Lichess banned atrophied

Whether or not Atrophied actually sandbagged or not, we have to know that moderators have much more information than we do and if they banned him it's because they found some evidence that supported this.

Atrophied is a very popular user here, but the rules are the rules and they apply to everyone no matter how popular or supported someone is (citation from his video). If they are not followed, then the player should be banned.

@Francesco_Super You are totally right! If someone doesn't follow the rules, he should get banned independently by his popularity, as Francesco correctly said. The moderators don't ban someone for no reason.

If you think that "the rules are the rules" please explain to me the proper conduct according to lichess regarding sandbagging as it applies to my case.

I am an extremely slow player... my brain functions like a solar powered calculator on a cloudy winter day. If I play bullet without berserking, my rating plummets approximately 200+ rating points. If I were to berserk in bullet I would hardly ever win a game. If I played hyperbullet I would likely be sub 1600. But at slower time controls I can occasionally give much stronger players a hard time (CIW can confirm this).
Simple questions...
1. If I play lots of bullet instead of blitz am I sandbagging? I would clearly be orchestrating a drop in my ratings based on that choice.
2. If choose to berserk a lot because I want to win more tournaments, am I sandbagging? It is guaranteed that my rating will suffer.
3. Will I be banned in the future if I want to give hyperbullet a try even though it is unlikely that I will ever win a game? Even with my best effort my rating would drop to from 1950 to <1600. What rules would I be breaking?
4. If I wanted to enter a team competition, would discussion about which players are overrated or underrated be considered cheating? Why or why not?

Lastly, how do you know if a punishment is appropriate if the reasons for doing so are asserted without the presentation of clear evidence? Every judicial system in the world makes mistakes. This one can too. It is why transparency is so important.

Even people who totally disagree with any or all of my arguments should insist on clarity and transparency, especially in light of the fact that so many details have been asserted in threads by mods without corresponding proof which means they are neither respecting privacy nor providing transparent justice.

It is entirely consistent to love and support lichess, to think the moderators do a great job in general, and yet believe that this situation was mishandled and demands a better resolution.

@Oblio19 it's possible that moderators did some mistakes, I'm not disregarding that option. I'm just saying that we don't have all the information that they have about us

I must have bagged when my rating went from 2016 to the low 1900s. Thankfully my real strength (2000 approx) is now back. Because I play like 1 rated game a month or less lol. Lichess mods please ban me I deserve it for being the bad bagger I am LOL.

When you play 1 game a week for 8 weeks and your rating drops 100 points then the next 8 weeks your rating goes up 100 points is that bagging? Cause if it is I deserve to be banned too. Oh and I streamed most of my games if you want to watch. I have evidence on myself for bagging.

I never want to drop rating but it happens :) NEWS FLASH I EVEN LOSE CHESS GAMES

This is a bunch of nonsense. The man shouldn't be punished for being on tilt it happens to all of us (his rating went down in more than one category). Also like he said he was focusing on coaching (and regular chess). I don't see why in the world he would sandbag for 25 bucks. He makes that hourly. There is no logical explanation for this except what he said in the video and I believe most of it. Not all of it, there were some things he said that I was a tad suspicious about but all in all it seemed honest and fully explanatory. Also why not talk to him about it? Instead of having problems arise. Like when a mod first noticed it why didn't they talk to him about it? Hes not a malicious cheater like some idiots are. @Atrophied is a well respected member and he was my coach at some point in time. You don't realize it but you are possibly changing his life.

I understand its just a game but he poured years of his life into chess, coaching, lichess and crazyhouse (though I have never seen it because I dont play it) But I have herd enough (and seen the so called bagging games). I fully believe he was on tilt. Also the zerking explains some of it too.

What on earth would turn someone into a monster for 25 bucks (he may or may not even win anyway.) At the cost of losing his Job (coaching), youtube channel and massive following, also basically his own brand he has built himself. SMH this just is ridiculous. Maybe he did lose games on purpose and I believe he did I seen the games myself. BUT was the intention malicious or not? Was it due to tilt? Was it due to zerking? Maybe all? Makes zero sense absolutely zero sense why he would have intended to do anything malicious with it. Sandbagging makes zero sense in any case except for cash prizes BUT would he do it for 25 dollar? I cannot see anyone of his level doing it for 25 dollars that he may not win anyway.

