Hello,

my account (PiTbUllS-F3F3) was banned on 19/6/2020 for a "Dirty screenshot". I agree with the reason of the ban. The proof is clear as was written by Mr. Angry_Cuban13 in the ban appeal. Yet I would like to discuss the ban I have been issued a little further (eventually get the ban lifted).

First of all I have an important question and that is also the title of this thread. How do I know that a server is protected by a BF4DB?

To be honest, I had no idea about this webpage/service UNTIL I got banned. I had used ReShade to make the game sharper and had activated a crosshair overlay - which was my mistake as I am an older person and a friend setup the ReShade for me. 

I have three problems with this.

No.1: Since I had no idea the server is protected by BF4DB, let alone I had no idea about existence of this webpage/service, how could I possibly know that there is any kind of rule stating that using a crosshair overlay is forbidden? As far as I know DICE does not consider using ReShade cheating in any way (I might be mistaken - you can correct me on that).

No.2: The banning admin has stated in the appeal that I had had an unfair advantage. How could a secondary crosshair be a possible "unfair" advantage considering it was really offset and used on a server with "Normal" preset (that means I had two crosshairs - more distracting than an advantage).

No.3: On all my accounts I have played over 4500 hours of BF4. I had never had any need of cheating or using any external assistance. The ban was given based on TWO PB screenshots from the course of ONE DAY and one MAP ONLY. There was no assumption of an error or anything like it. As I have stated in my appeal, I uninstalled ReShade and have not used it since.

SCREENSHOTS:

http://anticheatinc.com/rtstarena/pending/original/d15c3a1200d6abcf4770eaf8179fc7a6_0.png

http://anticheatinc.com/rtstarena/pending/original/d15c3a1200d6abcf4770eaf8179fc7a6_1.png

In summary I understand that I got banned for a dirty screenshot (according to your rules it is correct without a doubt) BUT the servers being protected by your plugin should have a notification of this kind of protection and they should notify you, that you MUST read the rules of the BF4DB community (or at least have them implemented in the !rules command) this kind of bans. Hacking is fine. Ban it without a single hesitation but a player who actually use any kind of hack but banning, I dare to say, a BF4 veteran for a small mistake such as a crosshair overlay is a little bit off the line I think.

Hope you will give this some thought and hopefully lift my ban (even though the appeal has been denied) because I would not have been in this situation if all the points above had been considered,

1. You are violating EA's ToS by injecting stuff into the game.
2. Private servers don't need to have any sort of notification. That is why they are private.
3. Your appeal is still denied.
   

I agree on the first point. It was my lack of knowledge and misunderstanding of the ToS. Reading the ToS now and if I had known this information (yes, everyone agrees upon instalation but who actually reads the ToS), I would not have used the ReShade at all.

The second point is also true. Since the servers are private they do not need to have any notification yet they SHOULD have some kind of link to the official rules the server uses. Enforcing rules that the players do not have any clue about is not really a correct thing to do.

There are many servers where you have !rules command yet none says something like "For further information visit 'bf4db.com'". That would have been very helpful and easy fix to do. Could be possibly a part of the plugin.

That is just my input into the problem. If you do not wish to unban me, so be it. I just would not like any other player to get banned for the same mistake based on a limited amount of evidence (yet provable).

Some states allow U-turns. Some don’t. If you live in a state where it’s allowed, and you visit one where it’s not, it’s YOUR responsibility for knowing that, and you are still liable for a ticket if you violate it. 

We provide a tool for server admins. Server admins choose whether or not to use our tool. We do not have operational control over the servers that use our tool, and cannot tell them how to run their server(s). It is up to them, as the owner/operator, to inform the players if they choose. We have no say over that.

Appeal denied.