ArmA 2 - Server Ban List - ?

[HOPEnSPIRIT 10]

These types of posts have been around for a long time and the end result is, it is their server and they pay the money so they will run it as they please.

[Taxman 10]

These types of posts have been around for a long time and the end result is, it is their server and they pay the money so they will run it as they please.

Exactly

regards to the global ban list.... wont work,, and as for posting peeps id's on this forum, thats out of order, if some hacker came on hre and started posting legit players id's (like mine) and got me banned from servers...i wouldnt be too happy..

If some arse came on our server and abused peeps he/she would get a kick,, if they came back and carried on they would get a ban, BUt that doesnt mean they should be banned everywhere.... If u trust certain server admins then I can see the benefit in passing that info accross but not posting it in public forums..

[Orton 0]

maybe make a list and report there all the morons.and if they will be more then 3`4 times on that list within a month we all could ban the F*ckers.

I agree we need to be carefull with this if someone just played and make 1 mistake well that could happen.I normally give them a warning then kick then and if they do it again i bann them.I and i know lots of other admins with me are always try to talk or warned them first.Bannin is the last resort in my eyes.If you are a noob ask things get on the forums or just play and learn.

[Eclipse4349 0]

Unfortunately, you cannot expect everyone to have the same standards or reasoning when it comes to banning. It has to be done on an individual basis. Personally, if I witness intentional TK'ing or destruction of assets, I get out the banhammer. I have zero tolerance for inconsiderate people. Both in real life and in gaming. However, if it was a case of, "oh crap, thought you were the enemy", they get to stay, with a "lol, it happens". The two cases are easily distinguished.

What I would like to see if an option to use reflected team damage. As in, if you shoot a teammate, YOU take the damage, not the innocent teammate. This option is especially attractive to those who owuld like to run a server but cannot be there to admin it as much as they would like.

As in any other game, find a server that is well admin'ed, and you will not have a problem. Go on a random server, and you MIGHT have a problem. If the problem is bad enough, just go to another server.

[R.Reagan 10]

Exactly

regards to the global ban list.... wont work,, and as for posting peeps id's on this forum, thats out of order, if some hacker came on hre and started posting legit players id's (like mine) and got me banned from servers...i wouldnt be too happy..QUOTE]

While it would be nice to use a shared banned list (ala BF2142/BF2) it will not work be effective simply due to the fact that there is no real tie-in with player names and their ID's. Unlike other games where your player name is tied to your player ID you can randomly change your player name to whatever you want even if it's already in use. When a person joins a server and has the same player name as a current player on the server it automatically truncates the same (i.e. Player, Player(1), Player(2)) even though both are named Player under their profile. While innocent enough and seemingly handled by BIS unfortunately somebody can hijack your name and use it maliciously. Additionally, there's a bug (at least in Arma) where if you're not using the default squad xml for your clan tag a person who steals your player ID will prevent you from having server admin rights if they're logged into the server before you.

For example, last October there were a couple of clowns on a server (1st Cav) who decided that it was more important to teamkill, hack up the server and replicate items only because one of the two were asked, at first, politely to quit playing sound clips of "Allah Akbar". At the time most of us brushed it off then it became annoying that the time we'd put into clearing out several of the previous towns (we were on Obregan by time they started their shenanigans) and due to one of the two blowing up the MHQ and the other locking down players as they spawned in at the base that the rest of the server vote kicked the problem players (to which they kept coming back) and eventually locked them down inside the base. Finally both players had left and about 20 minutes later I logged for the night.

Shortly after I left the server somebody (presumably one of the two who were causing problems on the server) connected to the server running my player name. My teammate was still on the server and had thought it was odd that I'd come back to play after leaving the server so late at night (it was after 2:00 am CST and I work 8-5 during the week) so he tried talking with the person but got no response. In addition to the no response he'd noticed that imposter didn't have a clan tag nor patch to which in Arma 1 we'd both ran our signature tag and arm patch. Right after being confronted by my buddy the imposter started blowing up the base, doing the 100s of water towers on the base and whatever else he could. The next day my buddy told me about what happened and we'd brushed it off until the next time we connected to the server (1st Cav).

Upon entering the server I was instantly banned to which my buddy asked why I was banned. He spoke with one of the clan members who ran the server (Pvt. Johnson I think) and was told that they'd let me back on the server to hear my side of the story. We told them what had happened the person even commented that the ID numbers didn't match and apologized for the banning. About 5 minutes later I get banned again with my buddy again asking why I was banned and the same person (Johnson) rambled about destroying stuff from the night before when my player name was hijacked. My teammate again explained and even pointed out that the admin had said the player ID's didn't match and he too was banned right after that. With that done we'd figured to hell with this server and the individual who had a personal issue with us as there were many other servers to play on; however, that was only the beginning of our troubles.

