There have been four occurrences this week of players being banned when a different account using the same IP was banned. All four of these players have provided strong evidence that they are not alts of the banned players, but they have not been unbanned. If people can definitively prove that they are not the same person as the banned player (such as old logs of both accounts playing together), is it really fair to punish the player(s) who didn’t break any rules? These players aren’t even afforded a ban thread to learn why they’ve been banned; it’s not until they turn to the unban forums to ask why that they learn the cause of their ban.
When this guy (http://rc.tf2center....561198069580309) found out he was banned for 5 days for “lots of negative behavior” he made an unban post to ask why (http://forums.tf2cen...eam-0154657290/) and was told it was because he had the same IP address as another banned player (whom he confirmed he’d been visiting) and that he’d have to wait out the ban. He made a polite post later in the same day (http://forums.tf2cen...eam-0154657290/) in which he linked 3 older lobbies he’d played with his banned friend, and asked if proving they were separate players (such as he just had) would be enough to remove his ban. Three days later he was told that proof doesn’t matter, because the ban is in place for a reason.
This guy (http://rc.tf2center....561198078375541) got a One Week Create Lobby Ban and then a Permaban for “Telling a guy who reported him to go kill himself a multitude of times” (horrible actions, although dealt with much more harshly than other bans where similar things have occurred, but perhaps there were other issues?). At the time of his ban, however, he had three friends over who were also playing in lobbies, and despite the fact they were all clearly playing in the same lobby together (http://logs.tf/453032) as well as other evidence which shows they are not alts, these three players (http://rc.tf2center....561198086761045, http://rc.tf2center....561198090343184, http://rc.tf2center....561198081051534 have all been given permabans as well.
What concerns me most of all is this quote made by Luop90 “If you ever share an IP, even once, it'll auto-ban the accounts connected with it.” Given how many schools/colleges, computer cafés, and even LAN events use the same IPs, is blanket IP banning without the ability to appeal really the best policy? Heck, imagine two friends who sometimes get to together and do lobbies have a fight that dissolves their friendship. It would be rather easy for the player whose home they'd played at to deliberately get themself banned on TF2C and then change their IP and account and leave the other person (and any others who have used that IP) to deal with the ban.
I understand IP banning in order to prevent alts, but I think it’s incredibly unfair to not remove the blanket ban from players who request unbans and provide clear evidence that they are a different players.
