Sir J-j-jon's tf2outpost sharking appeal

   Preface: My original intent of reporting myself was to bring to light TF2Outpost’s attempts to arbitrarily define sharking and possibly reopen the subject to debate. I had witnessed cases such as Lamebro1 and MegaPowster and was alarmed in the manner in which they were handled. My hope was that my case could be an example of how far-reaching the sharking rule could be enforced in order that the administrators in charge of TF2Outpost could revisit the rule and craft a much less authoritarian definition of sharking. I never intended to formally appeal the ban from the heavily subjective ethical standpoint nor will I ever appeal from that standpoint. Yet it became clear to me from the response of the administrator dealing with my case that the reason for my ban was founded much more on the opinions and/or personal convictions of the administrator than it was on the actual written rule. It is for this reason that I going against my previous statements and appealing this ban.



Dear HelenAngel,



     My username is Sir J-j-jon and I am contacting you to appeal my permanent ban on TF2Outpost.

I am appealing that you either (1) Revoke my permanent ban on TF2Outpost, (2) Modify rule #6 to more clearly sate what is and/or what is not defined as “Sharking”, or (3) In absence of modifying the stated definition of sharking, change the reason for my ban to accurately represent my actions.

Before I go into the details of my requests, I will start by explaining exactly what my actions were which supposedly led to my ban.

·         I purposely sought out owners of valuable chemistry sets which outputs ranged from 3 keys to 14 keys using a variety of tools. First using conventional TF2 trading sites, then general search engines, and eventually a website with a dedicated Steam backpack scanner.

·         I proceeded to manually inspect the chemistry sets to determine if the inputs were reasonably below the output item. In the case that the inputs were within reason, I would add the user. I would occasionally use other criteria to determine who not to add such as (1) users I previously knew were collecting chemistry sets, (2) users I recognized as prominent administrators for popular trading servers/websites, and (3) users with complete or nearly complete chemistry set sets for collection purposes.

·         After a user responded to my friend request and If they were ONLINE and responded to chat messages, my typical course of action would be as follows:



o   I would say that I am curious if their chemistry set was for sale. “I am wondering, is your chemistry set for sale?”

o   If they said yes or made an inquiry into how much, I would offer them 1 key. “Is one key [each] good?” If they said no, I would state how much I was willing to pay and left with a closing. “Alright, if you were wondering I was gona offer 1 key. Cya then.”

o   If they accepted, we traded the items, we said good bye, and I defriended them.

o   If they denied my offer or they counter-offered, I would either up my offer, accept their counter offer, or kindly decline depending on the situation.

o   At no time did I falsify information nor try to pressure them into a sale nor use any form of flattery, deceit, or other verbal manipulation in the process of obtaining a sale. In the event that the user asked about the nature or value of his chemistry set, I would fully disclose to them that data to which they would sometimes decline my offer or accept my offer regardless of what I told them.



·         If I found a user that responded to my friend request and he was OFFLINE or unresponsive to chat messages, I would send him a trade offer of 1 key for each chemistry set.

·         All chemistry sets I chose to pursue gave profits in the range of 2x to 5x, and occasionally upwards of 10x or more of my initial 1 key investment. The following images prove transactions made in which I obtained as much as a 10x profit, images I provided shortly after the initial ban.

o   http://imageshack.us/a/img203/9687/ynpv.png

o   http://imageshack.us/a/img24/8340/8ddu.png

o   http://imageshack.us/a/img132/7055/stnm.png

o   http://imageshack.us/a/img818/8387/irqm.png

o   http://imageshack.us/a/img20/2057/1nps.png

o   http://imageshack.us/a/img843/8577/d1u9.png

I appeal that you either

(1)    Revoke my permanent ban on TF2Outpost. By no modern definition of “manipulation” here nor derived from the term “sharking” can my actions, as stated, fall under. I used the information and resources at my disposal to seek out and pursue legitimate transactions expressly for my benefit. I never engaged in deceptive or psychologically manipulative practices during my negotiation for the item.

