PoLAN 2026 Ban Statement

#1

Roticher

0 Frags – +

This is a joint statement from Nicky and Roticher. Our bans are obviously different in the details but we feel we can speak collectively.

As people have seen we have been publicly banned from POLAN, a ban which has been mirrored to the ETF2L.

This ban was extremely shocking to the both of us. We had no idea that we were being investigated by the POLAN staff. We found out at the same time as the rest of the community, via a public TFTV post. No ETF2L or POLAN admin has reached out to us for our perspective during or after POLAN 2026. We don't know the specifics of why we are banned, even.

From what we do know we are accused of making one of our friends in the TF2 community uncomfortable with our behaviour at POLAN. We do feel sorry over said person being made uncomfortable. It was never our intent in any way, we do not want our own friends to feel bad in any way nor anyone for that matter.

When we returned home from LAN we were accused by our friends of harassing and deliberately going against this person's wishes (everyone involved are mutual friends, including the person who was hurt) with our behaviour. We were not reasonably informed that our behaviour was hurtful until after LAN. As an aside we are both diagnosed with autism so we perhaps missed some more subtle signs or insinuations, we both prefer a more clear and direct communication style.

We both pride ourselves on being considerate people who are welcoming, and have no history of misconduct throughout our long years of participating in the community. If it was clearly communicated that our actions were making anyone uncomfortable we would have immediately changed our behaviour, especially if it involves a friend.

That being said we don't feel our behaviour rises to the level of harassment or stalking as some people have claimed. Perhaps we were a bit awkward/cringey or unaware, which we are open to taking responsibility for and apologising over. We feel this situation could have been solved with just a bit of direct communication between both parties, and that a misunderstanding/misinterpretation of our actions and intentions during POLAN 2026 has escalated out of control. We respect the needs of victims to privacy and dignity but it needs to be balanced with justice and fairness.

We also apologise if we have been angry/hostile to those accusing us. We felt immediately attacked by our friends and under immense pressure. The lack of understanding was very frustrating for the both of us.

We kindly request that the admins of both ETF2L and POLAN reach out to us to hear our side, or even that those who feel discomforted or offended by our behaviour talk to us openly so we can explain our perspective and gain greater understanding of the situation. So far the Uberfest admins are the only group of admins that have talked to both sides.

We also ask the community to reserve judgement and be patient while we make our voices heard behind the scenes. We want to maintain the respect and dignity of everyone involved in the situation so we don't want to speak publicly further than this for now. We know this post will raise a lot of questions, so after the admins have reached a conclusion we will present a full version of events from both of our perspectives to make things clear. However if misinformation is being spread publicly, we will respond publicly.

We currently hope to attend Uberfest and we intend to just keep to ourselves.

From this point forward please assume we are talking for ourselves.

Thank you for your understanding,

- Nicky & Roticher

This is a joint statement from Nicky and Roticher. Our bans are obviously different in the details but we feel we can speak collectively.

As people have seen we have been publicly banned from POLAN, a ban which has been mirrored to the ETF2L.

This ban was extremely shocking to the both of us. We had no idea that we were being investigated by the POLAN staff. We found out at the same time as the rest of the community, via a public TFTV post. No ETF2L or POLAN admin has reached out to us for our perspective during or after POLAN 2026. We don't know the specifics of why we are banned, even.

From what we do know we are accused of making one of our friends in the TF2 community uncomfortable with our behaviour at POLAN. We do feel sorry over said person being made uncomfortable. It was never our intent in any way, we do not want our own friends to feel bad in any way nor anyone for that matter.

When we returned home from LAN we were accused by our friends of harassing and deliberately going against this person's wishes (everyone involved are mutual friends, including the person who was hurt) with our behaviour. We were not reasonably informed that our behaviour was hurtful until after LAN. As an aside we are both diagnosed with autism so we perhaps missed some more subtle signs or insinuations, we both prefer a more clear and direct communication style.

