Life In 19x19

Li Kao wrote:..Perhaps you played ranked games against your friend, who was using the same IP. That's certainly suspicious behavior, and warrants you getting contacted by an admin. If you respond to that by making fun of the admin, you getting banned and deranked wouldn't be unexpected.

Just to answer this real quick, no I have not played any of my friends online when in the same house. This is because we just play with a real board and stones when we play


Yea I think I'll just.. have to play on a new server now..

Quickly looking over your game list, I don't see anything that clear like rank abuse. You played weak bots in ranked games a bit often, but IMO that could have been handled with simply telling you to stop that.

Consistently beating an 11k bot at 6 stones doesn't seem unbelievable to me. In such high handicap games white already has a big advantage. I used to have pretty high winrate as white in high handicap games when I was around 5k. The opponent simply falls apart at some point, and you win by 100+. I'm pretty sure I'd have had a similar record against weak bots if I had played them that often.

Did you ever play an account that shared your IP in a ranked game?

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The WTF issue is well known KGS silliness. The policies are a bit stupid. Luckily the admins don't care(or notice) when I use WTF is custom rooms.

Crazy4Go wrote:

Li Kao wrote:..Perhaps you played ranked games against your friend, who was using the same IP. That's certainly suspicious behavior, and warrants you getting contacted by an admin. If you respond to that by making fun of the admin, you getting banned and deranked wouldn't be unexpected.

Just to answer this real quick, no I have not played any of my friends online when in the same house. This is because we just play with a real board and stones when we play

I didn't make fun of an admin until the very end (when I decided to explode, as seen in above posts).

I actually have a lot of sympathy with your situation, and by the sounds of it you have probably been done a significant injustice.

However, please don't use L19 as a ranting board

For one thing, debates about the KGS admins come up fairly frequently, and it is rare that they come up without the OP going into intense rant mode - which in turn tends to push support towards the KGS administration rather than against it (people will assume you ranted as much to them as you are on here, and no amount of "I didn't, honest!" will be able to convince them otherwise).

Discussing the situation, with logs, and opening discussion always seems like a good idea with regards to transparency, but ranting about it won't do you any favours.

Well, I guess it's comforting to see some understanding. Thanks all and sorry for rant. I guess I'm done type/burning steam lol

Maybe try kaya.gs when it goes into beta?

Your eight step post was very lucid. Thanks for that.

Not seeing the whole affair, it sounds like the admins may have treated you with too much of a knee-jerk reaction. But I can't see their side of it.

I will say your post where you write "....UNRIGHTFULLY...." is a bit rude. Not enough to justify dismissing you, but you're not doing yourself any favors.

hyperpape wrote:I will say your post where you write "....UNRIGHTFULLY...." is a bit rude. Not enough to justify dismissing you, but you're not doing yourself any favors.

Unrightfully means unfairly or unjustly. If you agree with his position that the KGS admins acted wrongly, then it is merely a statement of fact. There is nothing inherently inflammatory about it.

However, I do agree that he didn't do himself any favors by using that word. When dealing with admins (or anyone else in power for that matter), it is often best to prostrate yourself and take the lowest posture possible. Here's a template for dealing with admins:

• First, begin with an obligatory offering of brown-nosing platitudes: I love KGS very much. It is a wonderful server and the admins do a great job of keeping it a friendly place.
• Now, get into your issue by describing it as a result of miscommunication rather than any intentional wrongdoing on the part of those in power: However, recently I was banned from KGS by admin X. Admin X said that I was doing this, this, and this, but that is all a misunderstanding. What really happened was that, that, and that. I understand that it is hard work being an admin and that there will be occasional mistakes. I think that this is one of them. Unfortunately, I believe that my communication skills leave much to be desired and resulted in some confusion. (It is critical that this problem is not their fault!!)
• Finish up with more cheerful rear-end-kissing: Thank you so much for your time in responding to my request, and also for your efforts in making KGS a wonderful place. I hope to be unbanned soon so that I can enter my go paradise once again!

Real life counterparts of KGS admins are much worse. I have had a green card application rejected because of a clerical error by a government employee. That is, the government employee checked the wrong box while processing the application. I appealed and the appeal was handled by the same person who made the mistake. Second rejection. My lawyer told me to just file the same application again (because it would take more money and time to sue) and it went through. I wasted 16 months and lots of money because of one stubborn and incompetent government "admin", but there was no way to get justice. Better get used to it!

An important exception: If you are a paying customer, then always take the most forceful position.

The lesson, as always: The real world is always worse than the internet. Be thankful that KGS admins are not worse than they are.

Whoever you quote, I like it!

I sympathize with you. Some KGS admins make rash actions without looking at the full story.

I agree that KGS admins can go overboard with the moderation and periodically make big deals out of nothing.

I also think that when a guest comes to your home and uses your internet connection you have some responsibility for his/her actions. Don't cry when they break rules while using your internet connection and you have to pay the consequences.

Tofu wrote:I also think that when a guest comes to your home and uses your internet connection you have some responsibility for his/her actions. Don't cry when they break rules while using your internet connection and you have to pay the consequences.

Agreed.

Except, the problem here seems to be that the only "crime" they committed was logging in (to their own accounts) from his computer.

(Based solely on what he has said, of course)

I'm new to all this business of "chat rooms", being quite old and not much of a computer user. My son, Jimmy (or "Beanie" as he now wants to known) wanted me to get one so I could "skype" with him (whatever that is) when he is at college. Jimmy (or "Beanie"- its a type of hat, apparently) told me I should "join the 21st century by mixing with some of the chill dudes that play that board game of yours", so that's what I'm doing.

Great! This is easier than I thought. I suppose I should say something relevant to your "chat room".

Nope, I'm stuck for words!!!

Now, how do I make this stay?

Jimmy?

JIMMY?

TAKE YOUR HEADPHONES OFF AND COME AND HELP.




JIMMY!

Beanies were popular in the 50's. If you're losing your memory, go might prove to be a difficult pastime.

You were just very unlucky. Seventeen is not a native english speaker and actually has a completely different cultural background than you and therefore behaves differently from what you'd call "normal".
Well and Bigdoug is just an automated script program that is actually alive, so nothing much to expect there.
Long story short: Don't worry about it, your ban should be lifted after at most 2 days. Also, send email to glue@gokgs.com and explain your situation and ask for the "deranking" being undone. (Deranking means your rank, ie kyu/dan, is removed from your account).

I find it odd that people justify improper response and lack of understanding from KGS admins by saying they are not native speakers.

Surely, if their English is bad enough to cause misunderstanding, they should stick to dealing with people they can communicate with?