PIPELINE - Ban Appeal Instructions and Guidelines

PIPELINE BAN APPEAL GUIDELINES

Please follow the guidelines below when submitting your appeal. Read it carefully to avoid unnecessary escalation to a permanent ban.

If your account was banned after being compromised/hacked, simply tell us this in the ban appeal without writing a reflection letter. We will check your ban reason and restore access immediately if it checks out.

No ban appeal will be considered before six months (180 days) of the date of the ban. If you submit an appeal before this mark, your request will be ignored. If you continually request an appeal before 180 days have elapsed, you will be banned permanently.

A ban appeal will not be considered if the ban occurred one (1) year or more before the date of appeal. Ban appeals after the 1 year mark will be ignored.

Each ban appeal will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Any user that was banned because of the instant ban rules (i.e. NSFW, ban evasion, hateful messages etc) will NOT be considered for appeal. These bans are permanent.

If you are indefinitely banned and orchestrate "protests" in the server to try and get you unbanned, your ban will be escalated to permanent status.

A ban cannot be lifted if the user has had a ban lifted prior - that is, you can only get unbanned once.

We require the reason for your ban when you appeal. If our logs do not indicate the reason behind your ban, we will ask you to include your ban reason in your appeal. If you are unable to provide this information, we are unfortunately not able to process your appeal.

A reflection letter is necessary for appeal.

After a user is unbanned, you will have to undergo a probation period.
	- This period is indefinite, and lasts until staff can confidently say your behavior has changed.
	- Acquiring a single warning during this probation period will result in a permanent ban.

After this probation period, you will be reset to zero warnings.
	- We expect your behavior to remain consistent after the probation. Do not assume that just because your probation is over, you can misbehave. If staff do not feel that your behavior has changed sufficiently after your probation, you will be banned permanently.

If unbanned, your rank experience and color will be reset, as well as any veteran roles. Donation roles from charity events will be restored, however these will not affect your user color.

-- REFLECTION LETTERS --

	- We are looking specifically for genuinely changed behavior and self-awareness about your wrongdoing, rather than just an apology or “i wanna talk to people”.
	- Reflection letters should not be too lengthy - 7 to 10 sentences, with passable spelling, grammar, and punctuation. (1-2 paragraphs max).
	- Submitting a spam reflection letter to waste staff members’ time will result in a permanent ban.
After submitting your letter, it will be read by several members of the staff team so that a member of staff may voice their concerns.
	- Staff reserve the right to deny appeals if they feel like your behavior will not or has not changed, even if your reflection letter is persuasive.
	- Staff will respond to and process your appeal within one (1) week of receiving your request.
You are allotted only two attempts to appeal your ban (the second as a chance to improve your letter).
	- We will not be biased in terms of your rank or status in the server. If you submit and appeal and had a high rank or were popular, you still have just as much a chance of getting accepted as any other member.

Appeals should be submitted via the Dyno form you should have received upon being banned. Remember, this is a Discord server, not the court of law. You have no right to be on the server, nor do you have the right to a fair trial. Don't feel entitled. Good luck!

Document updated 17th September 2022