Any server we were on and this Pvt Johnson from 1st Cav was on he'd falsely accuse me and my buddy as being "hackers" and crashing servers. On one occasion we were on one of =SEALZ= servers and he flatly accused us of downing the server (the server had desynchronized and only voice communications were working) and the admin at the time banned both of us. My buddy got on =SEALZ= TS server and explained that this Johnson guy has been doing this even when he and his clan (1st Cav) knew we weren't responsible for their server woes and the ones who were had already been banned. Eventually the admin of the =SEALZ= server removed the bans. After that and a few other uphill battles of clearing our name I basically shelved Arma and have been reluctant at running the clan tag for Arma 2 out of concerns of having to go through the same process of clearing our name every time we join a server.

[Juanmiguel 10]

Does anyone know if the ban is based on IP address or license key rather than the username? Because we had this tard the other night doing mass TK at base who kept disconnecting and re-connecting with a different username before we could vote him out and apparently no admins were online.

We voted to create an admin, but still we couldn't get him out.

[Orton 0]

you could just put the user id in it and it is done

as admin #userlist and look for the id and done

[Caedus 10]

Is there a way to scroll the content of #userlist?

PgUp was suggested by some people, but to no effect.

[Juanmiguel 10]

type userlist then press insert or what ever key you have assigned to input text and then page up.

[mosh 0]

Does anyone know if the ban is based on IP address or license key rather than the username? Because we had this tard the other night doing mass TK at base who kept disconnecting and re-connecting with a different username before we could vote him out and apparently no admins were online.

We voted to create an admin, but still we couldn't get him out.

The ban is CD-key based. If you just vote someone out (kicked) they can return with any name they want just by changing profile.

[D_O_A 10]

A shareable ban list would be handy, but i can see a lot of names being added to it by overzealous admins, who will permaban for small infractions.

For example, the (voted) admin of the server i was playing on a few days ago, was having a fit whenever anyone even thought about getting in a chopper, saying just use teleport, fine for me as i don;t fly a great deal, not a great plan for the guys that log in purely to run transport/air support.

I would hate to see people get added to a global ban list for stupid shit like that.

Some kind of (web based?) infraction system would be great, and would give the offending player a chance to contest the ban/infraction.

But ot be honest there are arshole players in every multiplayer game, most of them will have no doubt moved on to something else in a month, leaving the people who are actually interested in playing as intended to enjoy our game.

Apologies for the wall of text :)

Edited July 21, 2009 by D_O_A

[rocket 9]

I would be willing to create a web-based public ban system, and fund the hosting on my dedicated web server, but only if a suitable way of assessing bans was found. For the moment I'll term it "Public Ban List" for want of something better. I've had some experience setting up such processes for the sharing of Spam Ban lists between email server administrators so the same approach should work.

I could make a website with the following:

• Register your server; Would require the addition of a unique tag to your server name with your registration ID added to it (i.e. "My Cool ArmA Server {PBL#123}" or "My Cool ArmA Server PBL#123"). This would ensure that the person who registered, was the administrator of the server, at that IP address. This would be manually checked regularly to ensure that the administrator of that server was the person registered on the website.
  
• Register a player ID; you can register to receive notification of a particular player ID is added to the list.
  
• Incident Notification; Any approved server administrator can notify an incident occurring for a player ID. They need to fill out a report with details. Multiple reports of incidents for a player ID, from several administrators might result in that player ID getting published in the Public Ban List for a period of time.
  
• Published Ban List; This ban list would be automatically published, weekly, and distributed by email to server administrators. This would be automatically generated. Server admins would be requested to include a note in their Message of the Day, outlining the release date of the list currently in use, and a link to a location where players can register for notifications against their id.
  
• Ban Periods; a series of rules could be used to define how long a ban would last, based on the reported incidents. After a period of time (week or two) the player ID would be dropped from the Public Ban List. If incidents began to be reported again, that user would be added back to the Public Ban List but with a harsher length.
  
• Appealing bans/incidents; Anyone can request a review, or post a comment directly to any data loaded on the server under any player ID. This could be taken into consideration, but largely publication on the ban list depends on "swarms" of incident reports rather than individual ones.
  

I would need volunteers from some key established and trusted forum members to help check registrations.

Anyone have any thoughts? Would this be useful?

Edited July 21, 2009 by Rocket

[Orton 0]

not a great plan for the guys that log in purely to run transport/air support.

Let them tell or ask that before they will take all the choppers

They are not the only one's that are HORNEY about flying.

@rocket

It is always difficulty to make this kinda things work

You're plan sounds good if more people are liking it i would love to try this out with you and the others.

Just let me know.

[rocket 9]

I've created an initial version, based on a similar project I did for a spam project. it allows two things;

1. Upload Lists. Server admins can upload their ban.txt documents directly, this gives a SMALL weighting to ban scores. For example, if a player ID appears on several servers ban lists, then it is more likely to make the public ban list.

2. Incident Reports. Server admins can report serious incidents individually. These carry more weight in the risk weighting applied.

Also; for the user:

1. If a user is banned, and register providing an email address, they can be removed from the ban list. If they subsequently appear on ban lists,incidents again - they will have harsher ban times applied to the list.

If there are any server admins who are interested in checking out the test site, please send me a PM for more information urgently.

[l mandrake 9]

how do you find the server's log file?