We both pride ourselves on being considerate people who are welcoming, and have no history of misconduct throughout our long years of participating in the community. If it was clearly communicated that our actions were making anyone uncomfortable we would have immediately changed our behaviour, especially if it involves a friend.

That being said we don't feel our behaviour rises to the level of harassment or stalking as some people have claimed. Perhaps we were a bit awkward/cringey or unaware, which we are open to taking responsibility for and apologising over. We feel this situation could have been solved with just a bit of direct communication between both parties, and that a misunderstanding/misinterpretation of our actions and intentions during POLAN 2026 has escalated out of control. We respect the needs of victims to privacy and dignity but it needs to be balanced with justice and fairness.

We also apologise if we have been angry/hostile to those accusing us. We felt immediately attacked by our friends and under immense pressure. The lack of understanding was very frustrating for the both of us.

We kindly request that the admins of both ETF2L and POLAN reach out to us to hear our side, or even that those who feel discomforted or offended by our behaviour talk to us openly so we can explain our perspective and gain greater understanding of the situation. So far the Uberfest admins are the only group of admins that have talked to both sides.

We also ask the community to reserve judgement and be patient while we make our voices heard behind the scenes. We want to maintain the respect and dignity of everyone involved in the situation so we don't want to speak publicly further than this for now. We know this post will raise a lot of questions, so after the admins have reached a conclusion we will present a full version of events from both of our perspectives to make things clear. However if misinformation is being spread publicly, we will respond publicly.

We currently hope to attend Uberfest and we intend to just keep to ourselves.

From this point forward please assume we are talking for ourselves.

Thank you for your understanding,

- Nicky & Roticher

#2

zhern

36 Frags – +

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#3

Tob

54 Frags – +

The "I'm autistic" excuse doesn't apply when you're at an event where more than half of people attending are also on the spectrum (low estimate). A lot of people interacted w her at LAN. She's very social. Nobody else followed her around to the point of her feeling unsafe.

You guys have a temporary ban (which uberfest isn't even applying lol lmao)
She's never going to another LAN because she no longer feels safe to be around our community.
Notice the asymmetry considering this was fully preventable from your ends and she was not given any agency of how you interacted with her.

Learning to properly interact with others is a skill. One that people can struggle with. I do too.
But when others (often women) feel uncomfortable, unsafe, etc for the sake of some random guys' personal growths, then you fucked up.
You might learn your lesson, but the damage is done and there is no way to reverse it.

You'll survive.

The "I'm autistic" excuse doesn't apply when you're at an event where more than half of people attending are also on the spectrum (low estimate). A lot of people interacted w her at LAN. She's very social. Nobody else followed her around to the point of her feeling unsafe.

You guys have a temporary ban (which uberfest isn't even applying lol lmao)
She's never going to another LAN because she no longer feels safe to be around our community.
Notice the asymmetry considering this was fully preventable from your ends and she was not given any agency of how you interacted with her.

Learning to properly interact with others is a skill. One that people can struggle with. I do too.
But when others (often women) feel uncomfortable, unsafe, etc for the sake of some random guys' personal growths, then you fucked up.
You might learn your lesson, but the damage is done and there is no way to reverse it.

You'll survive.

#4

Spannzer

32 Frags – +

why uberfest would give an exemption i have no idea
why risk this shit happening to somebody else?
why risk tf2's continued acceptance at the venue?

this basically just tells potential attendees that the kind of behaviour that led to your temp bans will go unpunished there

edit:

TobYou guys have a temporary ban (which uberfest isn't even applying lol lmao)
She's never going to another LAN because she no longer feels safe to be around our community.

says it all really, what the fuck are uberfest thinking

why uberfest would give an exemption i have no idea
why risk this shit happening to somebody else?
why risk tf2's continued acceptance at the venue?

this basically just tells potential attendees that the kind of behaviour that led to your temp bans will go unpunished there

edit:
[quote=Tob]You guys have a temporary ban (which uberfest isn't even applying lol lmao)
She's never going to another LAN because she no longer feels safe to be around our community.[/quote]
says it all really, what the fuck are uberfest thinking

