<I'd post the images here, but that'd be annoying so they are attached below, instead.>
Ok jokes and humor aside... I *am* a moderator for a few games, (NOT Deadlock, to be very clear). I am also well aware that just due to the way I communicate myself in text, I can sometimes accidentally have that "tone" so I do actually try to be mindful of that and go out of my way to be very clear and explicit that I am neither mod nor dev. I have certainly never claimed to be a Deadlock moderator or developer, nor would I ever dare to do so, but if there was a situation where I was less than clear, I would be both happy to apologize and clear up the confusion. It certainly would never be my intent to misrepresent who and what I am.
As for seeking gotcha moments? I have definitely seen other people digging through match histories and checking other resources to call out people claiming to have done nothing wrong when they certainly have done something wrong... but I don't think that I have? Not that I think they should, or shouldn't be fact checking these people's claims of innocence, I don't really have an opinion on that. But, I do appreciate the clarity those posters bring to the situation. I also won't pretend it isn't somewhat amusing to see someone screaming their perfect innocence into the void, only to get checked by another community member proving the lie... but that is mostly because I hate liars, and it is a little satisfying to see liars getting a bit of karmic tea. Meh?
I had a moment where I didn't want to address this at all, because it is, fundamentally, off topic... except that this post is off topic in this forum anyway so it doesn't really matter one way or the other. But more importantly I wanted to treat your comments in good faith and consider them earnestly and not just ignore that you felt this way. So... I decided to go check myself, because honestly perspective is... hard. We can be the most blind to the things closest to us, and I am autistic and genuinely appreciate when people hold me accountable or give me perspective because those things are valuable to me.
What I found was... each page of postings shows 20 posts. Page 1, I had 4 posts on topics relating to bans/unbanning/appeals/etc. Of those 4 posts, 2 were in the same thread. Page 2? None. Page 3? 2, and both of those were either letting someone know, "Hey you won't get a dev response here." and the other wasn't even actually about a ban, but someone just confused about matchmaking hours. Page 4? 1, and it was one of the threads from page 1. Page 5 had *6* posts from that thread again, as well as a comment on a different thread explaining when the abandonment bans are registered, another was redirecting someone to the proper sub-forum because, again, they aren't going to get any help here... Page 6 I commented on a ban thread to explain the disconnected/not-connected lobby icons to someone and commented on another ban thread to clarify that the devs have explicitly stated bans are not automated. So... most of my comments were sharing useful information.
I could keep going, but this already took up more of my coffee time than I planned, but again, I didn't want to just discredit your thoughts or feelings without giving them real consideration. 6 pages of posts, at 20 posts a page, is 120. Of those, 17 were in threads related in SOME way to bans, even tentatively. Meaning that of my last 120 posts, excluding this one, barely over 14% had anything to do with ban topics at all, and none of them were "gotchas" or "instigations", as you put it.
Now clearly I've made you feel a kind of way about this, and I have no control over how you feel about things, so there is little I can do about that. You may well not even read this, or if you do, you may not care about what it says. That's ok, you do not owe me anything and I am doing this of my own volition because I feel like it, not because you are owed anything from me, either.
Am I perfect, or a paragon of virtue? ROFL, no, absolutely not. I can get snarky and sarcastic and even short tempered as much as the next person and in person I swear like a sailor. But, just to possibly reassure you.. no I do not sit around on the forums, begging for attention, or "baiting" toxic players. I do type 140+wpm and have a lot of opinions, though, so... yeah. I do post a lot, sometimes. I'm sure it will shock you to know, I talk a LOT in person, too. And, I really love Deadlock, so... yeah. When I have time, when I have thoughts, when something is interesting to me........ I come on the forums, and I read things. Kind of like everyone on a forum?
And probably like a lot of other people, I go to the "new posts" area, and... yeah I gotta tell ya, the ban topics show up there a LOT because of people commenting on it. It happens, friend. Perspective is hard. I get it.
