To be fair if one of them said “yeah I’m running a bot on this account so what?” I’m sure they would be banned
It's unfortunate, but rules are rules. 10 days seems kind of excessive for what I would consider a minor offense though. We also might not have the full story but I didn't get that vibe from the OP.
They don't have to really say anything. I wish the STF would monitor suspected botters, because watching the gathering bots for a few moments makes it really obvious they're using a script. And if they checked the logs and saw a crafter crafting nonstop for 24+ hours, it's fairly obvious there's not a person behind that character at the moment. I've even seen the botters on my server in Eureka. But reports don't mean anything, it seems...
As I said before, I don't think this scenario is entirely black and white. Devs have implied they know we use these programs and intentionally turn a blind eye, but someone reported and punished for another player asking for logs to be uploaded with no evidence of actual harassment just seems silly. In addition to the 10-day ban for a first offense and the locked in the Gaol for hours on end...
So wait a minute, do you really just lose out of 10 days playtime? Because if what you said is 100% all that happened that seems rather excessive and I would be steaming mad if that were me in that situation!
If OPs story is totally true, then yeah... this is WORSE customer service than anything I ever experienced in WoW, lmao.
This whole thing is very silly. "We know you use this, but if you don't say you use it, we'll pretend you aren't." So which is it? Do they care, or don't they? Seems like it'd be way easier to just let people use them - or heck, provide one for us - and then focus on enforcing harassment reports, than to have this whole sneaky-sneaky don'taskdon'ttell BUT WAIT IF U GET CAUGHT!! nonsense be the norm.
Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-WX...youtu.be&t=370
However, it partly depends on the GM. Some won't pursue you unless you do harass people, some will get you just for a mention. So to be safe, do as Yoshida says in the video and just don't talk about it.
This is rather excessive, you weren't using it to harass anyone, you broke the rules by using and advocating third party tools, but you weren't hurting anyone, a warning would be more than sufficient, a 3 day ban at the absolute most.
To leave you in the gaol for hours, ignore your questions and issue a 10 day ban is far too much.
using a 3rd party software is always that level of ban, i believe. technically, its probably the same offense as botting.
Also, many times, people who talk about bans on forums are not being completely accurate, as to what the nature of the offense is. Lets say this guy was botting the marketboard, do you think he would tell everyone? If he was harrassing? Also, publicly uploading player's performances who dont want to be uploaded, allows others to harrass them. The rules are the rules regardless