DotA community noticeably grown smaller within past 2 months

[CountChocula96]

Hi All -

I notice in the past 2 months DotA games have grown a bit smaller. I was in lobby today and it took 5 minutes for a single person to join. That's obviously very rare, but it was the first time I ever saw something like that on ENT. I thought the game was glitched.

I believe one thing has played a role in this more than anything. Excessive ban lengths. Let me say right off the bat that I'm NOT blaming any mods or admins, but I just want to start a discussion.

Recently ban lengths have increased for many people, including myself. A relatively minor offense, like a single pause for example, can lead to a week-long ban. Another guy got banned 3 months for simply chatting (viewtopic.php?f=172&t=135554).

I think these bans fuel a cycle of inactivity. Some people have played thousands of Dota games, and know how to have fun and keep the players coming back. Some trash talk a bit and are funny, pumping up the opposing team. But they might get banned for various reasons. If that one player with thousands of games is removed, it causes a chain-effect. Games will fill up slower even if it's almost imperceptible at first.

Now I'm noticing Dota has definitely gotten a little slower with the rate of players joining (as evidenced by my slow game today with an empty lobby for 5 mins). What do people think? Could ban lengths be becoming excessive? Or is it a completely different reason?

[FalenGa]

Did you ever consider the possibility that the recent wave of upfaildates is the reason people stop playing this game? Crashing/desyncing every game isn't very appealing, one would think.

Ban lenghts haven't changed. If you get banned every other day, do you expect us to ban you for 3 hours every time? No. You'll be penalised accordingly.

As for the "just talking" ban, the guy was talking about bullets leaving his desert eagle, and it wasn't his first ban for doing so. Sure, this is the internet, and he is probably some harmless skinny dude in pokemon slippers, but that still doesn't mean we will allow it.

You didn't even suggest anything. I suppose you're asking for a ban length reduction, which you are basing on wrong facts.

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