#5

wonder

-38 Frags – +

Jesus forgives you

btw. if 3 players harassed a girl on LAN why admins didn't call a police / kick you from lan but just let you play and waited so long to ban all of you

Jesus forgives you

btw. if 3 players harassed a girl on LAN why admins didn't call a police / kick you from lan but just let you play and waited so long to ban all of you

#6

wonder

-36 Frags – +

If you witnessed it and didn't report it to the police, you are considered complicit under the polish law

#7

alov

26 Frags – +

SYBAU! @wonder

#8

wonder

-27 Frags – +

alovSYBAU!

sorry but no. I just want to find out the truth and seek justice

edit. It's suspicious that you're trying to silence me for asking my question, as if you're hiding something

[quote=alov]SYBAU![/quote]
sorry but no. I just want to find out the truth and seek justice

edit. It's suspicious that you're trying to silence me for asking my question, as if you're hiding something

#9

row_

28 Frags – +

man just stop being a retard in every thread @wonder

#10

wonder

-25 Frags – +

I'm asking serious and important question. Sorry that I want to be 100% sure that all of these guys were fairly banned. How my question is retarded?

#11

rents

14 Frags – +

Roticher As an aside we are both diagnosed with autism so we perhaps missed some more subtle signs or insinuations, we both prefer a more clear and direct communication style.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS3wRrjWg5EGtnyJ9z_4mmm-EN0vmBcxtrUvw&s

[quote=Roticher] As an aside we are both diagnosed with autism so we perhaps missed some more subtle signs or insinuations, we both prefer a more clear and direct communication style. [/quote]

[img]https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS3wRrjWg5EGtnyJ9z_4mmm-EN0vmBcxtrUvw&s[/img]

#12

hpqoeu

17 Frags – +

wonderI'm asking serious and important question. Sorry that I want to be 100% sure that all of these guys were fairly banned. How my question is retarded?

https://i.postimg.cc/zDK43pT2/nvuxbsbd2rde1.jpg

[quote=wonder]I'm asking serious and important question. Sorry that I want to be 100% sure that all of these guys were fairly banned. How my question is retarded?[/quote]

[img]https://i.postimg.cc/zDK43pT2/nvuxbsbd2rde1.jpg[/img]

#13

wonder

-15 Frags – +

Ehh this community is rotten
Still noone cant reply to the simple question:

Why didn't the LAN organizers kick those people out earlier from lan and building but let them play instead and didn't even warn them to stop and then days after they didn't even inform and talk to them and decided to ban them without questions?

Ehh this community is rotten
Still noone cant reply to the simple question:

Why didn't the LAN organizers kick those people out earlier from lan and building but let them play instead and didn't even warn them to stop and then days after they didn't even inform and talk to them and decided to ban them without questions?

#14

caaaaaaaaat

10 Frags – +

wonderEhh this community is rotten
Still noone cant reply to the simple question:

Why didn't the LAN organizers kick those people out earlier from lan and building but let them play instead and didn't even warn them to stop and then days after they didn't even inform and talk to them and decided to ban them without questions?

I dont post here very often. But the fact that you keep pushing this point is very silly, I was not at polan this year but have you considered that your questions are so simple and self explanatory that answering them would give them credibility which they dont deserve to have?

[quote=wonder]Ehh this community is rotten
Still noone cant reply to the simple question:

Why didn't the LAN organizers kick those people out earlier from lan and building but let them play instead and didn't even warn them to stop and then days after they didn't even inform and talk to them and decided to ban them without questions?[/quote]

I dont post here very often. But the fact that you keep pushing this point is very silly, I was not at polan this year but have you considered that your questions are so simple and self explanatory that answering them would give them credibility which they dont deserve to have?

#15

wonder

-9 Frags – +

Everyone deserves the opportunity to present their side of the story and receive a fair judgment

#16

RAONICALIAS

16 Frags – +

wow the community actually sided with the allegers/victims and called out people who downplayed their allegations. rare tftv win.

