Either you have rules or you don't. Otherwise the rules page is a joke. Perhaps it is. I'm certain that if the cheater was one of the less hip and popular players a real stink would have been raised.

why didnt he just say sure,,lets all in,,if you win you can have it,,lololol duh

"hip and popular" Thank you, thank you very much!!! looooooooooooooooooooooooool

To the really serious people. How...HOW is this proof that anything ACTUALLY happened? A chat log that anyone can create? I think not. What happened after this chat? Do we in fact have PROOF that $100 was "given" to shed? Do we have anything to show that the transfer of $100 actually took place? NO!!! So, get off of your high and mighty horse.

We (advisors) took this as what it is worth....a good laugh! We joked as we know merhoops and the shed.

IF there was actual proof that something happened, we would take it seriously.

Buzz kill ppl, I swear!!

LOL I so wanna say something but Lynnie I promised. :o) Funniest ever, this post.

true the chatlog could easily be faked (this happened so often in kdice that there became rules that screenshots had to be taken and posted... which were then faked so often that there became rules that several sequential screenshots or better yet videocapture had to be taken and posted).

but the potentially faked chatlog is sort of given credit by the seeming confirmation by mer that it happened. at least thats what im reading into his replies. dont get me wrong im not saying we should crucify mer/shed here, just that i dont think you can use the 'fake chatlog' argument in this instance.

but the poster who states that rules are rules has a point. you cant look the other way because the amount was a mere $100. otherwise, where do you set the bar for how much is a significant amount to deserve punishment?

overall i really really appreciate TLP's reaction the best (and this speaks to her experience/wisdom as a longrunning mod): punish the offense, since there was an offense, but do it in a very minimal fashion, since the offense was laughably minimal. a 5 minute ban sounds like a slap on the wrist, which it is, but no matter the length of the ban, it will appear on the player's review page. i think she not only justly ruled on the letter of the law, but also the spirit of the law. well done, T.

oops, nvm. T was just joking about the 5min funnyban :P

i think the laidback reaction is more correct, $100 is such a tiny amount, its okay. but the uptight reaction has a valid point too: what happens when this same transaction results in someone being able to just join the grand finale in time, and they go on to win it, and get a top 100 medal that subsequently puts someone else from 100th to 101st that month.

maybe the fact that its so early in the month means its a less banworthy offense. i dunno. but its fun to listen to the different opinions here :)

Monte should receive a ban lasting until he improves his basic reading comprehension skills.

"but the potentially faked chatlog is sort of given credit by the seeming confirmation by mer that it happened. at least thats what im reading into his replies."

WOW!!!!!

Monte, here is the deal. Advisors get reports of players "cheating" all the time. IMO, we cant just go and ban everyone that a complaint is made against. Chances are, over half of our players would be banned. So, what I meant about the chat log was....that's all we have. Nothing else. No screen shot. No copy of the hand read out. No copy of the stats. This chat log in and of itself is not enough to ban both players. Sooooo, if people really want to "nab" someone, we need more information (copy of stats, copy of hand play).

If there was truly more information, then yes, actions would have been taken. Depending on the severity, those actions could include a warning, play suspended, reset of chips, etc. So to your question of "how much is a significant amount to deserve punishment?" -- if there was more information to show actual violation, a warning would have been given. It does not matter the $ amount.

It also does not matter that status of these 2 players or how "hip" they are. All advisors have had to take action on people that we would consider friends.