Let's be clear on something here, this is not a rule change. Removing people from the grid has never been acceptable on CTRA servers and it's always been implicit in our sporting conduct regulations, expressed or not.

To remove someone else from the grid, in order to force a restart, is a gross insult to the driver who is removed. It is an exceptionally selfish act, it is an abuse of the features of LFS and it is frowned upon not just on CTRA servers but on all decent servers that I've ever been on.

The only change that has been made is a change to LFS itself, which enables us to catch the culprits and hold them responsible for their actions. I don't feel like we needed to notify anyone that they could now be caught. They shouldn't have been doing it in the first place.

Sam,
What about the "swap" ?
Are the sw catching those too? I see quite often people (me included) being moved out of the top to the last places.

I use it, but for putting me out of the T1 danger, because I prefer start on the back and have fun than starting on top and getting wrecked.

We can't cover that at the moment, nope, although at race end screen, the order of the grid is pretty random anyway. As long as the people who want to race are able to race without being prevented by unfair methods, I'm fairly happy.

So that's why I poped up in the first row even after removing myself from the grid and rejoining further down. Someone from the front swapped places with me?

Quote from March Hare :

So that's why I poped up in the first row even after removing myself from the grid and rejoining further down. Someone from the front swapped places with me?

Yep! Sounds like it! It was probably Nelson

Does it have any effect if someone removes himself from the grid in order to spectate the race when the human body or something needs care or anything like that?
I did so sometimes

Quote from Trebuh :

Does it have any effect if someone removes himself from the grid in order to spectate the race when the human body or something needs care or anything like that?
I did so sometimes

Not at all We are only filtering for people removing OTHER drivers from the grid.

Sam, How does this work automatically now? Some guy removed 3 of us from the grid earlier. he didnt get banned or nothing....

Quote from mcgas001 :

Sam, How does this work automatically now? Some guy removed 3 of us from the grid earlier. he didnt get banned or nothing....

Quote from SamH :

it just floats the information to the top, in batch fashion, for us to fire off the reports.

The batch runs around 2x per day right now. It hunts through the replays and brings "situations" to our attention. We action the reports once or twice per day.

[edit] I just checked and I can see the event waiting for us to action.
[edit] Actioned

Quote from SamH :

[edit] Actioned

Thanks

how do you know if this has happened to you? yesterday i thought i was on the grid and ready, but when we actually went on track i wasn't in the race. i don't know if i accidentally did something or if i was victim of this, is there a way to tell?

I checked the logs and nobody removed you from the grid yesterday.

If you put yourself on the grid, then change your setup, you need to re-add yourself to the grid. That's probably what happened in this instance, I imagine.

ah... that's probably right. thanks

Quote from SamH :

If you put yourself on the grid, then change your setup, you need to re-add yourself to the grid.

Never seen that happen. I usually put myself in the grid first, then go select my car/setup. Never had to re-add..

Oops, I just added a report, not noticing that you don't have to report any more. Sorry!

Quote from Mp3 Astra :

Oops, I just added a report, not noticing that you don't have to report any more. Sorry!

No sweat.. by hook or by crook, they'll get their noses bitten off

Hi,
It was me, I was unsure as to what I was doing as I usually miss the start on a map change.
I did apologize and said I didn't know what I had done and just got a "yeah right, getting banned" from MP3 Astra.
I will serve the ban and continue to play on CTRA servers thereafter. A warning during track change explaining not to mess with the list would be a help. Not everyone will know what the screen does.

Quote from Eclipse :

Hi,
It was me, I was unsure as to what I was doing as I usually miss the start on a map change.
I did apologize and said I didn't know what I had done and just got a "yeah right, getting banned" from MP3 Astra.
I will serve the ban and continue to play on CTRA servers thereafter. A warning during track change explaining not to mess with the list would be a help. Not everyone will know what the screen does.

There already is a warning, Although It's not very often or noticeable while people are chatting.

Look at the logs of how much I've played on your servers recently, I think the ban is a bit harsh for genuine mistakes.
This is a flaw in the game, not your servers.

Quote from Eclipse :

Hi,
It was me, I was unsure as to what I was doing as I usually miss the start on a map change.
I did apologize and said I didn't know what I had done and just got a "yeah right, getting banned" from MP3 Astra.
I will serve the ban and continue to play on CTRA servers thereafter. A warning during track change explaining not to mess with the list would be a help. Not everyone will know what the screen does.

I would suggest appealing the admins decision. the ban is mandatory, but we may be able to work something out if the message came across properly that you shouldn't be removing drivers from the grid.

So it took you four years to find out what the "-" button besides a player name does?
(Which is btw the same behaviour as for AI drivers)

Quote from Christopher Raemisch :

I would suggest appealing the admins decision. the ban is mandatory, but we may be able to work something out if the message came across properly that you shouldn't be removing drivers from the grid.

Hi,
I think it would be unfair to become an exception, so I will serve the ban. I just think it's a bit harsh if you are not sure what to do considering it's the dynamics of the game.
Android:
I've not been S2 licensed for 4 years, look at my post count. I only played occasionally when I was demo and S1.
Hell I'm not really even that good at the game, I play because I love motor racing and I love the game.
Peace out, I don't hold nothing against MP3 Astra (I've raced with him on FM servers) and will see you all again after the 30 days.

Quote from Eclipse :

Hi,
I think it would be unfair to become an exception, so I will serve the ban. I just think it's a bit harsh if you are not sure what to do considering it's the dynamics of the game.
Android:
I've not been S2 licensed for 4 years, look at my post count. I only played occasionally when I was demo and S1.
Hell I'm not really even that good at the game, I play because I love motor racing and I love the game.
Peace out, I don't hold nothing against MP3 Astra (I've raced with him on FM servers) and will see you all again after the 30 days.

You can tell he's a clean driver

Quote from dougie-lampkin :

You can tell he's a clean driver

We can't force someone to appeal if they don't want to!

We're very serious about stopping people removing others from the grid, and the mandatory ban is an indication of that. Once we're satisfied that someone understands that they can't do it in their appeal, we always convert the ban to a warning. We insist on ensuring that the message gets through.

Quote from SamH :

We can't force someone to appeal if they don't want to!

We're very serious about stopping people removing others from the grid, and the mandatory ban is an indication of that. Once we're satisfied that someone understands that they can't do it in their appeal, we always convert the ban to a warning. We insist on ensuring that the message gets through.

An instant ban I believe is the right thing to do. You are not to know what's malicious or not.
That said it is a flaw I believe in the design of the game, and if you are unfamiliar with the screen that appears you can very quickly find yourself doing something wrong unintentionally.
As it appears this is something that is open to abuse then like I say a ban should be mandatory and then sorted afterwards by way of appeal. As mods you will know what's isolated and what's not.
I decided to serve the ban because not knowing the games menus is really bad on my part