General NBA Board Winter Strike Amnesty Period (Dec 19-Jan 19)

[Howard Mass]

RealGM Users,

The General NBA Forum is having another Strike Amnesty Period.

During this time starting December 19 and ending January 19, users may appeal to have a strike removed.

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING RULES CAREFULLY

Who is eligible?

- Users with one strike
- Users who have Successfully Appealed Read-Only Access and have two strikes.

Who is Not?

- Users with Read-Only Access
- Users with full General NBA Board Bans

Other Important Notes

- Strikes committed during The Amnesty Period December 19-January 19 are not eligible to be appealed during this time.

- Each User is allowed only one appeal and it must be sent between December 19 and January 19

- To appeal, users must have no other infractions on The RealGM Forums for the past 6 months from the day the appeal is sent.

- For Information on what our General NBA Forum Moderator Appeals Committee is looking for in each appeal, be sure to read Mass Dispatch 3.0 on the Mass Dispatch Forum.

- If you need information on how many strikes you have, please make a post in this thread and myself or one of The General NBA Board Moderators will let you know.

- Anyone who PM's me stating just "I want to appeal for Strike Amnesty" or asks how to do it will have their appeal automatically declared Dead On Arrival as The Committee will assume you did not read this post. They are very big on users reading and understanding The General NBA Board Policy and our Appeals Rules.

- There are two amnesty periods per year with the other one coming in the summer of 2016 from Mid-July through Mid-August

If anyone has questions, feel free to post them here.

[NBA Fan 1234]

Guys (and gals), there is no reason not to go through with this. Read the directions and give it a shot. We want to see you guys post and, even though it might not feel like it, we don't like giving out strikes and seeing you guys have to walk on ice / not be able to post here.

So, please, if you have a strike, give it a go. No reason not to.
Star Wars (semi) spoiler (for those who haven't seen A New Hope)

Spoiler:

If Luke can take the shot at the death star when there is much more on the line, why can't you take a shot here?

[Goudelock]

Alright, do I have a strike?

[bwgood77]

I PM'd you. If anyone else isn't sure if they have one, please post here or you can PM me and ask.

[chrismikayla]

What's the turnaround time to have an appeal reviewed and a decision made?

Sent from my LGLS450 using RealGM mobile app

[bwgood77]

What's the turnaround time to have an appeal reviewed and a decision made?

Sent from my LGLS450 using RealGM mobile app

In the General board policy, it mentions that it would take no longer than 60 days, but I imagine we can turn it around quicker than that. As Howard mentioned above, it's' worth mentioning again to read this excerpt from Mass Dispatch 3 (except sub in the dates Dec 19th thru Jan 19th).

he Mass Matter: The Art of The General NBA Board Appeal and The Summer Strike Amnesty Period

I've said it once and I'll say it again, most of the PM's I get are about The General NBA Board Policy.

The majority of those are users appealing their Read-Only Access Status.

Unfortunately, most of the appeals that are sent to my inbox are not ones that The General NBA Board Moderator Appeals Committee are going to approve.

In fact, some users even ask how to appeal where it is clearly stated in our General NBA Board Policy.

This leads The Committee to believe the user did not read the General NBA Board Policy which is stuck atop The General NBA Board and it hurts the user's chances with their Appeal.

Enough of this though, here is what The Committee wants to see in an appeal from each user.

- User has Re-Read The General NBA Board Policy
- Takes responsibility for their own actions and does not blame others
- Explains how they will improve as a User
- Has been a good poster on other RealGM Forums.
- Is sincere and respectful.
- Can convince The Committee that they will not re-offend and get Strike three with no General NBA Board Access.

Those are all things a user has to do to have a chance at getting their appeal approved.

However, even if the user has all of these things in their appeal, That last part can be very difficult to sell The Committee on.

If a user has a long rap sheet on file with many violations, The Committee is usually going to swiftly vote the appeal down no matter what and it could very well take multiple appeals to convince them.

They also do not like users who make threads on their favorite team forums bashing a Moderator or The General Board.

The Committee will only approve users who follow the above points and can convince the forum that they will not re-offend and thus get a third strike with NO ACCESS to our General NBA Board.

It could take multiple appeals and there is no limit for how long a user will be on Read-Only Access Status.

I hope everyone takes my advice on the appeals and for users with only...

One General NBA Board strike or those who have SUCCESSFULLY appealed their Read-Only Access Status but maintain two trikes, our Summer Strike Amnesty Period will be taking place from July 20 to August 20.

USERS MAY NOT APPLY UNTIL JULY 20 AND MUST READ THE THREAD WHEN IT IS POSTED ON OUR GENERAL NBA BOARD.

Your appeal should have all of the stuff a Read-Only Access Appeal has in the points listed above.

Please note that if I am sent a message asking me how to appeal or with just “I want to apply for strike amnesty”, that it will be dead on arrival as The Committee will assume you did not read the thread or this post.

I will be posting information on The General NBA Board this coming Sunday morning about our Strike Amnesty period. Please do not send in your appeals before then.

To close, I want to give everyone an example of what not to say in an appeal as it will not get you any sympathy. This user also then made a thread on a team forum bashing a Moderator thinking the Committee would actually approve their appeal.

This was part of a user's appeal from the last amnesty period.

“Dear Howard Mass and realgm Mod Crew, my name is ******Im a 22 year old male from New York City with no life living in my parents basement, i have no job, wife, family or children and if you havent notice im fat and love to eat. I am currently writing a letter because i have a strike and would like it removed.

LOL!

While that is a sad story, The Committee did not believe it was true and if it was, I feel sorry for the user.

Point is, The Committee only wants serious appeals and ones that are not are dead on arrival.

viewtopic.php?f=437&t=1335827

[bwgood77]

Just wanted remind you that you have only one more week to apply to have a strike removed if you have one strike. As mentioned above, if you are not sure if you have one, you can PM me or another moderator on this forum listed at top. Please follow instructions outlined in first post if you'd like to do so.

[bwgood77]

Last day to send apply to remove a strike if you have one! It's worth doing. As mentioned above, if you are not sure if you have one, you can PM me and I will check for you. Please follow instructions outlined in first post if you'd like to do so.

[NBA Fan 1234]

[ken6199]

[NBA Fan 1234]

[bwgood77]

What's the turnaround time to have an appeal reviewed and a decision made?

Sent from my LGLS450 using RealGM mobile app

So how long did it end up taking you to remove the strike?

Everyone else...less than 2 hours left!

[Goudelock]

What's the turnaround time to have an appeal reviewed and a decision made?

Sent from my LGLS450 using RealGM mobile app

So how long did it end up taking you to remove the strike?

Everyone else...less than 2 hours left!

I finally got around to appealing. Probably sent it in too late though. It's almost 11 where I live.

[bwgood77]

What's the turnaround time to have an appeal reviewed and a decision made?

Sent from my LGLS450 using RealGM mobile app

So how long did it end up taking you to remove the strike?

Everyone else...less than 2 hours left!

I finally got around to appealing. Probably sent it in too late though. It's almost 11 where I live.

You should be good. It's still only 11:30 ET.

[chrismikayla]

What's the turnaround time to have an appeal reviewed and a decision made?

Sent from my LGLS450 using RealGM mobile app

So how long did it end up taking you to remove the strike?

Everyone else...less than 2 hours left!

It was really quick less than one week turnaround time and the process is really easy!

[Inigo Montoya]