[LIFTED] Unfair ban on Soren Bautista

This forum is used to deal with abuse in game - abuse reports, bans etc.
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Hello=)
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[LIFTED] Unfair ban on Soren Bautista

Post by Hello=) »

We have detected Soren Bautista used exploit to kick ppl out of map server. It goes as using game bugs to do damage to our server.

To get started I've set 5 day ban for Soren Bautista to give them some time to think why its been bad idea. If this doesn't gets through and ever repeats, next ban would be much more lengthy, trust me, Soren. You do not attack servers on my watch. Doubly so when it also full of staffers. And just in case we're not so bad at tracking who is who and so on. So this behavior have to stop, or you'll face way more powerful consequences.

Rationale:
[01:39] Jesusalva: Dec 15 01:36:29 tmw tmwa-map[4419]: (REDACTED)(): Soren Bautista used the (REDACTED) exploit to dc everyone on map

NB: few things replaced by (REDACTED) for security reasons.

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Hello=)
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Re: [BAN]5d Soren Bautista using exploits

Post by Hello=) »

UPD Soren contacted me and explained their version of what happened. Knowing them, and their usage patterns, explantion looked plausible - and I would buy it for now. I've instructed them to change relevant settings to avoid similar problems in future. Cuoco also seems to have comparable ideas on topic. So I will remove this ban now.

However, people should understand: keeping game server operational and playable is my top priority. So if this issue would pop up again, I will perform any necessary actions to keep server operational and gameplay going. This could include any means necessary to achieve it, up to e.g. "indefinite" bans until we figure out better resolutions of bug(s) and so on. For now ban is lifted, feel free to enjoy gameplay and sorry for interruption.

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Re: [LIFTED][BAN]5d Soren Bautista using exploits

Post by Hello=) »

For the completeness of story: I've thoroughly investigated issue and...
1) On my side I completely remove all charges vs player. This incident doesn't appears to be anything intentional or so. Just unfortunate big copy-paste intended to be sent to General chat - and backfiring.
2) Nature of this bug ensured logging wasn't even really reliable in such cases anyway.
3) In the end of day its been our technical defect in server software. I've got upset enough about such unfortunate server bug and did full technical investigation. At some point I managed to both reproduce problem and fix it in server code, landing "security fix". If someone else is using TMWA on their servers somewhere they could be interested to update it. This bug allowed anyone without special privileges to kick everyone on same map from map server, disconnecting them.
4) Fix is deployed and I tested it corrects problem. This bug shouldn't bite anyone again. Keep in mind I added some missing logging, too. Either way on my side of story I consider this thing 100% resolved.

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Re: [LIFTED][BAN]5d Soren Bautista using exploits

Post by WildX »

Having been present during the meeting where Soren made this mistake, I found and still find these actions completely inappropriate. To be clear for those who were not there: Soren profusely apologised as soon as we logged back in. We were the first two players to reconnect and he seemed mortified. Hello=) was being abusive towards myself and others already during the meeting and once again forgot he is not a sysadmin trying to maintain server health, but a GM who is tasked to deal with players in a socially competent way.

I have opened an internal thread to discuss this incident so to avoid public drama, but I am making this post to apologise to Soren Bautista for the unfair treatment and to remind everyone that this a wrongly and unjustly applied ban that was rescinded and not just "lifted". I'm saying this as both a team member and a witness to the events.

TMW Team member

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