#17

caaaaaaaaat

18 Frags – +

wonderEveryone deserves the opportunity to present their side of the story and receive a fair judgment

Ignorance of your behavior does not free you from the consequences of your actions. As adults, we all have a responsibility to be aware of how our actions affect others and if those actions make others uncomfortable on a deep level it does not matter if your intentions were not to do so. Being banned from a lan event is a far lesser consequence than feeling unsafe attending future lans and having your experience ruined by people acting weirdly toward you and violating your space.

[quote=wonder]Everyone deserves the opportunity to present their side of the story and receive a fair judgment[/quote]

Ignorance of your behavior does not free you from the consequences of your actions. As adults, we all have a responsibility to be aware of how our actions affect others and if those actions make others uncomfortable on a deep level it does not matter if your intentions were not to do so. Being banned from a lan event is a far lesser consequence than feeling unsafe attending future lans and having your experience ruined by people acting weirdly toward you and violating your space.

#18

wonder

-11 Frags – +

caaaaaaaaatwonderEveryone deserves the opportunity to present their side of the story and receive a fair judgment
Ignorance of your behavior does not free you from the consequences of your actions. As adults, we all have a responsibility to be aware of how our actions affect others and if those actions make others uncomfortable on a deep level it does not matter if your intentions were not to do so. Being banned from a lan event is a far lesser consequence than feeling unsafe attending future lans and having your experience ruined by people acting weirdly toward you and violating your space.

That's very interesting what you're saying because your description matches the organizer/co-organizer of poLAN and their friends who got banned for harassment, the same people who banned Roticher.

[quote=caaaaaaaaat][quote=wonder]Everyone deserves the opportunity to present their side of the story and receive a fair judgment[/quote]

Ignorance of your behavior does not free you from the consequences of your actions. As adults, we all have a responsibility to be aware of how our actions affect others and if those actions make others uncomfortable on a deep level it does not matter if your intentions were not to do so. Being banned from a lan event is a far lesser consequence than feeling unsafe attending future lans and having your experience ruined by people acting weirdly toward you and violating your space.[/quote]

That's very interesting what you're saying because your description matches the organizer/co-organizer of poLAN and their friends who got banned for harassment, the same people who banned Roticher.

#19

caaaaaaaaat

9 Frags – +

wondercaaaaaaaaatwonderEveryone deserves the opportunity to present their side of the story and receive a fair judgment
Ignorance of your behavior does not free you from the consequences of your actions. As adults, we all have a responsibility to be aware of how our actions affect others and if those actions make others uncomfortable on a deep level it does not matter if your intentions were not to do so. Being banned from a lan event is a far lesser consequence than feeling unsafe attending future lans and having your experience ruined by people acting weirdly toward you and violating your space.
That's very interesting what you're saying because your description matches the organizer/co-organizer of poLAN and their friends who got banned for harassment, the same people who banned Roticher.

I dont know who the organizers of the lans are but if their behavior matches my description then it applies to them too, Im not sure why you present that statement as some sort of "Gotcha" moment, im barely involved in the scene and dont keep up with the people/drama apart from literally 2 members of the community.

[quote=wonder][quote=caaaaaaaaat][quote=wonder]Everyone deserves the opportunity to present their side of the story and receive a fair judgment[/quote]

Ignorance of your behavior does not free you from the consequences of your actions. As adults, we all have a responsibility to be aware of how our actions affect others and if those actions make others uncomfortable on a deep level it does not matter if your intentions were not to do so. Being banned from a lan event is a far lesser consequence than feeling unsafe attending future lans and having your experience ruined by people acting weirdly toward you and violating your space.[/quote]

That's very interesting what you're saying because your description matches the organizer/co-organizer of poLAN and their friends who got banned for harassment, the same people who banned Roticher.[/quote]

I dont know who the organizers of the lans are but if their behavior matches my description then it applies to them too, Im not sure why you present that statement as some sort of "Gotcha" moment, im barely involved in the scene and dont keep up with the people/drama apart from literally 2 members of the community.

