Ppl now use this tool to check "elo snipers".
We don't encourage players to make new accounts without any reason, this is part of the reason why players with fewer games are autobanned for longer when they leave a game. I don't see a problem with people checking for a main account when someone creates an aka account, whether or not the player is ELO sniping.
It will only cause flames and trolls.
We could have avoided the fiasco that was the urDLckmymouth@useast ban request thread
I don't see how "flame and trolls" can come from people checking for aliases. If someone ELO snipes like you said above, then their ELO sniping is what would cause flame, not the alias checker. And not sure where the "trolls" came from.
Any ban request can go out of hand, there are numerous instances. Off topic posts should have been deleted and, if semi-constructive, redirected to a post in Complaints section.
There's no reason why the ban request should have been made private (not saying it was, just saying there was no reason for it to have been) or why others shouldn't have been able to check for aliases. The accused player was indeed tied to Kaisereo, even if they may not be the same person, and we have the same capability of confirming or disproving a link as any non-admin.
Also, we encourage players to comment on ban requests and appeals. Identifying an alias with a player who has been previously banned for the same offense lets us know that this is their second offense, and IMO linking a player to an admin is also helpful in case we don't check.
Thus, it is irrelevant to the public whether a mod is involved or not.
It's not irrelevant, mods are held to a higher standard in terms of following the rules that they're supposed to be enforcing and the public deserves to know if a mod breaks those rules. Although this isn't the reason that alias checker is public.
Apart from these, other technical blablabla is admins and mods role.
Whether a player conducted the same offense on another account, for example, is useful information. And it also matters to the act - a first time offense is not the same as a repeated one.
Wait for a case to be further investigated...people cant respond instantly...everyone has a life outside this forum and wc3.
People are banned for a certain reason...they have the option to appeal and complaint afterwards to fix things if wronged.
Doesn't seem to be relevant.
You don't need it, us *staff* will deal with this part. Isn't normal user job to do it. ImO.
Then why allow public posting on ban requests and ban appeals? Alias tool is useful for the same reason.
So I don't see any good reason to disable it for non-admins. And reasons to keep it are that it lets normal users help in ban requests/appeals and also checking for abusive players (following them into games on aka's or "ELO sniping").
Edit: so question for you is what instances you think the tool led to problems and also _why_ you think it was a problem.