Edited July 22, 2009 by Mandrake5

[An Fiach 10]

Let them tell or ask that before they will take all the choppers

They are not the only one's that are HORNEY about flying.

if the person is a voted admin on the server and not the actual admin I can see that as a real issue, you cant have people running about banning people and trying to dictate to others how they will play on servers that are not even theirs.

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

I've created an initial version, based on a similar project I did for a spam project. it allows two things;

1. Upload Lists. Server admins can upload their ban.txt documents directly, this gives a SMALL weighting to ban scores. For example, if a player ID appears on several servers ban lists, then it is more likely to make the public ban list.

2. Incident Reports. Server admins can report serious incidents individually. These carry more weight in the risk weighting applied.

Also; for the user:

1. If a user is banned, and register providing an email address, they can be removed from the ban list. If they subsequently appear on ban lists,incidents again - they will have harsher ban times applied to the list.

If there are any server admins who are interested in checking out the test site, please send me a PM for more information urgently.

I hope you people treat this with a lot of caution. I was banned once during the last week from a server which obviously had incorrect kick/ban settings. I didnt even start playing, had zero mods enabled and probably just a somewhat high ping. If my ID gets distributed on a combined ban list because of a silly thing such as this then you can assume I would be highly upset. Also, some people might threaten players that they will put them on this list if they dont do this or that. If everyone can download and use it, fine, but if every infantile admin is also able to contribute. Then this will be a mess. Also, how do you know admins will regularly update theirs. One might end up having an entry in the list, explains himself, it gets erased and still admins are slow to react and one would end up having to wait weeks till being able to play again.

:)

Edited July 23, 2009 by Albert Schweitzer

[rocket 9]

Spam blocking works on swarms. Just being reported as being banned by one server, does not necessarily mean you would appear on the ban list. If you appeared on several servers ban lists, it would likely place you on the public ban list. If an ID is picked up on many ban lists - then it means that the player is problematic. The player might appear on the public ban list for several weeks.

Server Admins can contribute in two ways:

1. They upload their ban lists. These have a small effect on whether an ID appears on the public ban list. If a player is blocked on many through this way, they will appear on the public ban list for a while.

2. They file an incident report. For severe instances, they can submit a form detailing what occured. Once again, if this is corroberated across other servers - the player may end up on the public ban list.

[Orton 0]

@anfiach that is why i got vote OFF

@Albert Schweitzer i also had that problem that the server automaticly ban people.We have fixed that now it only kick when people dont have the right addons.

Just let them know buy mail or there site that there is a error in the server.cfg

And about that weeks to wait i think we just need to come up with a score you are a TK you are banned for 2 days you dont Obey the rules you got banned for 1 day

or something like that.

Edited July 23, 2009 by Orton

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

@anfiach that is why i got vote OFF

@Albert Schweitzer i also had that problem that the server automaticly ban people.We have fixed that now it only kick when people dont have the right addons.

Just let them know buy mail or there site that there is a error in the server.cfg

And about that weeks to wait i think we just need to come up with a score you are a TK you are banned for 2 days you dont Obey the rules you got banned for 1 day

or something like that.

That would be actually an idea I'd strongly favour. To ban someone for a couple of days or even 1-2 weeks is a justified measure and might also have the desired paedagocial effect. But to ban people indefinetly is bound to cause problems and unfair cases.

[rocket 9]

That would be actually an idea I'd strongly favour. To ban someone for a couple of days or even 1-2 weeks is a justified measure and might also have the desired paedagocial effect. But to ban people indefinetly is bound to cause problems and unfair cases.

Yeah, that's what I've implemented with the list. The webserver holding the list will remove someone from the list automatically after a period of time, to save server admins having to do it. All they have to do is install the ban list, and upload theres regularly to keep it syncronized.

[Smurf 12]

Reviving this topic...

Hi,

I have been having serious problems with this "ban.txt". Our server was always banning and kicking who had any addon. We changed some parameters in the "server.cfg" so it wouldn´t happen again. And didin´t.

We cleaned the ban.txt but some players still banned from the server, and I don´t know why. Any sugestion?

[Orton 0]

/ some ArmA specific stuff - signature verification

onUnsignedData = "kick (_this select 0)"; // unsigned data detected

onHackedData = "kick (_this select 0)"; // tampering of the signature detected

onDifferentData=""; // data with a valid signature, but different version than the one present on server detected

BattlEye=1; //Server to use BattlEye system

Propaly where there is kick writen on my server.cfg you got ban.Change does 2 to kick and youre done.

[Smurf 12]

The cfg are like these: (portuguese stuff after // )

verifySignatures=1; //Verificar assinatura dos addons.

kickduplicate=1; // Kickar CDkey duplicada. Colocando em 0, jogo pirata entra.

onUnsignedData = 0;// Com addon "não assinado" = kick. Não tenho certeza se funciona.

onHackedData = "ban (_this select 0)"; // Com conteúdo de addon alterado = ban.

onDifferentData = 0; // Com addon com versão diferente = kick.

But I doubt thats someone cheating\hacking.

[Orton 0]

change teh onhackdata to kick

Or copy the one i post to you.I had the same problem my server always ban the players instead of kick them.After some reading and asking this is perfect server.cfg