And because it will never be fully usable(functionality rather than the odd glitch or two are completely different things), I don't think I'll ever use it.
Sure, Minecraft has plenty of glitchs all the time, but these are just that, glitchs, that's nothing to do with how the game works. Essentials has glitchs and can be called "bloatware" as previously stated, but it does it's fundamental job very, very well. Mcbans, however, it's base functionality, the banning, can not and will not be able to be even close to usable. why? Because, despite what they say, there are many, many better programmers out there who can get away with faking proof.
Appealing bans will pretty much clear even the fake logs out. If we even have suspicion about fake logs, we will pounce on that server looking for it to be fake, if it is, we will eventually find it, or atleast the next time that server bans someone wrongly. (which would cause us to disable the server which would nullify all bans they have ever made.)
Fact of the matter is, people want a global banning system for their server MCBans does that in a way that will inform a server and at the same time works to prevent skids from banning people wrongly. You may dislike the plugin, that's fine, it wasn't made for you then. The basic concept of shared bans has never really been approved of by the entire community be that MCBans or any other banning system. To think that in a game as open as Minecraft, you could make a way to remove any fake log activity is impossible, thats why you have humans verify it. A basic programming concept never trust the client. This being said, there are far more valid bans on mcbans, than invalid.
Perhaps not 99.9% of all actual proof, but when the time comes that someone makes an appeal, I can guess/assume they would check their own logs (such as IPs of the user, the banner, other miscellanious details).
My own personal question for you is how did you go about allowing such things to occur in the first place? Surely, if someone was abusing the service as such (This is in regard to backdoors) you had a duty to either correct the situation or inform the ones in harm's way. While the motive may have been honest, there was neither. Furthermore, if there is any sort of bogging, shouldn't you of hired people sooner (as you are going about doing now).
I understand that what server owners do is not directly your fault, but you should at least accept the fact that your are responsible for what rep people have, in regard to the fact that you are the one who reports the number in the end. If there is false information or appeals, they should be dealt with immediately (and that's improving ).
Overall, I think things are improving at McBans, but there are still things that need to be openly addressed and dealt with, and not covered up.
The Doridian situation, nothing negative happened due to having Doridian on the team. If he made any changes to MCBans plugin I would be able to see it as would anyone else through the github. I won't comment on Doridian anymore as it is not relevant to MCBans, as once again, nothing negative occurred due to Doridian being on the team. It was a group that has been removed from MCBans staff positions. ( The backdoor was in mcadmin, not mcbans to clarify. )
Any system has its flaws to attempt anything more than what MCBans has is making it more difficult for server owners for only the illusion of a more fair or balanced system. Minecraft is meant for the majority. MCBans is tuned to work in that environment. The main goal of disputes is to find offending servers, which is why it is key for people to open disputes when they feel they have been wronged.
I have accepted from day 1 of starting mcbans that reputation for players is the most important part of mcbans, which is the reason why we have a dispute system, disabling of servers, each server having its own rep (less reliable servers normally have low rep), reporting of bans, and of course banning those players that have attempted to abuse mcbans in a way that negatively impact other players ability to play on other servers in the mcbans system. This entire system is maintained by a team of volunteers that investigate disputes, answer support tickets and other community based actions, they keep the system clean of abusers, they are very good at it :3.
Disputes take a while to be handled mainly due to the fact that not everyone has just minecraft to deal with, server owners, mcbans staff, even the players disputing, have lives outside minecraft and as such disputes are given a 1 week appeal time and a 1 week dispute time. but it can be completed in less time ( Most often it is ).
As for fake ban data, we have always taken a strong stance against faking log data, if it is discovered the server is disabled, even at times banning the server owner that attempted to fake logs.
MCBans is never a stale project, either the site is being updated or the plugin. We take suggestions and serious criticism and try to improve mcbans. This being the case, not everyone will be happy with results and you have to realize that attempting to appease everyone's demands can be impossible. Using video proof can be forged, using screenshots ( those can be forged, we recently caught someone attempting to do that. ). As I said earlier attempting to make any system completely foolproof is a delusional idea in a game as open as minecraft. There will always be holes in any system, the only way to curb that is by community involvement, reporting bans or disputing bans.
If anyone has any other questions you can, I'm guessing, post here.
Or if you want to ask about mcbans you can join irc.freenode.net/#mcbans generally there is always someone on who can answer questions regarding mcbans.
2
Appealing bans will pretty much clear even the fake logs out. If we even have suspicion about fake logs, we will pounce on that server looking for it to be fake, if it is, we will eventually find it, or atleast the next time that server bans someone wrongly. (which would cause us to disable the server which would nullify all bans they have ever made.)
Fact of the matter is, people want a global banning system for their server MCBans does that in a way that will inform a server and at the same time works to prevent skids from banning people wrongly. You may dislike the plugin, that's fine, it wasn't made for you then. The basic concept of shared bans has never really been approved of by the entire community be that MCBans or any other banning system. To think that in a game as open as Minecraft, you could make a way to remove any fake log activity is impossible, thats why you have humans verify it. A basic programming concept never trust the client. This being said, there are far more valid bans on mcbans, than invalid.
1
The Doridian situation, nothing negative happened due to having Doridian on the team. If he made any changes to MCBans plugin I would be able to see it as would anyone else through the github. I won't comment on Doridian anymore as it is not relevant to MCBans, as once again, nothing negative occurred due to Doridian being on the team. It was a group that has been removed from MCBans staff positions. ( The backdoor was in mcadmin, not mcbans to clarify. )
Any system has its flaws to attempt anything more than what MCBans has is making it more difficult for server owners for only the illusion of a more fair or balanced system. Minecraft is meant for the majority. MCBans is tuned to work in that environment. The main goal of disputes is to find offending servers, which is why it is key for people to open disputes when they feel they have been wronged.
I have accepted from day 1 of starting mcbans that reputation for players is the most important part of mcbans, which is the reason why we have a dispute system, disabling of servers, each server having its own rep (less reliable servers normally have low rep), reporting of bans, and of course banning those players that have attempted to abuse mcbans in a way that negatively impact other players ability to play on other servers in the mcbans system. This entire system is maintained by a team of volunteers that investigate disputes, answer support tickets and other community based actions, they keep the system clean of abusers, they are very good at it :3.
Disputes take a while to be handled mainly due to the fact that not everyone has just minecraft to deal with, server owners, mcbans staff, even the players disputing, have lives outside minecraft and as such disputes are given a 1 week appeal time and a 1 week dispute time. but it can be completed in less time ( Most often it is ).
As for fake ban data, we have always taken a strong stance against faking log data, if it is discovered the server is disabled, even at times banning the server owner that attempted to fake logs.
MCBans is never a stale project, either the site is being updated or the plugin. We take suggestions and serious criticism and try to improve mcbans. This being the case, not everyone will be happy with results and you have to realize that attempting to appease everyone's demands can be impossible. Using video proof can be forged, using screenshots ( those can be forged, we recently caught someone attempting to do that. ). As I said earlier attempting to make any system completely foolproof is a delusional idea in a game as open as minecraft. There will always be holes in any system, the only way to curb that is by community involvement, reporting bans or disputing bans.
If anyone has any other questions you can, I'm guessing, post here.
Or if you want to ask about mcbans you can join irc.freenode.net/#mcbans generally there is always someone on who can answer questions regarding mcbans.