Mods I know you guys work really hard to keep this site free of cheaters and real idiots (thank you for that) but there is a limit. And you have crossed it in my humble or not so humble opinion. This guy isn't malicious, hes not gaining anything from it what is a ban solving? Its making a bunch of users upset, removing a popular user from lichess, erasing one of the most popular lichess coaches, and taking down a pillar of the crazyhouse community. Looks ridiculous to me. I understand there are people not sharing my views and thats fine. I dont care. But to be frank these people are trolls themselves likely and people that just want to stir up trouble.

I wish the mods would make all their evidence public in this case and give a public and private statement to Nikolas.

I am looking here and I see to be frank zero evidence suggesting he was being malicious.
lichess.org/forum/team-crazyhouse-summer-league-zhsl/zhsl-teams?page=6#58

If a world chess champion came on this site and made an account and 50 years after he stops playing chess hes bad at bullet compared to before would he get a ban? Would I get a ban if suddenly my rating dropped 10 points? Oh boy thats a big change we gotta ban this sucker. What if I gained 10 points? Oh boy hes inflating his rating cause hes around "2000." Grow up.

Been playing a lot less myself recently due to lots of things. First of all I am investing my time into helping a couple students as well as myself study to become better upon my return, secondly I recently became in a relationship so that takes up time as well, third I am studying just as hard as ever. When I come back I don't want to be a "sandbagger" but if it happens it happens. Maybe ill have to delete my account and start fresh so this wont happen. But yeh playing chess isnt my number one priority at least online blitz/bullet.

@chessanalyst I agree

Although I am not fan of @Atrophied. He is/was one of the most boring streamer ever. He speaks quietly and monotone. But lichess is unfair to him.
Rules are not statutes/laws. Sometimes you have to break the rules.
Indeed lichess mods/admins have broken them in the past many times.
I have seen drunk streamers verbally abusing their opponents. And lichess mods were on twitch chat saying nothing/doing about it. But if you trying to say any bad words. You will get shadow banned immediately. So rules are rules ?

I am against banning people, because of sandbagging.
Someone has alcohol/mental/family problems. And they make lose lots of point in that particular day. It doesn't mean. He should be ban forever. Maybe they should ban them from any/particular prize tournaments. But not completely.

Privacy on lichess
According "EU data protection laws" all users of the website should be informed, if that website is using cookies.
Yet Lichess mods can read all messages of the users and no one knows it. Speaking of rules and laws ?

and @Myts those are hyperbullet/ultrabullet games. Do you want to play some deep theory ? Lichess used to give trophies for those who played that opening.
lichess.org/forum/lichess-feedback/bongcloud-trophy

#40: I'd prefer not to at this time, though it shouldn't be hard to guess.

I feel like Lichess should come forward with at least some explanation for their actions in this particular case. I think the mods take this decision to ban such a popular user very seriously, and as much as I like Atrophied, I feel like the mods must have grounds for their actions. I feel like coming to the community with their side, or rather what led them to the decision to ban Atrophied might be very practical. I'm sure they were aware that their decision was going to raise a lot of questions among Lichess users. Perhaps the mods are reluctant to reveal anything in this case in fear it might give away some of there methods of detecting cheats and sandbaggers. once that information was out there, cheaters would be able to adapt. IDK what the right decision is, but there is definitely a large part of me that wants answers and can't handle the ambiguity because I care A LOT about this particular chess player. I hope the mods are able to provide some clarity to this situation. Regardless of what occurs, I want to thank Nikolas Theiss for all his great videos---they've helped me become a better chessplayer, and I also want to thank Lichess for running what is undoubtedly my favorite chess website, and also for doing their best, which I'm sure is what they have done is this case. It couldn't have been easy to pull the trigger on this. Lastly- I would like to say directly to Nikolas; Please keep making videos and don't give up on chess. Your fanbase isnt going to dissipate. sure this provides obstacles..im sure they feel like mountains right now. You can overcome them. Greetings from Canada.

@DannyKong +1, I totally agree