(2)    Modify rule #6 to more clearly state what is and/or what is not defined as “Sharking”. As I already stated, there is no likely scenario where my actions can be defined as “manipulation”. In order for my actions to be defined as sharking under rule #6, the stated definition of sharking should be modified or amended to include not only manipulative practices but also non-manipulative pursuit of personal gain under said “10%... or 20% value…”

(3)    Change the reason for my ban to accurately represent my actions. In the case that my actions fall under the loosely defined catch-all —“We participate in a network of trading sites that do not tolerate taking advantage of other users for personal gain.”— where my actions fall under the clause “..Taking advantage of others users for personal gain…”  I insist that my ban reason be changed to “Breaking rule #6” as I clearly am not “sharking” as defined in the first portion of rule #6.

(4)    Under no circumstance will I accept a deal where I in anyway return my transactions, apologize for my actions, and/or cease from obtaining more of these chemistry sets under the previously stated circumstances.



In closing, I feel that my ban was based exclusively on the personal convictions of the administrator(s) who handled my case and not in the collective interests of TF2Outpost and its senior administrators. I ask that my appeal be considered solely on the nature and language of the rules and not on any ethical implications of my actions.



In the case that my appeal is denied on all counts, I apologize for any trouble that I have caused for the administrating staff of TF2Outpost, Backpack.tf, and those in association with TF2Outpost and Backpack.tf but I will go on to say that I feel a denial would be a grossly negligent and dictatorial move on behave of TF2Outpost and its senior staff.

Helen Casper <helen@tf2outpost.com>

11/29/13

to me

Hi Jonathan!

We did amend our sharking rule to include that admins are allowed to ban for sharking when it is clear that there was intent to shark others. So thank you for bringing this to our attention.  We initially assumed that people would understand that this was the case but as it clearly wasn't, we clarified this in text.

The fact that you would support and actively argue in favor of this kind of behavior is extremely disturbing. Sharking is extraordinarily destructive to the trading community and we will continue to make recommendations to Valve to help stamp it out for good. Fair trading isn't just ethical- it is what keeps economies from crashing and burning. If you want to see a direct result of greed and "spoiled" capitalism, you don't have to look much further than the havoc it has wrecked on the economy of the United States.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't you also an admin or moderator of backpack.tf at the time that you were doing this?


Sincerely,
Helen Casper
HelenAngel (76561197977521239)
TF2/Dota Outpost Head Appeals Admin

Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2013 00:26:51 -0800
Subject: Ban Appeal - Sir J-j-jon - User #15188
From: *******@gmail.com
To: helen@tf2outpost.com
Jonathan Gordon <*******@gmail.com>

11/29/13

to Helen
Greed and "spoiled" capitalism? Hahahaha, you think that is what has wrecked our economy? No, no, it is the progressive socialist swine who enact broken welfare and nanny-state legislation which has spoiled our economy.

Oh, you guys are really a riot. I actually got you to change your rules because what I was doing wasn't actually "sharking", but your bleeding hearts cried out at the fact that I was making "too much" profit. Hey! What if I gave a 60%+ tax of my net earnings to outpost's welfare fund? So you redistribute it too all the poor traders who need a little extra to get them going.

It sickens me to think of what would happen if people like you ran our once great country.
Helen Casper <helen@tf2outpost.com>

12/1/13

to me
It's interesting that you think I'm a liberal when I'm actually Libertarian. But that is neither here nor there as we are not here to discuss American politics.

I am unable to help you further. Your permanent ban will remain. We wish you the best in your future endeavors.


Sincerely,
Helen Casper
HelenAngel (76561197977521239)
TF2/Dota Outpost Head Appeals Admin

Date: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 09:33:12 -0800
Subject: Re: Ban Appeal - Sir J-j-jon - User #15188
Jonathan Gordon <********@gmail.com>

12/1/13

to Helen
If you are banning me for sharking then I do not think you understand what being a libertarian means. LOL
Helen Casper <helen@tf2outpost.com>

12/1/13

to me
I am sorry but we will be unable to assist you further. We wish you the best in your future endeavors.


Sincerely,
Helen Casper
HelenAngel (76561197977521239)
TF2/Dota Outpost Head Appeals Admin

Date: Sun, 1 Dec 2013 15:13:53 -0800
Jonathan Gordon <*******@gmail.com>

12/1/13

to Helen
Why are you still replying?