roastnewt [Console]

[roastnewt]

Hey, I'm banned for "rule #1,"  which I think is "don't be a dick."  I'm also banned on FatherSouth, for "alt of banned player."  

 

I've wracked my brain trying to think of what I did, but I can't think of anything.  Judging by the fact that I was banned on roastnewt for rule 1 and on fathersouth for being an alt, I assume it was something I did on roastnewt?  But I've only been on roastnewt a couple times this revision, for less than 30 min total, and can't think of anything I did that was dickish.

 

Thanks for your time,

roastnewt/fathersouth

[totemo]

roastnewt is banned for posting a disclosure of an exploit in the Enchantism plugin on the subreddit that allows players to obtain items from the Enchantism GUI.  In the screenshot that you posted you were invisible, so it's not clear whether you were using FatherSouth or roastnewt as your account at the time.  However, the book depicted in the post ended up in a chest owned by FatherSouth who is a known alt of roastnewt.

 

You could have just come to us and told us about the exploit, in which case we would have thanked you, taken the book away and then did what was necessary to prevent it being used by players (disabled the plugin until it was fixed).  Instead, you decided to disseminate the information to as many of our players as you could, maximising the damage that could be caused.

 

The ban reason was rule #1, but in reality this behaviour would also be covered by our hacking rule "No use of bugs or exploits to gain an advantage over other players (eg: item duping)." and it most closely resembles an item duplication exploit in that free items are illegitimately obtained.  It may also be covered by "No sharing of illegal content.".

 

I have not yet determined an appropriate ban duration.  You will be informed when I have done so.

 

[roastnewt]

Exploit?  It didn't even occur to me that this would be considered an exploit, it seemed to me to be more of an amusing bug.

 

 

Instead, you decided to disseminate the information to as many of our players as you could, maximising the damage that could be caused.

 

Let me make a couple of points about this:

 

1.  I did not cause any "damage"

 

To be clear, there's nothing you can do with these books.  They're not enchanted books like you can make yourself, they're simply a book TITLED "Thorns II," with the XP cost as its lore.  They cannot be used to enchant anything.  So I don't know what the perceived damage is, seeing as we have the command /rulebook which does essentially the same thing.

 

2.  My intent was not to "maximize" damage

 

I didn't post this image on the subreddit in an attempt to destroy the servers, but merely because it was an interesting, harmless bug, which I thought might get me some upvotes.  

 

3.  There is a clear policy that it is OK to post/discuss bugs which do not cause damage

 

Many other amusing bugs have been posted by other players, including player position bugs, potion bugs, invisibility bugs, sword-blocking bugs, tool-damage-cancelling bugs, modmode bugs, and water- and lava-flow bugs.  The bug I posted about it as benign as any of these, and more so than some.

 

4.  Response to the rules 

 

 

Of the multiple rules you quoted me, here are my responses:

 

"Don't be a dick," - I can only say it was not my intention to be a dick, and my language both in the post and here has been respectful and I hope has not antagonized anyone.

 

"No use of bugs or exploits to gain an advantage" - As I have stated earlier, this bug confers no advantage to the player, and other discussions of more serious bugs (e.g. the invisibility bug) have not been found to run afoul of this rule.

 

"No sharing of illegal content" - I believe this rule refers to copyright violations and child pornography, not sure why it applies here.

[totemo]

Ah, so it's actually just one of those "shouting FIRE in a crowded movie theatre" type moments.  I see.  That makes it much more amusing.  Thanks for explaining all that now.  I'll be sure to let you know how your ban appeal is going when I've had time to verify that.

[roastnewt]

Ah, so it's actually just one of those "shouting FIRE in a crowded movie theatre" type moments.  I see.  That makes it much more amusing.  Thanks for explaining all that now.  I'll be sure to let you know how your ban appeal is going when I've had time to verify that.

