gangs I am almost always doing what I've just mentioned. However I do feel like it is important that I show you I am willing to change, and I have a few ideas in mind that I would like to pursue if the staff team were generous enough to see me back.
In regards to the ticket I made to discuss my initial baiting ban, I should have accepted Liam's response to my message and left it there instead of allowing myself to say things in which I didn't mean and hadn't given any thought behind. It was all empty words with no meaning and no thought had been given, it was merely fuelled by frustration and I wish I had just taken time to relax and come up with a well rounded mature response to what should have been an adult conversation.
With it now coming up to the Christmas holidays and the new year, it would genuinely mean a great deal to me to be allowed back into the community. It's been 6 months since I lost my temper in that ticket, and admittedly It's been a long boring 6 months, I have never held a ban longer than 1 month on RPUK so it's been very dull and definitely an eye opener for me. As I'm sure you can imagine it's not a great feeling when you're sat with friends that are enjoying themselves who are able to play the server and then being the odd one out who has to sit and watch it all. Obviously though this is all through my own doing, But after 6 months of knowing how this feels it's safe to say I've definitely learned my lesson.
I would like to end off this appeal with a genuine apology to both Stavik and Liam and anyone else who was directly involved or witnessed the ticket. I was, and still am embarrassed with the way I acted. I turned what was meant to be a 7 day ban into a permanent one due to my childlike behaviour and outburst of emotions and as much as I would like to go back and change my actions, Sadly I cannot. You both spend your free time trying to make the community a better place and shouldn't have to put up with people like myself making rude remarks, it is unfair and selfish. Without the staff teams hard work, the server wouldn't be where it is today and I shouldn't have taken it for granted. Hopefully you can understand and see my point of view in all of this, I'm nothing like I made myself out to be and I hope you acknowledge this. I know an apology via text can be very meaningless, which is why I would like to have a talk in teamspeak/discord just to sort of reiterate everything I've written above and offer a genuine apology. However I do understand If you would prefer not to.
Please confirm that you have read the unban appeal process and rules: Yes
In-game Name: Ryan Swooney
Server: Community Banned
Steam ID: 76561198280582054
Ban ID: Unable to check due to being banned from the discord.
Reason given for your ban: C1.6
In your own words, please type why you think you were banned.: On May 7th I received a 1 week ban for baiting, After seeing this ban, I went into groups discord and made childish comments like "I'll do it again until I get perm banned". However after some consideration I attempted to wise up and open a staff ticket as I have been told that is the correct process when you feel you have been hard done by. I made a ticket to try and convey my thoughts to hopefully talk about it and explain my side. Liam responded to me and said that temporary bans cannot be appealed and then in the next post explained that my ban had been upgraded to permanent due to the comment I made in groups. As soon as Liam wrote this message, I replied with "go f*** yourselves" and called them "freaks", I then had a quick back and forth with Stavik before my ban was then upgraded to a C1.6 due to these comments, the ticket was then closed.
Why should we unban you ?: I take full responsibility for my actions and in writing this appeal I am not trying to create any excuses or worm my way out of anything. However context is key and I feel it's best that I give you an insight of my POV and how I felt at the time leading up to the 1.6.
I was initially banned for baiting during an altercation with the Ballas, here is the report for reference: https://www.roleplay.co.uk/topic/146215-report-a-player-robz-ballas-gta-rp/ .
So the report above was actually created by another Azteca member 'Michael Mason'. It was made due to the fact he felt that a balla member had broken the RDM rule. I was not involved in Michael's report nor was I directly involved in the situation that the report was referring to. The videos that were uploaded by a Balla member were shown as context to the type of relationship Ballas and Aztecas had at the time, it's no secret that in game it was not a good one. To be honest with you I didn't think much of the report, it wasn't my issue and I treated it as such, I left it to the people that were actually involved. After reviewing all the clips the staff team determined that I had been in breach of the server rules and was banned for baiting. I was initially upset because I didn't feel like the report was targeted at me or that I was deserving to be the focus of the report, I felt like if they had a grievance then they should have put a report up themselves so I could respond. I felt their response highlighting my behaviour was more of a point the finger attempt to convolute the report and confuse whoever was dealing with it. It was my reasoning at the time that what I did wasn't baiting, gangs have conflict, gangs upset, disagree, antagonise each other, it's something that you cannot escape and at the time both sides were doing just that. What I did was a response to what they did previously and what they did was a response to what I did and so on and so on, it happens with gangs all the time and is natural. I can admit now that what I did wasn't what I intend to represent as a good roleplayer, I could have come up with a more creative way to respond to the increased tensions I agree, but I can't always predict how people are going to react to what happens in roleplay as everyone responds to things differently. At the time I did what I thought was appropriate given our relationship and interactions in recent history. However, to be clear if I was given another chance to be on the server I'd definitely think more on my actions in situations like these.
Once I received my 7 day ban for baiting I made a huge mistake and went into the groups discord to vent my frustration. Some people were already bringing up my ban so I commented on it. I made the comment "I'll do it again and again until I get perm banned". I said this out of frustration and with sarcasm, I was frustrated, the people I spoke to were confused and frustrated and I just said something without a filter. I wouldn't actually have waited to be unbanned and then repeated my actions but that's impossible for the people reading my comment to know. Jack McKenzie messaged a staff member on my behalf to inform them of what I was doing and to not take me seriously as he had a handle on things. I know groups is not the place to vent, it is a community discord used to chat with each other across the wide variety of groups on the server so we can become closer as a community. It wasn't the place for me to discuss my ban or cause outrage, I should have ignored the discussion and not given my input as all that did was increase the rate of comments and caused for more people to join in discussing it.
