Bot issues

[TitaniumVulpes]

Depends on how the ToS is used. The ToS claims that you can be banned for any reason. If that stipulation is used to permanently ban someone who has just paid for a year of service, but hasn't done anything to warrant a ban, then SE's actions are theft.

SE wouldn't be that stupid, though. That stipulation is obviously a catch all for forms of abuse or indiscretion that may not be clearly outlined in the user agreement. SE knows that clause wouldn't legally excuse theft; it's just some misinformed people on these forums who think it would.

I didn't see a single consumer rights law cited in this reply. That's a shame, I'd half hoped to learn more about them, but for now I'll just believe the guy with a degree and my own research over the guy a bit too keen on the thought of putting slavery in contracts.

[Goji1639]

I didn't see a single consumer rights law cited in this reply. That's a shame, I'd half hoped to learn more about them, but for now I'll just believe the guy with a degree and my own research over the guy a bit too keen on the thought of putting slavery in contracts.

I've cited theft, which is something all consumers have implicit protection from in service contracts and in any other transaction. Slavery is just another example of a right, this time a basic human one in freedom, that can't be made null by a contract clause.

So, to reiterate; SE can't just do whatever they want simply because you clicked agree on something that says they can. SE is still bound by contract and constitutional law.

The ToS explicitly says your consumer rights are not forfeit even if they ban you for breaking the terms. So you can do something about it, if you felt you were unfairly banned. So... yeah. They can ban you if they think you've screwed over your agreement with them and in return, if you felt they'd screwed you over by banning you, you're not without recourse. This circular argument carrying on is technically already detailed in the ToS already.

So, if they ban you without reason, you'd have to be spectacularly unlucky. Not to say it doesn't happen, but it doesn't violate your consumer rights if they do so. You still have those, which is how you can challenge a ban. So let's hop off this, and move on to the real issue.

I've specifically stated in this thread multiple times that SE wouldn't be dumb enough to ban people without an actual reason; it's why they actually gather and audit evidence before banning bots instead of just sitting in a hub banning everyone that looks weird. I'm mainly just correcting people who seem to believe that SE can do whatever they want to their customers, including stealing from them, as long as it's written in a ToS and you click agree. That's not how any contract works.