>>READ THIS TOPIC BEFORE ASKING ANYTHING ABOUT A BAN<<

Flowermanvista

Important Information about Bans

Q: What should I do to appeal a ban?
A: It may be tempting to appeal a ban by making a new account and asking about it, but this constitutes ban evasion, and could lead to further punishment. To appeal a ban, e-mail appeals@scratch.mit.edu. On your ban page, you should also see a special contact page that leads to this address. You can also use the regular Contact Us form, but this is discouraged. In a few days, you should get a response, and there may be some further back and forth during the appeal process. (I don't know much about it because I've never been banned.)

2021 EDIT: Be patient. The site is more active now than it is ever before - it may take a few weeks for your appeal to go through. While this is not ideal, it is the reality of things. You will get a response eventually.

Q: I haven't gotten a response to my ban appeal. Why?
A: The Scratch Team is small and doesn't have much time with all the things that go on on this site, but if it's been a week or so and the ST hasn't responded to your appeal, there might be a reason for that:

Back in 2016, cheddargirl wrote:
If we're not responding to a ban, it's usually because:
- the contact e-mail address is fake, or there was a typo in it so it got delivered to the wrong address
- the banned person's e-mail is not accepting e-mail coming from the @scratch.mit.edu domain
- the appeal is disrespectful or spammy. Spammy ones can end up being added to an e-mail blacklist, so it's important that the e-mail is not spammy the first time an appeal is sent.
- the case requires an adult to appeal

The Scratch Team will not accept appeals made through the forums.

Q: My friend got banned. What do I do?
A: The Scratch Team will not accept appeals that were not made by the banned person. If they want to be unbanned, they must go through the ban appeal process themselves.

I hope this topic helped with questions you have about bans. If anyone has any valuable information they want to add, please reply to this topic.

Last edited by Flowermanvista (Jan. 17, 2022 21:31:51)

Za-Chary

Good post!

In some cases, users will need to email appeal @scratch.mit.edu to try and appeal the ban. I'd include that in your post if I were you.

I've since learned that Contact Us is preferred over emailing appeals directly.

Last edited by Za-Chary (May 25, 2024 00:33:01)

Flowermanvista

Za-Chary wrote:
In some cases, users will need to email appeal @scratch.mit.edu to try and appeal the ban.

Do you happen to have a source for this?

Za-Chary

I have never gotten banned, and so I don't have a source or a reason — but Scratch Team members frequently reply to users on their profiles saying that this email is what they need to contact. I don't know what this email does differently from “Contact Us”.

I can try to find an official source later.

DreamMist

I agree with Za-Chary.

I'd also like to add that the ST won't discuss information about bans with anyone other than the account owner, as I see a lot of ''Why was my friend banned?“ / ”Can you unban them?" questions that pop up.

Za-Chary

Found the source.

Scratch Wiki wrote:
The ban page shows a special contact page, used for requesting to be unbanned. It is preferable to use this page than the ordinary contact page for appealing bans because the message is sent to a different email address of the Scratch Team. appeals @ scratch.mit.edu is the right e-mail address to appeal a ban.

https://en.scratch-wiki.info/wiki/Contact_Us

DreamMist

I've been mistakenly banned before and can also confirm that in some cases, such as mine, it's necessary to email appeals@scratch.mit.edu. In my situation, there was no link to the appeals, so I had to manually search for the email I could send it to. Since there was a source given, I'm not sure if my statement is of any use, but hopefully it could help further prove that the email might be a good thing to include.

Flowermanvista

bump

46009361

Flowermanvista wrote:
bump

I think this should be bumped again after almost a year — especially because many months ago, my ban appeal had a typo in the email address.

Last edited by 46009361 (Jan. 1, 2021 22:46:01)

the2000

kChiaEC19 wrote:
Flowermanvista wrote:
bump
I think this should be bumped again after almost a year — especially because many months ago, my ban appeal had a typo in the email address.

