Is there a particular reason that the suspension process is so low-key and secretive? It bothers me and I feel like it isn't the most responsible approach. To me, it seems as though a “press release” to the community explaining the situation surrounding the suspension would be very helpful for the community. For example, if a player were to be suspended for theft, game stores and TOs in their area should be aware of this to protect themselves. As a Judge, if a player is suspended for Outside Assistance issues, I should have access to that information in order to prevent further problems. As of now, there is no real way to know if a player is suspended for cheating, stealing, threats, assault, etc. Is there a good reason for this that I'm not seeing? The only reasons for secrecy I can think of are privacy and reducing negative press. The privacy issue is void because they post the suspended players' names and home towns in a public place for all to see. The negative press issue seems silly because silently suspending players with no explanation leads to rumor, speculation, and possibly false information spreading through the community.

What am I missing here?

wholeheartedly agree. this is one of the worst things about the judge
program.

If anyone feels they need to know about a player's suspension details, I would encourage that person to contact me at eshukan@verizon.net In almost all cases I'd be quite open to discuss the matter and answer questions.

As for rumor, false speculation, etc., spreading through the community: that happens anyway. The players will have their own take on things regardless of what we post online, so that posting more details will not have much of an effect. Subjects and witness will spread their own stories, players can confess then recant in public, etc. Happens all the time. And, importantly, players can be right in that the Investigations Committee can make a mistake in suspending them. It does happen, though rarely. Considering that any judge who needs to know details can get them from the IC lead, there's less reason to post them online.

The actual process itself, of examining and voting for and executing specific post-infraction action, is described at the end of this post. I'd be happy to talk about it. There is information online already about it - I'll try to find the links.

Lastly, and very possibly mostly important: stating suspensions on an online page about people is legally problematic. Stating that a player is suspended is reasonable, because it is a fact and it is relatively non-insulting. Putting specific reasons is quite dangerous, because it now could become one of libel and reputation damaging. It could end up resulting in WotC having to prove the player's guilt in order to avoid a legal judgment. To a large extent, not posting the infractions is a strict legal decision.

The process is not quite as secret as most think. Of course, we don't go posting every detail, but we do provide details when asked. So, if you ever want any kind of info, just email me :)

Eric Shukan
Player Investigations Lead



Section 1: General Process Overview



1.1 - Case Dissemination Phase



At the start of every month, the Leader of the Investigation Sphere (currently Eric Shukan) extracts all the data available in the Judge Center, compiles it into an excel file and sends it to the members of the Committee, with the following persons in copy:

a.. The Judge Manager and Asst Judge Manager (currently Andy Heckt and Eric Sorensen, respectively)

1.2 - Case Review Phase



The members have from that moment until approximately 20 days later to review all the cases and give a first set of individual recommendations. Details about each case can be found in the Investigations section of the Judge Center: http://judge.wizards.com/investigations.aspx. Whenever a member is finished reviewing, he fills his column in the secure spreadsheet (currently on Google Docs). The Leader of the Committee compiles all individual recommendations and, if a clear consensus arises, it becomes the global recommendation for the case. The cases that didn't receive a clear consensus (like 2-2, 3-2, 3-3 or 4-3) are to be reviewed again in the last week of the month. At the end of the 4th week, any majority of individual recommendations becomes the global recommendation. In case of a final tie, the Leader decides which of the tied options will become the global recommendation.




1.3 - Case Conclusions Phase



At the end of the month, the Leader of the Committee enters all the global recommendations into the spreadsheet and emails it to the Judge Managers. Thereafter, Step 1.1 begins again for the next month's cases.



1.4 - Administrative Execution



While the Committee is working on the new set of cases, administrative treatment of the last set of recommendations is done at WotC's headquarters. The administrative treatment ends with notification of the player by email of the result of the investigation. Most notifications will be Caution Letters or Warning Letters (see Section 5). If a suspension was recommended, then that suspension starts the day the email is sent to the player. Because players are expected to have provided valid e-mail address (or to have updated their email address in their Personal Center), the date the email is sent is the official start date, rather than the date that the player notices.

Was all this already free information before you posted here? Very interesting, thanks for sharing.

Originally posted by Eric Shukan:

The administrative treatment ends with notification of the player by email of the result of the investigation.

This doesn't seem to work well enough. I know of a couple of players with then current email adresses who were never informed about the decision. Pretty bad thing to learn about a suspension at the registration for a GP or other big event.

Originally posted by Eric Shukan:

I would encourage that person to contact me

Just wanted to chime in and confirm that Eric isn't just saying it. He's indeed very good at communicating things out of the IC (well, to the extent possible).

So the TL;DR I take away is: While we acknowledge that there is a rumor mill, we don't feed it; we can't post details for legal reasons; if you're concerned about a suspension in your region, ask the IC lead. Works for me ;-)

Edited Bernd Buldt (Dec. 13, 2013 10:34:50 AM)

Yeah, this happens once in a while, I am sure. Player notification is strictly WotC's role, though I do try to compile contact info for them in many cases. Still, there are a few systemic reasons that this can happen

However, it is a rare occurrence. Also, I would suspect that in some of the cases where a player shows up and tells you he didn't get the email, he really DID get it and was coming anyway, hoping to get in by claiming ignorance. I don't say that this is common, but I do think it does happen. I've seen many strange behaviors by players in attempt to play while suspended…

-Eric S.

———————
Eric Shukan
The administrative treatment ends with notification of the player by email of the result of the investigation.
——————–
This doesn't seem to work well enough. I know of a couple of players with then current email adresses who were never informed about the decision. Pretty bad thing to learn about a suspension at the registration for a GP or other big event.

I knew I had the link somewhere, but my thanks to David de la Iglesias for reminding me that the info was on the Judge Wiki pages here: http://wiki.magicjudges.org/en/w/Investigations_(Sphere)

You'll find a more detailed description of the process there. A very small amount of the page needs to be updated to reflect recent changes in policy, but about 95% of the info is accurate. I'll see if I can update this weekend; if not, then certainly in a week when I'm off from work.

Enjoy the read, and always email me with questions!

Eric Shukan
Player Investigations Leader

Thank you so much for the information Eric. I really appreciate it.