In support

[TargetPractice6]

Today when I got home, I learned that a good Hattrick friend of mine had his team locked. The reason for this was reporting a bug he wasn't supposed to find.

He found this bug by manually typing in a link and was unaware of a rule saying that it is prohitted. In the rules, it states you can't "try to fetch information from or post data to the servers, not appearing as links on the site." He was not acting in malice, and meant no harm. He even promptly reported the bug, which attests to this. Though, this would prove to be why he lost his team. I change links everyweek to see current cup matches. Therefore, I should be kicked too right? I know of several other people who do this, and infact it was a GM who showed me how. So yes, he did break a rule, but I feel locking a team was too harsh for a person who had good intentions.

So, if you want sign the guestbook of Doctorii, owned by DoctorLov, in Romania. Right now there are over 100 replies from people that think Doc should have his team back.

[terpkristin]

Wow.
That's awful! Is there no chance for appeal???

~tk

[TargetPractice6]

Well, yeah there is a chance he could get his team back. However, I'm not sure how likely it is.

[TargetPractice6]

I think Mr Wednesday saw this here, so I just wanted to calrify something. There is a bit more to the story, but it can't be explain without specifics. Eh well here it goes:

DoctorLov was the U-20 South Africa coach, and he had an available slot on the team. He was a bit curious and decided to manually type in a link to add a player of Romanian nationality to the squad. And would you believe it worked? So he says in mIRC that be found a bug and posts the playerid he added. Then he sent an email to Bjorn saying he found the bug. I was in mIRC last night, and saw the whole thing; never dreamed it would spiral to this. When I got home today I learned he had been banned. There is one other detail I'm not at liberty to speak of (I probably shouldn't have said this). It's pretty minor in my opinion, but I'm guessing it had some role in his punishment.

Oh, and you didn't hear this from me :)

[Blade6119]

thats truly sad...im greatly upset by this, as he seemed quite well-intentioned...i would rather them lock some cheaters than a valuable member

[lytic]

He did something other than just add a player of another nationalality to his team...
He posted about the bug in the National Coaches Conference and I think the 2 problems rolled into 1 is why he is banned. Still a bit extreme, until you find out which GM did it (he's a USA GM, take a guess).

[Blade6119]

George!!...no...hes a cool guy...was it him?

[lytic]

I'm not gonna say fool!

but the story goes on, someone used the exploit to remove a person from the swedish national team.

and now no Nat/U20 Coach can add or remove players until the bug is fixed.

That's about all I'm going to say in this matter because i've already said too much and apoc is going to slap me for it (and I like apoc, so I don't wanna piss him off too much).

[Blade6119]

oh...it was apoc!!! i mean...dont hurt me apoc

[Mr. Wednesday]

As I said in the guestbook, I'd only heard half the story. I still think the action is excessive, but it's at least a bit more understandable now.

[TargetPractice6]

Yeah, I can see both sides. Doc did break the rules, and I can see a fine and such. But locking him for it? I just don't understand why it necessary to lock him...

[lytic]

no it wasn't apoc... so you have 3 to guess from now. I don't want apoc to get mad at me for sharing more info than I should. I know the situation because I watched it all happen before my eyes in the National Coach Conference. We aren't supposed to share the privledged information from that conference, much like GMs aren't supposed to share what goes on in the GM conference.
I just shared with you guys cause I know you won't go repeating it to everyone.

[-Panther]

my money's on P.Ued. or G.Gs. leaning towards P.Ued. (no names :)) but I don't want to know if I'm right or wrong since I don't want to know too much.

*correction

[BillyNYC]

So, I just received my first HT warning in my 7+ seasons playing.

The warning was for my press announcement, which was also removed by said GM (a non-American one; yay for new guessing games, eh?)

The title of the press announcement was "In support". The text is the following WWII-related poem. I did not alter anything. My announcement was exactly this:

"They came for the Communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Catholic.

Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak out for me."

- Pastor Martin Niemoller


It got removed and I got a warning for it. I'm thinking the poem's even more appropriate now.

In the announcement/poem, there's no mention of DoctorLov, nor to GMs, nor to bans, nor to HT at all. It's a poem. And yes, it was a quiet sign of protest against what I deemed to be an unduly harsh punishment of a friend. But on its face, how is that even remotely worthy of being removed?

It's obvious that a GM went through DoctorLov's guestbook and went to everyone's team page and warned those who had any veiled or not so veiled sign of support. I think this is inappropriate. Honestly, my all-pink uniform (the color used by DoctorLov's team) is probably more HT-offensive than the announcement. (At least it's directly HT-related, unlike a historical poem).

I've disagreed with GMs before, and have often felt some of their actions were too heavy-handed. However, this is a new low.

I'm going for the Cup this year. After this season, I might well rethink how important HT is to me. And for sure, I will rethink renewing my supporter next year. If I can't post something like that, I don't see the point.

[Mr. Wednesday]

Yeesh, that kind of reaction is not going to help the situation. :( (The GM's, not Billy's.)

[lytic]

apoc told me about that billy... now I know how silly it really is. Is seems all of HT is going into mutiny over the recent GM swing. It's like the GM's are PMSing or something. I dunno... I usually don't have a problem with any of the GMs, but someone of the ones I thought were pretty cool have turned into major dicks lately.

[lytic]

oh and I know which GM messed with you billy, and that is one of the ones that I thought was cool and change about 3 days ago. You should see the mess he started in the Nats Coaches Forum.

[BillyNYC]

Just in case it's taken down overnight like the last one is, my new press announcement:

<i>10/4/2003 The play's the thing
"The censorship method is that of handing the job over to some frail and erring mortal man, and making him omnipotent on the assumption that his official status will make him infallible and omniscient."
--George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
</i>

(And no, am not trying to stir anything up. It's my team page, not a conference. If someone sees it, it means they've intentionally saught it out. Besides which, it's a damn good and appropriate quote. And actually, has even less to do with the "specific case that can't be discussed" than with a general attitude.)

So I've quoted a famous poem and a famous playwright, both verbatim. No word changes, no mentions of anything HT. Imagine if I'd actually been trying to be inflammatory? I'd quote...Homer J. Simpson!

[Superman=#54]

La Rebelión!

Down with the Heirarchy!

No taxation without representation!

Or something like that.

[Mr. Wednesday]

Who else got banned?

[The Afoci]

Originally posted by Mr. Wednesday
Who else got banned?

Joe.

[leverb66]

Originally posted by The Afoci
Joe.

JOE MAMA?

[The Afoci]

Originally posted by leverb66
JOE MAMA?

BURN!!!

[lytic]

Joe Burns from the Buffalo Bills?

[The Afoci]

Originally posted by lytic
Joe Burns from the Buffalo Bills?

I heard he has troubles peeing. But so does BoB. Or so I have heard.

[leverb66]

Originally posted by The Afoci
I heard he has troubles peeing. But so does BoB. Or so I have heard.

BURN....really it burns

[The Afoci]

Originally posted by leverb66
BURN....really it burns

There will be no worries of prostate cancer here folks.