You all read the rules, right?

It's almost funny how the staff has to deal with people who happily do things that are clearly in violation of the rules. What's even more fun is how these people often say something along the lines of "How's this going to hurt anyone else? Can't you just let me do as I wish?" after being caught for playing games which are obviously meant to recover/feed their own team. Apparently, it's difficult to understand how their cheating affects the balance of the site and why it's necessary to have a rule that prevents people from building these super teams by essentially cheating (playing against 11 flings that only stand up to take a beating for example). Yes, it's more often than not in [L] which these people sometimes uses as an excuse. Is it really that difficult to look beyond your own benefit and consider what's better for the community? Should the staff do exceptions "just for me (I promise I won't tell anyone)"? Personally I think not.

Since I'm already talking about things that annoy me, let me paint you a picture:

Coach A starts a game against coach B. Everything seems fine until coach B fouls coach A's +ST, +ST, claw, RSC player and kills him. Coach A starts swearing and becomes abusive.

Now.. Coach B starts responding abusively and starts being abusive against coach A in response. Coach A disconnects from the game.

At this point, B contacts us admins and describes the situation (obviously omitting the fact that he, himself, had been abusive).

Luckily, coach A is still online and the staff approaches him as well to sort the issue. So, now we have both involved players in the admin channel, and they're throwing mud at each other (verbally, just so you don't think we actually do throw mud in there.. ;) ).

After getting the coaches to calm down, coach A has decided in his infinite wisdom that "he won't finish the game, because B is ..".. Well, let's say a very disagreeable person (usually stronger words are used).

At this point, warning sounds start ringing in my head (again, not literally.. I'm not that crazy yet). I know what's going to happen next and I'm looking at about 30 more minutes of talking before this issue is sorted out.

So, we tell this person that simply not finishing it is not an option. And, as expected, coach A asks what the penalty would be for not finishing the match.

Let's pause the scenario here for a moment, because this is what really annoys me. The coach is asking what the penalty is for breaking the rules in order to take the punishment rather than following the rules. This is, to me, incredibly disrespectful to both the staff and the community as a whole. I mean, the rules aren't there to give people alternative ways to sort out issues. This kind of behaviour is something that I will not accept and the answer to coach A's question is essentially: "Either you finish the match, or you find somewhere else to play Blood Bowl". Most of the time, it takes this person 30 minutes of complaining and muttering to realize that we're serious about it and the match often ends up being resolved.

Am I wrong to take this position? Is it unfair to threaten to permanently ban someone for, what in my mind is essentially trying to abuse the rules of the site for their own gain? Even if the rules breach is the first incident in several years for the coach? Maybe it is, but I personally think the rules are quite reasonable and fair to the community as a whole. Yes, mistakes happen and some people may be penalized for things they are not actually guilty for. And a lot of people get away with breaking the rules as well.. However, I do think that the staff around here does a remarkably good job dealing with people on a daily basis. I dare you to find another free ad-free site with our level of support. In fact, I think we're better than most community sites on the net in that respect.

Enough ranting for now :)