Folks, please read this, this, this, this, this, and this.

To be clear, there is no favoritism, I don't have favorites, and I don't play favorites. However, I have noticed that people get annoyed when their friends get banned and their enemies don't. That's not my problem as it's not a factor in my decisions. I don't have any friends here, nor do I have enemies, and I'm not here to make friends, nor am I here to make enemies. I'm the parent, so I don't show favoritism. In fact, of all the users here, I'm the only one who can look at things objectively because I'm the only one who doesn't have any skin in the game. Are all my decisions perfect? Of course not, I'm only human (or am I?), and I like to give people second chances and be lenient when warranted. But I seriously doubt anyone else here -- with your cliques, friends, and enemies -- could do a more unbiased job.

That said, I only see what you guys report, so I only really take action on what is reported since I don't read every thread, let alone every post. So if there is a bias in the reporting, then that could explain any perceived bias in my actions.

I should also add that there is an unwritten benefit of being a Premium member that results in your temp-bans not being cumulative, so they always last 24 hours no matter how many you've had in the past. That's not favoritism, that's just a Premium perk.

At the end of the day, I absolutely detest policing the Forums because it is a complete waste of my time that could be spent doing more productive things such as actually improving the site and fixing bugs, not to mention it's a job that always goes unappreciated since there is always someone that will disagree with my decisions.

Hope that clarifies things and if you still have any questions, feel free to ask away.

Funny thing is I dont have enemies here Andres, so how could that possibly be the case and if premium doesnt accumulate how can someone with premium be banned for 3 days rather than 24 hrs while another is banned only 24 hrs mate. Im not trying to make your job hard nor do i unappreciate what you do on this site man. Just bringing to light what I as well as many others have realized.

Which Premium member was banned for 3 days? If that's truly the case, then that was a simple oversight by me. Give me their username.

Ah she HAD premium but not anymore. I did not know this. Sorry Andres.

Apology accepted. Next time, please do your homework before throwing out public accusations of favoritism.

Nah man that part i meant. I still along with many others feel that is the case premium or not man. I apologized about thinking the user has premium still.

Then if you're going to continue to accuse me of favoritism even after my explanation above, then give examples. Don't just throw empty accusations in public, anyone can do that. Give specific examples and let's openly debate them.

@Andres: Perks should be awards and just that. A dunce / ban is a punishment for not following your rules and we feel that this alone should be equal premium or not man. I understand promoting premium with cool privelages but by letting many get away so easily with not following rules will demote what youre trying to do here rather than promote and honestly man you would lose many who are faithful posters here in the forums. Its already happening man. Like it or not the forums is one of the MAIN reasons people come/stick around on this site.....im trying to be respectful but this stuff needs to be said man.

First of all, only a tiny fraction of users participate in the Forums. Don't mistake a vocal minority with being or even representing the majority. Second, no one is getting away with anything. Premium users don't get any freebies since they still get banned, their bans just doesn't last longer than 24 hours. The reason I decided not to give Premium members cumulative bans is simply because they are actually paying for a service, so to deprive them of a service they are paying for for a long period of time just doesn't feel right. If you were the one accepting their money for a service you were providing them, then I think you would see it differently. Regardless, it's not going to change, because I'm not going to ban paying users for 3, 6, 10, 14, or 30+ days.

It's really simple. If you don't want your friends to get banned for 3 days or more, then tell them to respect the rules and to stop breaking them repeatedly.

i agree... premium, while being absolutely awesome, shouldnt affect the rule enforcment. allow me to use an analogy.... its like this: two kids get in trouble for the exact same thing. the older one gets a harsher punishment than the younger because they are the older one and should know better. now the older one feels jilted and sees favoritism in the others punishment. now its the same between plain and premium users. all other perks should remain but the dunce shouldnt be tampered with. its saying since you pay, you dont have to follow the rules because im just gonna slap your wrist when you slip up.