 

I'm not sure what this means.  It was not my intent to cause panic, if that's what you're saying.  The title was not inflammatory, and did not imply that something bad was happening.  For reference:

 

http://www.reddit.com/r/mcpublic/comments/1kxrrd/during_a_restart_you_can_pull_the_books_out_of/

 

I await your decision, thank you for considering my appeal.

[totemo]

I've had a chance to read the Enchantism source code in order to verify that the book is indeed inert.  If you had mentioned that in the first place, you might have saved both of us some stress and inconvenience.  Upon hearing of an exploit which, prima facie appears to give players free enchanted books or other valuable items, I'm obligated to put a stop to it as soon as possible.  I'm certainly not going to allow you to play the game while I investigate the impact of a bug like that.

 

Please take note:

• The server admins reserve the right to determine the exact circumstances under which an item can be obtained within the game.  Disseminating information about methods of obtaining items by exploiting software bugs is likely to earn you a ban, regardless of the item.
• The item in question certainly looks like something that could be sold to an unsuspecting player in-game.  It therefore has some value.
• The Enchantism plugin will stay disabled until the issue is resolved.
• I reiterate my comment from the subreddit post: "That's not how you report an exploit.".  You dumped us in it with zero warning, no time to evaluate the severity other than by that screenshot - which looks very severe - and put us into damage control.  I don't appreciate that.  It's taken up valuable time today that I had planned to use on much more worthwhile activities.

I accept that your intent may have been only naive and not malicious.  I'm unbanning your accounts.

[roastnewt]

I'm very disappointed by this response.  It was clearly a misunderstanding, and I expected it to be resolved quickly after my appeal, with no hard feelings.  I apologize for how my post may have looked at a cursory glance.  I should have been more aware of how it would look to the untrained eye.

 

However, after that first glance, to anyone with experience with minecraft, it was clearly not an enchanted book.  Enchanted books have "Enchanted Book" as their title, and have the enchantment as their subtitle.

 

I expected your response to be an apology for the misunderstanding, and an unban.  Instead, you have taken a very hostile tone, and seem to be blaming this entirely on me.  Though I should have thought more about how the post would be received, the assumptions that you make are your own and not my responsibility.  This is not an exploit, it is a bug, and you continuing to refer to it as such is just an attempt to paint me in a negative light.  Exploits require an advantage to be conferred, which this does not.

 

Thus, I take exception to your statement that I "dumped it on [you] with zero warning,"  when there was no warning to give, since there was no issue other than the mistaken one that you perceived.

 

"I don't appreciate that.  It's taken up valuable time today that I had planned to use on much more worthwhile activities."

 

Again, the poor way in which you chose to respond is not my responsibility.  You wasted your own time.

 

Finally, I appreciate that all bans must be handled with a certain degree of impartiality, but the fact is that I have been playing with nerd since alpha, more than 3 years ago.  I was a mod who stepped down in good standing.  Perhaps you could give me the benefit of the doubt, and not assume that I would post an "exploit" of such severity.  Perhaps that information would call for a moment of self-reflection, where you could ask yourself, "Could I possibly have made an unwarranted assumption here?"  The appropriate response would be to come on mumble (where I am every day) or contact me on the forums (where I am every day), and ask me to explain the photo.

 

I was not upset with being banned, as I agree that mistakes were made on both sides.  But now I am upset at this insulting, buck-passing, ass-covering response, when I honestly expected a quick unban and an apology for the misunderstanding.

[totemo]

I'm very disappointed by this response.  It was clearly a misunderstanding, and I expected it to be resolved quickly after my appeal, with no hard feelings.  I apologize for how my post may have looked at a cursory glance.  I should have been more aware of how it would look to the untrained eye.

 

Well, it bothered a number of other staff who looked at it too.

 

I've been too busy working on keeping the servers running to even see an enchanted book in game for a couple of months.  I owe you no such apology and it is never ok to disclose an exploit that gives you free items.  Take it to the staff next time.