[Denied] Salmonella banned by Gandalf

[TheGreasyChopper]

Your in-game name:
Salmonella

Ban reason as was stated in-game:
Cyberbullying amongst other offenses

Admin who banned you:
Gandalf

When you were banned:
August 2013

Additional notes:
I’d like to start by apologizing to everyone I’ve done wrong in any way over the past few years. So much has happened, there’s so many people I’ve harmed in one way or another, yet only a few names come to mind right now and I’m not sure if they would like to be addressed here, so for those reasons I think it’s better to just apologize in general at first. I hope those who know I’ve done them wrong in any way can find a way to give me another chance.
There’s a lot of things I want to redeem myself for, but I believe the two main offenses are cyberbullying and being part of deep cover, a YouTube series by Link9rly in which the participants, often ban evaders, go around having fun  (more often than not at the expense of others) by ignoring the rules and administration of the server.

I have indeed been part of multiple Skype conversations in which Argonath players were cyberbullied. This was very wrong and should never have happened. Like I said, there were multiple conversations like this, so multiple people, but after thinking it over and remembering who exactly were involved, I can honestly come to the conclusion that it was wrong in all scenarios. Not some more than other, just completely wrong. The example I regret participating in the most was that of someone of the age of 14. While at the time it may have felt as innocent fun to us, it can really hurt and have an impact on especially young people. It just feels awful to have participated in a process like that…

The other cases were against older people, but that doesn’t make them weigh any less. It was none of my business to investigate into someone’s private life and confront them with what I thought was wrong. I didn’t know anything and just started spewing whatever I thought were facts at them. I realize now that nobody has the right to go and start f**king about with someone’s private life. I will not disclose any names here either, but when given the chance, I will apologize personally to those I’ve done wrong in this way whom I haven’t apologized to already.

It will never happen again.


I’m not going to lie, Deep Cover was good fun to me most of the time, but that doesn’t take away that a lot of rules have been broken and a lot of the fun was at the expense of others, sometimes ruining the roleplay of others, provoking stuff in main chat, the list goes on… It was fun at the time, but it was definitely wrong, and I realize that, given that the last time I participated in it was summer 2014, it may very well have spoiled any chances I had at an unban by participating. Once again, I’d like to apologize to anyone who I’ve done wrong during my participation in Deep Cover.


To me, all the rulebreaking, all the horrible things I’ve done and all the memories of it are all very far behind me. What remains more vivid in my memory are all the good times, which undeniably have also existed, even in recent times, even during ban evasion. It let me taste a little something from the past, talk to people I’d lost contact with. There was even really good roleplay and I was given the chance to help others, something that stills feels good to me after all these years.

I know it’s hard for others to remember the good times when to them the bad times are much more vivid and recent in the mind, but I’m still hoping you’re willing to look at that past, where I was an AV member manager, WS leader/founder, ARPD sergeant, army general, loyal biker, administrator and overall just someone with generally good intentions.

Where I had good intentions then, I also had to deal with stuff like grudges, hatred, misunderstanding and frustration. Stuff we all deal with at some point, and to me, stuff I’ve dealt with. So where my intentions were generally good back then and leaning towards bad more recently, they’re now nothing but good. I can honestly say I’ve grown out of it and that everything I want to bring to the community is good vibes and fun with others, not at the expensive of them.

Seeing all the good stuff on the forums everyone is posting about, the roleplay, the progress, the good times, I just get the feeling of wanting to connect.

2015 marks an ending to me, an ending of contact with those that had the other share in the reason I’m banned; a definitive ending of the awful stuff I’ve done. It also marks a beginning for me, to start being more productive in my life as a whole, and focus on the good things in life. I hope Argonath will be a part of this year for me and I hope that I’ll be able to show I’ve changed.
I hope 2015 will be the year Argonath is able to welcome back a player with a very ‘colored’ past here, who now has nothing but good intentions to offer.


It’d be very much appreciated if this topic would last so everyone is given a chance to read the apologetic parts of the request.


Yours sincerely,


Salmonella

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I am posting this for Salmonella as he is currently forum banned. I've kept in touch with him since he was banned and he asked me to post this unban request for him.
I believe he really changed. He is no longer in touch with the people behind acts such as Deep Cover and I doubt he has intentions to repeat any of his wrongdoings. I vouch for him and I give my word(if it is worth anything) that he can be a proper member of the community. If he is unbanned and returns and somehow breaks the rules again and gets banned for it, I am willing to take the same punishment for vouching for him.

[Gimli]

I believe he really changed. He is no longer in touch with the people behind acts such as Deep Cover and I doubt he has intentions to repeat any of his wrongdoings.

To be fair... we should unban him just for the free advertising he and the Deep Cover crew have done for us on YouTube

Sure, there was some rulebreaking in them, but regardless they were really well produced and fun to watch! They'd be perfect without the exploding helicopters on people bit

[Gandalf]

And perhaps we believe you are part of deepcover.

[Murt]

He forgot to point out his usage of cheats, guess some parts will be left in the shadows to reduce the offences. 

[TheGreasyChopper]

He forgot to point out his usage of cheats, guess some parts will be left in the shadows to reduce the offences. 

"First of all, I'd like to say that in no way am I trying to reduce my offenses or try and talk my way out of what I did. I want to take full responsibility for what I've done and all I'm hoping to achieve is to redeem myself by asking for forgiveness.