After I made the comment in groups, I chilled out, relaxed a little and thought of what I could do to argue my point and question what had happened in a mature way. I was told by the people I speak to, to open a staff ticket. I opened a staff ticket and I made an attempt to get my thoughts and feelings expressed in order to hopefully open a dialogue about my ban, whether to successfully appeal the ban or just to gain a better more rounded understanding of the server rules and the way the reports are done and handled. My ticket was responded to and I was told that I am unable to appeal temporary bans, I felt like I was shut down and met with a brick wall, what I thought was the best way to deal the situation was in fact a dead end with no way to have a reasonable dialogue, that was my thinking at the time. I went into that ticket to attempt to have a conversation and to feel like I had been ignored in that way was very frustrating and in contrary to what I have been told by others as the correct thing to do. I was then told that my ban had been upgraded to permanent due to my comments in the groups discord. I lost my temper and called staff "freaks" in the ticket. I can't defend that and I regret it, it should have never been said and the staff team are never deserving of that abuse. Stavik then began typing and I told him to hurry up as I had to go.
I have no reasonable excuse as to the way I acted, I felt hard done by and felt like my response had been disregarded and my chances of a reasonable conversation were shut down and silenced for a reason I didn't understand. I regret my actions and behaviour in the ticket, the staff team are volunteers and are not robots that can gauge everyone's thoughts and feelings at every moment. They couldn't know how I was feeling or what my intentions were when opening the ticket, they just responded with what they thought were the policies of the staff team, I don't hold a grudge against them for doing what they thought was correct. I thought I was being purposely treated in an unfair way for no particular reason, I was naive. I should have taken a full step back and thought about the situation objectively before going into a staff ticket. It was hard to do so when I was being told by everyone - a lot not even in my immediate inner circle - that I had been screwed. I want to be here in this community, interacting with everyone, having good times and having a positive role to play within said community, my actions in that ticket were of someone that was angry, not by someone that wanted to do all the things I listed. I'm sorry for that, sorry you had to see it, I am also embarrassed more than I can articulate in this appeal. I showed myself up and displayed behaviour that isn't a representation of who I am and I hope to be able to redeem myself.
I have learned a lot from the experience and I have used the ban as a way for me to improve myself as an individual. Going in groups to talk about my ban was a major mistake, I was not in the right mindset and was fuelled by what others were saying, although I was being sarcastic at the time, people can not read minds and can only act on information that is apparent to them. I fuelled the discussion and was of no benefit to anyone in that scenario. My responses in the staff ticket were not appropriate either, once again I was not in the right mindset to open a ticket. I was having a bad day, and the events of that evening sparked the match. Looking back I knew I was angry and should have recognised that. Like I said previously in this appeal I should have taken a step back and thought about the situation objectively. Everyone gets angry, everyone faces frustrating things, the difference is I didn't allow myself enough time to calm down. I am embarrassed after my ban and I believe I have recognised everything that went wrong, I took some time away to fully allow myself to write this appeal with a clear head. I thank the staff member(s) that take the time to read my appeal and hope the circumstances surrounding my ban are hopefully not what you later think of me as an individual. I wish very much to correct the initial impression you saw.
I acknowledge that my roleplay has been criticised, this being shown by the 2 RDM bans and the recent baiting ban leading up to my 1.6. I'm aware I've given staff the impression that I'm only here to 'frag' and this couldn't be further from the truth. I'm not going to sit here and lie, I love the gang side of the server and I love wars and tension between opposing gangs. It creates excitement and gives a fresh feeling knowing there's going to be a bit of competition. However most people who genuinely know me and know what I do day to day on the server can confirm that I often spend entire days doing taxi jobs and interacting with other people creating different avenues of roleplay and building my characters financial status to pursue bigger and better things. Unless there is actual ongoing hostilities between gangs I am almost always doing what I've just mentioned. However I do feel like it is important that I show you I am willing to change, and I have a few ideas in mind that I would like to pursue if the staff team were generous enough to see me back.
In regards to the ticket I made to discuss my initial baiting ban, I should have accepted Liam's response to my message and left it there instead of allowing myself to say things in which I didn't mean and hadn't given any thought behind. It was all empty words with no meaning and no thought had been given, it was merely fuelled by frustration and I wish I had just taken time to relax and come up with a well rounded mature response to what should have been an adult conversation.
With it now coming up to the Christmas holidays and the new year, it would genuinely mean a great deal to me to be allowed back into the community. It's been 6 months since I lost my temper in that ticket, and admittedly It's been a long boring 6 months, I have never held a ban longer than 1 month on RPUK so it's been very dull and definitely an eye opener for me. As I'm sure you can imagine it's not a great feeling when you're sat with friends that are enjoying themselves who are able to play the server and then being the odd one out who has to sit and watch it all. Obviously though this is all through my own doing, But after 6 months of knowing how this feels it's safe to say I've definitely learned my lesson.
I would like to end off this appeal with a genuine apology to both Stavik and Liam and anyone else who was directly involved or witnessed the ticket. I was, and still am embarrassed with the way I acted. I turned what was meant to be a 7 day ban into a permanent one due to my childlike behaviour and outburst of emotions and as much as I would like to go back and change my actions, Sadly I cannot. You both spend your free time trying to make the community a better place and shouldn't have to put up with people like myself making rude remarks, it is unfair and selfish. Without the staff teams hard work, the server wouldn't be where it is today and I shouldn't have taken it for granted. Hopefully you can understand and see my point of view in all of this, I'm nothing like I made myself out to be and I hope you acknowledge this. I know an apology via text can be very meaningless, which is why I would like to have a talk in teamspeak/discord just to sort of reiterate everything I've written above and offer a genuine apology. However I do understand If you would prefer not to.
Please confirm that you have read the unban appeal process and rules: Yes
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