I usually ban users who participate in on-forum altcoin giveaways for 14 days. Considering that the thread was wrongfully posted in Games and Rounds (which doesn't change the fact that it's still against the rules), I can understand the ignorance of the rules related to the altcoin section but I cannot excuse it - hence a reduced ban duration for all participants. Unless there are circumstances I'm not aware of that would make this behavior not against (the spirit of) the rules, I do not intend to change my decision.
You are completely free to appeal it to theymos though, who can then decide whether the ban should be lifted either due you not breaking the forum's rules (and my interpretation of them being wrong) or if he decides that due to your contributions / history / etc. a ban isn't needed (since I'm not the policy maker on Bitcointalk, I don't feel comfortable making that decision).
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Why not just delete the thread, a ban is too harsh imo. Can this be reversed?
There were loads of people posting in that thread. I hope I’m not the only one who got banned.
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Everyone who participated got banned for 7 days. The creator of the giveaway was banned for 30 days. Banning both the giveaway organizer and any participants is standard practice, meant to harshly discourage participation in such topics.
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Since when are you getting banned when taking part in a giveaway? I didnt spam, pm or do anything else.
From my experience, without banning participants, the ban on on-forum altcoin giveaways is essentially ineffective since one can run such giveaways using disposable accounts.
Spending countless hours in this forum, doing a lot for the community as well as trying to help whenever possible and then getting banned for 7 days for such a reason?
Rules apply to everyone. Whether your contributions excuse the offense is for theymos to decide. I try to avoid making subjective judgments in my moderation wherever possible and would rather delegate it to someone who has the final word on everything Bitcointalk, the head admin.
The (now trashed) thread in question was reported by a user. I've trashed the linked thread as well. Will wait on issuing bans until this situation gets resolved.