Let me walk you through, Pwner.
I will present context to what happened recently while expanding on every point you and the others made, and then some from myself.
Context to the influx of feedback
A few days ago, in the thread
What happened to the playerbase? someone started adressing the way some PR servers are managed, past and present, including, but not limiting to, HOG. After that quite a few more people joined the discussion. Again, it was not specifically about HOG but also about other communities.
Coincidentally, after this matter was brought into discussion, a few days later, during 3 consecutive maps on HOG, there was a big numbers of bans handed to players. After this, someone created a new topic in the
PR:BF2 General Discussion subcategory on this forum and again, a few more people joined the discussion.
However, a moderator of this forum decided that was not the place suited for such topics, and moved all the replies in that thread, which were adressing HOG issues, to this thread, which is about HOG feedback. After this, like before, a few more people joined the discussion.
The huge number of bans being handed that night (which ignited this discussion here)
Having played during the time when the bans were handed I can tell you this:
1. People were banned for spamming the allchat. Admins warned quite a few times that they should cut any all chat talk. People still got banned because they talked in all chat. Meanwhile admins were apparently investigating griefers on the server.
Everything seems to be good up until here. Whats the problem? Well, for one, the fact that there was no consistency in who got banned. Some kept talking in all chat without being punished, after some got banned. However, you could see a little pattern:
Admins warns to stop all chat -> People still all chat -> People get banned
People again talk in all chat -> No ban -> Someone says something like that guy who mentioned Jevski -> He gets banned. As if, if he said something that caught the eye of the admins, that was bannable, but if someone else said something irrelevant it was ok. However, it was all chat in both cases. And the warning said to cut all chat. And the bans said all chat.
2. Griefers were banned, which is ok.
3. People got banned, myself included, because someone was spoofing their names and spamming bannable stuff over mumble.
Admins should be aware of this things happening in the community as its been happening for quite some time. If you argue you were not aware, the hierarchy should have been aware regardless and had the responsibility to keep you informed.
You should also properly look into it, just like you mention: reading things correctly, carefully and 'step back starting to think a second'.
4. Your communication with the players is inexistent
HOG admins dealing with the players
So I mention earlier I get banned. What happened next? Well, having zero ideas on why I could get banned, I join their discord. I join the voice channel, where the online admins tend to be. There, I see B11TME and Pwner, both of which I remember at the time seeing in game. I say hello and then ask why could I possibly be banned for, being politely throughout. One of them asks me who am I, I say Bastian, to which he says "Fuck off" while the other was increasingly nose exhaling. I ask one more time what happened after which I leave the voice channel as I only get mockery.
I head to the forums to create a ban appeal. I start filling my ban appeal while noticing I got banned from the discord server.
A lead admin or owner tells me why I got banned from the logs
2019-03-08 15:29] !BAN performed by '=HOG= pwner_pt' on 'C|RIF Bastiannn': spamming "admins are n***** fuckin n**** ******* n****" over mumble on loading screen round before
I explain the whole spoofing thing and tell them I did not do such thing, while also mentioning the previous 2 maps were filled with such behaviour and they should also be aware of the spoofing thing.
Pwner comes in again, to tell me he checked mumble in game, while telling me once again to Fuck off.
We exchange a couple more replies in which I explain what happened while giving context and specifics, while Pwner keeps asking some questions. I tell them I was Commander, but pwner asks me who my squad mates where. I tell him I was CO again, and he asks again 'What squadmates at khami? Why you not answering my questions?' to which I have to explain the CO does not have squadmates.
He says he never saw me commander, and he will have to check it, and that if I lie 'i'm fucked'. Checking also takes a lot because HOG files are delayed compared to SSG and PRTA, and a ban appeal is very sluggish.
Up to here you can see that
you do not read carefully or correctly, and that
your behaviour as an admin, even more in a ban appeal, is appaling. You didn't even bother to check me in game before banning me, you didn't even know what I was doing that round, and you had to ask me what I was doing in that round AFTER you banned me AFTER I came to your forums.
Of course, the matter resolves itself (not with the help of admins) and Pwner says I can be unbanned from the server and from discord, and as is standard procedure I have to wait for a head admin to come and unban.
I later get unbanned (not 1 hour) from the PR server. As for the discord server, It appears I am still banned.
At the end of this, of course, your behaviour in the ban appeal was not brought up to question. Your ability to admin, your incapability to read carefully and correctly and to properly investigate was brushed off to the pile of the other solved ban appeals.
One month prior, same story, different admin. His failure to properly investigate got me wrongfully banned and I had to wait a bit to solve the matter.
At the end of both ban appeals HOG's conclusion was the same: I should consider myself lucky I was unbanned, even though I did nothing wrong, while the admin proved his inability to do anything right.
You can look for yourself at the ban appeals of other players and you can easily find admin abuse, admins treating the players poorly and admins getting away with it.
Why won't the complainers apply for the admin
I see you and others from HOG wondering why do these people, at least those who are able to, not apply to admin on HOG?
The answer is very simple: for your community is appaling, from top to bottom. You have become so hated that nobody is willing to join you. You join, the only thing you can do is get away with abusing normal players. You do not have who to work with under you, you do not have who to work with above you. Its not simply commons admins fault, or just the higher ups fault, its both and inbetween. Shoutout a few pages back to the behaviour of your (Lead?) Admin.
Having a few good apples join you would only prolong and promote such scummy behaviour, and nobody sane would willingly do that.
HOG dealing with criticism
You have received a lot of criticism. Yes, some of it is just bad mouthing. Some of it are just people talking shit without going into details. But you have received a good amount of precise criticism which you have time and time again ignored and played off.
Someone is rightfully criticising you, you start attacking the person saying it, while not adressing the issue. You have proved it again with your recent replies. And if you do that for a bit, people see its a waste of time and stick to shit talking you.
In this specific case, you explicitely play down criticism and attack others saying I sent people I am friends with to criticise you just because they presented my case along others. I did not do that, nor is it good for you to imply you ignore feedback just because people criticisng you are 'friends'.
As if somehow, the definition of 'friend' to you is 'people who say the same thing about HOG'. No. Some of these people I don't even know, with others I rarely played. But what I have in common with most of them is the fact that we are part of the same community, and that when we met in game, or somewhere online, we found out we share the same values. Thats why someone came in my ban appeal and added on my behalf, and then another basically did your job for you and explained everything, both voluntarily. Thats why people are coming here and saying you do things wrong. Not because we are 'friends' who blindly follow the other no matter what, but because we share these values which brought us together, the same values HOG spits on every day.
Thats why I did not even bother to come here and provide 'feedback' after I witnessed so many wrongdoings on your server, even more so being direclty abused by you. Because its a waste of time which you confirmed past, present and future. These people, who presented my case and others, are simply people who still think you take feedback and will somehow change. Or maybe they just want to warn other people regarding you.
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