Appealing a ban or mute

First, find out what happened#

The ban page shows the reason and, for a temporary ban,
when it ends. Read it before writing anything — an appeal that argues against
a reason you were not given reads as an appeal that did not check.

If it is temporary and short, waiting it out is a legitimate option and
usually the fastest one.

Where#

The appeals category. One thread per appeal, from
the account that was punished where that is possible.

Not in Discord general chat, not in DMs to individual moderators, and not in
someone else's thread.

What a usable appeal contains#

1. Your Minecraft name, exactly.
2. When it happened, roughly.
3. The reason you were given.
4. What actually happened, from your side.
5. Why you should be let back in.

Point four is where appeals are won or lost, and the winning version is almost
never the clever one.

What fails immediately#

"I was hacked" / "my brother did it." It may even be true. It is also the
most common thing an appeal says, and there is no way to verify it. If your
account did something, the appeal has to deal with that.

Denying something on video. If there is a recording, arguing about whether
it happened wastes the one chance you have to say something useful.

Anger. Understandable, and it does not work. An appeal is a request, and
the person reading it has no obligation to grant it.

A second account. Appealing from an alt is a new violation on top of the
old one, and it usually converts a temporary ban into a permanent one. If your
main cannot post, say so from wherever you can reach the team and wait.

What works#

Being straight about it. "I used a client I knew was against the rules because
I was losing fights. I have removed it. I would like to come back." — that is a
better appeal than three paragraphs of explanation, because it is the only kind
that gives anyone a reason to trust the next thing you say.

After you send it#

Wait. Appeals are read in order, by people doing it in their own time.

Bumping the thread does not move it up a queue. Opening a second one splits the
conversation. Asking in chat whether anyone has read it yet is the fastest way
to be remembered for the wrong reason.

If it is refused#

That can be the end of it. Some refusals are permanent and say so.

Where a refusal is not permanent, the thing that changes a second answer is
time plus evidence that something is different — not a rewritten version of the
same appeal a week later.