My account was banned instead of just a chat ban. Why does the ban system work like this?

Recently, I posted on the forum about being banned. There’s plenty to debate about whether or not I deserved the ban, and we could also discuss the fact that support hasn’t responded to me for two days. But I want to raise a more important topic:
Why does GGG enforce full account bans instead of just chat bans?

Here’s my point: I buy the game with real money, I invest real money into developing my account, and I spend my time on it. But does this mean I risk losing everything forever over a silly joke? Is that fair?
Moreover, I’ve heard that some users gather in Discord communities and mass-report others, causing them to get banned. Why does the system work like this?

I understand that the reports are handled by AI, and it decides who to ban and who not to. But why should people lose their accounts over a joke (even if it was a bad one)? Why not just block their chat? GGG is well aware (I’m absolutely sure) that their support is incredibly slow. This means that players banned by the AI system are left struggling to contact support through every possible channel and can’t play the game in the meantime.

GGG, I’d really like to hear your response on why you handle bans this way. And maybe someone from support could join this thread to clarify the details of my account ban, because I don’t understand what’s going on, and I’m not getting any answers from support.

And to my fellow POE players: What do you think about the ban system in this game? Are you satisfied with it?

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Pro100sergo222#5265 wrote:

(...)I invest real money into developing my account(...)

Smells like RMT. RMT is TOS violation. Probably deserved the ban.

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_Y0SH1_#4776 wrote:

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Pro100sergo222#5265 wrote:

(...)I invest real money into developing my account(...)

Smells like RMT. RMT is TOS violation. Probably deserved the ban.

This is literally the strangest response I’ve read today. By "developing my account with real money," I mean purchasing stash tabs, skins, and so on. Or was that not clear enough from my initial message that I now have to clarify it separately?

Or maybe you know another way to buy stash tabs without using real money?

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JC_GGG wrote:

We aren't able to discuss account issues like bans over the forums, for privacy and security reasons. If your account has been restricted, you'll need to contact our team at support@grindinggear.com for any information we can provide as to why the restriction is in place.

I have no choice but to wait. But what’s really frustrating is that I’ve come across many posts from users who were also banned for a specific number of hours, yet the ban wasn’t lifted after that time. There are so many similar messages, and most of them report that communication with support led nowhere—that support doesn’t respond to messages for weeks.

Honestly, I’m starting to lose hope that anyone will reply to me. Around 20 people with similar issues have reached out to me, saying they were banned for even less serious reasons, and all of them report that no one has responded to them for weeks.

And overall, it feels strange that instead of a chat ban, they issue an account ban for something I paid money for. How can I even get my money back?

It’s a shame that, for this company, it seems normal to ban a player and not respond to their messages. On top of that, my question about why they ban the account instead of just the chat remains unanswered. That’s disappointing.

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[Removed by Support]

Full history of my chat in that day. If you now Russian language - you may understand that was be only joke.

About editing my message with full history chat.
I can’t report this in the game because my only account is banned. This chat log cannot contain any RMT advertisements or hate speech because it’s simply an excerpt from the chat on 01/14. These are literally messages from players, and they cannot retroactively advertise anything.

Additionally, I can’t write about this in the game or report other players, nor do I need to. My main goal is to emphasize that the presented messages show that my statements were part of a general joke on the server after one of the users actually attempted to sell something for real money. The rest of us were just mocking them. It’s strange to ban an account for this. Why wasn’t the chat banned instead?

Furthermore, my chat log includes the key detail—a notification about a 24-hour chat ban. Why, then, was the entire account banned?

You consistently refer people to email support, but support isn’t responding, and it seems impossible to reach them.

I've the same types of questions. Why do chat mods or other players have this kind of power? Why wasn't I warned? Why was my account locked instead of muted? Why 168 hours? Why didn't it unlock after 168 hours? Why is it still locked? Will it ever be unlocked?

Has anyone ever had their account unlocked?

Because I've been here for weeks and seen three whole people claim to have had their issues resolved, and none of their accounts had been locked or even muted.

I'm so far beyond whether my comment ever warranted a punishment in the first place. I still genuinely believe it's bullshit, but that seems like a long time ago. I had no idea how much more absurd this situation would get, let alone that I'd still actually be sitting here wondering if I'll ever get my account back after all this time.

Why did the GGG team member stop responding in this thread? I’ve already asked several questions that can be answered within the thread and don’t involve disclosing any confidential information.

Please respond to the questions above.