Well, how are we supposed to do that?

Little_Tails

so i have been BLOCKED (a block is where you can make a new account) i tried to appeal a few months ago and you never got back to me saying if i couldnt get it back or if i could

Basic88

Little_Tails wrote:
so i have been BLOCKED (a block is where you can make a new account) i tried to appeal a few months ago and you never got back to me saying if i couldnt get it back or if i could

Did you even read the OP? Use Contact Us if you have a question about a ban

Futurebot5

Little_Tails wrote:
so i have been BLOCKED (a block is where you can make a new account) i tried to appeal a few months ago and you never got back to me saying if i couldnt get it back or if i could

Just send it again and don't create accounts to bypass it.

46009361

Little_Tails wrote:
so i have been BLOCKED (a block is where you can make a new account) i tried to appeal a few months ago and you never got back to me saying if i couldnt get it back or if i could

A block and ban are the same thing, but you're not supposed to work around on the block except if only one specific account is blocked (e.g. when someone requested to be blocked just to make a screenshot for the Scratch Wiki). When you are blocked, the Scratch Team blocks every alternate account it can find (but family members can get mistaken for alternate accounts) and new accounts get blocked within 24 hours for working around a block on the main account; sometimes, the Scratch Team even specifies in their appeal responses that blocks and block history are spread across an entire real-life person, not per individual account that breaks the Community Guidelines. Please note that every new conversation sent to appeals@scratch.mit.edu automatically sends an automated response back confirming that Scratch has received it. However, as the OP specified:

Flowermanvista wrote:
-snip-
Back in 2016, cheddargirl wrote:
If we're not responding to a ban, it's usually because:
- the contact e-mail address is fake, or there was a typo in it so it got delivered to the wrong address
- the banned person's e-mail is not accepting e-mail coming from the @scratch.mit.edu domain
- the appeal is disrespectful or spammy. Spammy ones can end up being added to an e-mail blacklist, so it's important that the e-mail is not spammy the first time an appeal is sent.
- the case requires an adult to appeal
-snip-

IP bans should be appealed using the same email address above.

Edit: I took a while to write my post, so I didn't see two other posts by Basic88 and Futurebot5 before me.

Last edited by 46009361 (March 3, 2021 16:21:49)

CoolLionMan

Little_Tails wrote:
so i have been BLOCKED (a block is where you can make a new account) i tried to appeal a few months ago and you never got back to me saying if i couldnt get it back or if i could

bans and blocks are the same, I think you were just automatically banned

cat_tap

Everyone realizes this topic is from 2019 right?

Scratchfangs

deleted

Last edited by Scratchfangs (July 29, 2022 20:16:19)

Flowermanvista

Scratchfangs wrote:
How is anybody going to know about this post? First, the forums are hidden. Second, this will get covered by hundreds of posts.

Then, by that logic, all non-stickied iTopics are stupid and useless. Good take, my dude.

I also should note that an iTopic can still be useful even if it's not on the first page - there's nothing stopping people from linking to it. Just look as this topic, it speaks for itself as to how helpful it is.

Scratchfangs wrote:
Third, how is a kid supposed to know that making a new account to evade a false ban is bad?

There's not really anything I can do about that. Even if the ST put a flashing red 72pt warning on the ban page that told you not to make a new account to get around your ban, I bet we would still get people on the forums asking about it - because if there's one thing I know, it's that people do not read the things that are right in front of their face.

However, if you do have anything to say that I can actually use to improve the topic, then you're welcome to let me know.

46009361

Flowermanvista wrote:
I also should note that an iTopic can still be useful even if it's not on the first page - there's nothing stopping people from linking to it. Just look as this topic, it speaks for itself as to how helpful it is.

Yes, there are many non-stickied guides and I/iTopics, such as ITopic - What is Necroposting and when should it be reported? [Guide] (mobile version) that are sometimes unnoticed but also very useful for new forum users.

dertermenter

This should be stickied

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