The Real Reason DP Abuse isn't being addressed

My theory - They can't do anything about it. There is no functionality to remove someone's all-in disconnection protection.

Reason for my conclusion - Support will never tell you what action has been taken because "we are unable to discuss private imformation relating to an indiviuduals account due to the Data Protection Act"

Now we all know this is utter bollocks, I have even asked support to quote me exactly which part of the act would be broken by telling me if a) the person did abuse the DP function and b) what action has been taken.

However they simply go round in circles saying the same thing, that they cannot discuss another player's personal details.

Dear Support - THESE ARE NOT PERSONAL DETAILS - HAS THE GUY CHEATED? - HAS THE GUY HAD HIS DP REMOVED SO THAT WE KNOW WHETHER THE CHEATING SCUMBAG IS LIKELY TO DO IT AGAIN?

OR - are PKR saying that they are happy to protect cheats, but not genuine players?

I'll post this one here as well. Jabba/Danski, teach us how to beat players who are not afraid to use this button?

Looking at it from their point of view, I imagine it was introduced because of the increased payload on the users connection making it more likely that they would disconnect (honestly) from PKR than say FTP or PS etc, which have much 'lighter' traffic going down the connection.

In a nutshell then, PKR are thinking we'll lose business if we don't do something to protect honest players who genuinely disconnect.

OK, I think that must be a fair summary of their point of view.

So the way they monitor that it is being used honestly is by, a) limiting the amount of discon protection b) banning offenders c) other players reports.

Is this really enough?

As Dunbar said, there is a strong case that can be made that theft has occurred and nothing is actually being done to recompense the victims.

From a business point of view I imagine they need to weigh up the business loss through people leaving the site. I'm just trying to understand it because it mystifies me how it hasn't been discarded by PKR 'as a mistake that seemed like a good idea at the time'.

As Dunbar said, there is a strong case that can be made that theft has occurred and nothing is actually being done to recompense the victims.

Rozzie, 29/10/2009

In court, theft must be proven. With the case of a customer whose connection to PKR is severed, you will find yourself in an infinitely worse mess if you start removing money from peoples' accounts (hours or possibly days after it has happened) without 100% (or overwhelming) proof, as the only true proof is the person's intent.

Making educated guesses/estimates of the person's intent using what info we have, is nowhere near enough proof (if we use legal standards) to start taking money back from players' accounts. It is however enough to remove their AIP permanently, and one more player who may wish to abuse it is taken out of circulation, so to speak.

In the grand scheme, I would'nt play on a site whose policy was to abritrarily deduct funds from your account if they decided that you had deliberately DC'd, based only on tactical poker decisions and some other factors.

If like Scotty, you get DC'd a fair bit, you'll at some point be unlucky enough to get DC'd in a spot which could be construed as a suitable spot to abuse it, and you could get money taken off you - a crazy situation.

Ironically, it's not even possible for suspected abusers to show us proof that aquits them, if we offered them the chance, before removing funds.

What we have is the best system we can implement and maintain given the status quo, until we make a major change which, as with a lot of things, may take time but is (IMO) inevitable.

By the way, I don't really think the theory in the OP needs addressing, but as Modge says, there's an easy way to find out.

And how is the dishonest element determined?