I do not know where you get the idea from that I've used cheats/hacks. I have never used any kind of hack except for camhack. I have ban evaded on multiple occassions, during Deep Cover, but also on my own or with one friend at a time. The majority of the time I tried to stay under the radar, I recall one occasion where an undercover/RCON admin PMed me, saying something along the lines of 'we know it's you, there's no use in ban evading' upon which I replied 'I'm not trying to cause any harm'. I didn't get banned after that, he let me play for another hour and that account didn't get banned. I'm still thankful for that approach towards my ban evasion on that day.

So perhaps you are refering to ban evasion as 'usage of cheats'. Yes, I admit to ban evasion on multiple accounts, but no, I never used any kind of hacks. I'd also like to point out that I never found any joy in the idea of hacking in a server like Argonath. To me, the challenge was always to use what you're given by the server. I think that was the whole idea of Deep Cover, to show what could be done in Argonath without resorting to outside stuff like hacks, and still do what we did.

My intention is not just to get unbanned so I can play with TheGreasyChopper and the AoD. Although that's a big part of wanting to return now, there's also the AV clan, IV:MP which is growing by the day, wanting to visit VC:MP every now and then, the list goes on... It's just Argonath as a whole that I want to get back to. I think I'm one of the few (ex) community members that really played actively in all the GTA servers, so I hope you believe me when I say my motives are bigger than just to play with TheGreasyChopper."

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And perhaps we believe you are part of deepcover.

I have been part of Deep Cover very briefly in the "First Season", which was way before RS5 was applied. I did not cause any harm and only was present in the Skype Conversation.

[Murt]

Usage of cheats as in using cheating softwares.

[TheGreasyChopper]

''Well, like I said, I have never used any cheating software.''

[Devin]

What is the name of his in-game account seeing as there is none registered with the name Salmonella.

[TheGreasyChopper]

What is the name of his in-game account seeing as there is none registered with the name Salmonella.

He was considered banned and was not allowed to join and create an account in RS5, which probably explains the lack of a "Salmonella" account.

[Devin]

Then a name of one of his many accounts he used in-game?

[Gandalf]

Salmonella did have cheats installed on his game. He has used them to detect some attacks whime he was admin. And without doubt he has used them later on.
The issue I have with his letters is that he has been able to write this kind of things while at the same time being involved in bullying and other activities. Question remains how can we know he is not just trying to repeat his past.

[TheGreasyChopper]

"To Devin: Allen_Omlas (which spells Salmonella backwards :mrgreen: ) is the first one that comes to mind, but I also used [TELE]GE_Smith/[TELE]G.E.Smith or something like that. Then there's Frankios_Zappas, ChinChin_VenditoT and a few others. Allen_Omlas is the one I used most.

To Gandalf: I've thought about it for a while, but I really have no clue what kind of cheats you and Murt are refering to. There was one time, somewhere in 2011 I believe, when Argonath was under attack by this hacker called 'Kolumbus'. I was friends with Teddy back then and he and I (mainly he) managed to trace the hacker I believe. It was mainly him though, all I did was fiddle around with ipconfig and netstats in cmd, following Teddy's lead, confirming stuff for him. But you can't be refering to that, since that can't have been used ingame... I really hope I didn't forget some kind of admin tool, but as far as I remember I just used Google and the ban database, and of course the admin commands ingame... I'm always on Skype if you can't disclose what kind of program we're talking about here.

I perfectly understand where you're coming from when you're saying it's nearly impossible to trust me after having lied to and deceived you multiple times. I feel bad for having allowed myself to be seduced into breaking all the promises from the past that now seem empty. You were right in the mail you sent me, in the end it comes down to who you're around. In all cases, nothing would've happened if I was alone in all the trolling, bullying and all the other offenses. Those people are gone from my life, probably forever.

Other than that, I can't think of any reason you should trust me any more than you do now... There's other people that believe I've changed and should be given one last chance and would want to vouch for me not repeating my mistakes, in the same way TheGreasyChopper vouched for me. It means a lot to me that these people believe in me, but I'd understand it if you're sceptical about people believing me, after all the promises to you I've broken.

You have my word, for whatever it's worth, 'improved circumstances', but also a few other people that would be willing to vouch for me. If you want them to, they can be given a voice in this topic through TheGreasyChopper."

[Murt]

What I'm referring to is simple, you used cheats whilst ban evading. Like vehicle cheats, flying cheats and more.

Lustig and I were in your vehicle when you were showing off and simultaneously chatting with me how everything
was unfair and how shit Argonath was.

[TheGreasyChopper]

What I'm referring to is simple, you used cheats whilst ban evading. Like vehicle cheats, flying cheats and more.

Lustig and I were in your vehicle when you were showing off and simultaneously chatting with me how everything
was unfair and how shit Argonath was.

'''It has to be someone else that either impostered me or you just thought was me. I'm 100% sure that I never used vehicle and flying cheats, or any other kind of hacks leaning towards that direction... I also don't recall talking to you or Lustig while I was ban evading... Do you happen to know when this happened an what the name of the player was? If so, I can maybe tell you who it may have been.

I swear that wasn't me.''

[Devin]

Some bad decisions can be forgotten whilst others come back to haunt us.

We have come to a unanimous decision between Owners, Community Leaders and SA:MP HQ members after discussing this matter.

The appeal to be unbanned has been denied.