#20

pijukazz

16 Frags – +

ignore wonder, caaaat, he's too busy ai generating pictures of the messiah and debating the semantics of paedophilia with children in etf2l discord general to think about these things

#21

wonder

-19 Frags – +

pijukazzignore wonder, caaaat, he's too busy ai generating pictures of the messiah and debating the semantics of paedophilia with children in etf2l discord general to think about these things

Yea ignore vitcim of harassment and silence him. Very good advice.

[quote=pijukazz]ignore wonder, caaaat, he's too busy ai generating pictures of the messiah and debating the semantics of paedophilia with children in etf2l discord general to think about these things[/quote]
Yea ignore vitcim of harassment and silence him. Very good advice.

#22

hpqoeu

17 Frags – +

All rise for the Honourable Judge sir Age is just a Number to preside over this Court of Public Opinion

#23

wonder

-10 Frags – +

hpqoeuAll rise for the Honourable Judge sir Age is just a Number to preside over this Court of Public Opinion

Keep trying harder

[quote=hpqoeu]All rise for the Honourable Judge sir Age is just a Number to preside over this Court of Public Opinion[/quote]
Keep trying harder

#24

sterile_steve

11 Frags – +

rizz em with the 'tism gone wrong

#25

wonder

-10 Frags – +

caaaaaaaaatI dont know who the organizers of the lans are but if their behavior matches my description then it applies to them too, Im not sure why you present that statement as some sort of "Gotcha" moment, im barely involved in the scene and dont keep up with the people/drama apart from literally 2 members of the community.

Because he/they were involved in harassing me and they got banned on etf2l so I have reason to not trust their decision.

[quote=caaaaaaaaat]
I dont know who the organizers of the lans are but if their behavior matches my description then it applies to them too,[b] Im not sure why you present that statement as some sort of "Gotcha" moment, im barely involved in the scene and dont keep up with the people/drama apart from literally 2 members of the community[/b].[/quote]

Because he/they were involved in harassing me and they got banned on etf2l so I have reason to not trust their decision.

#26

Rockz

13 Frags – +

wonderBecause he/they were involved in harassing me and they got banned on etf2l so I have reason to not trust their decision.

good job comparing a skibidi wonder meme to stalking a person for multiple days at a lan event

[quote=wonder]Because he/they were involved in harassing me and they got banned on etf2l so I have reason to not trust their decision.[/quote]

good job comparing a skibidi wonder meme to stalking a person for multiple days at a lan event

#27

jackDaniels

8 Frags – +

wonderJesus forgives you

btw. if 3 players harassed a girl on LAN why admins didn't call a police / kick you from lan but just let you play and waited so long to ban all of you

https://imgur.com/a/Kpxrfar

allah doesn't...

[quote=wonder]Jesus forgives you

btw. if 3 players harassed a girl on LAN why admins didn't call a police / kick you from lan but just let you play and waited so long to ban all of you[/quote]

https://imgur.com/a/Kpxrfar

allah doesn't...

#28

MakingGainsEveryday

-9 Frags – +

This lowkey the best that can happen to you cuz etf2l is a dead circlejerk of a league. The tism is strong with this one.

#29

Imperdius

6 Frags – +

whoever proof read this must fucking hate you

#30

Frager_

12 Frags – +

I just want to say that "having an autism" was not, is not and never will be an excuse, just because you have an autism doesn't mean you can just stalk/harass/do whatever to other people to the point of making them feel unsafe, kind of stupid, but I can say "Sorry, I murdered my grandma, but I have an autism, sowwy ^-^", like fuck off with this bullshit, I had to hear that shit before. You're only remorseful because you got caught, otherwise I'm more than certain you'd pull the "autism" card some other time. In my opinion you should be perma'd the same way jyrkas is perma'd. I have no full context on what jyrkas did, so I'm not gonna elaborate on that, however your show of "remorse" (hence why one of you is banned for a shorter period of time) is complete bullshit. I'm not gonna text here anymore, because it's just a waste of time, I just wanted to let you know that you're not appreciated here and what you did will cough back to you in your lives later on. Goodbye, hope you never come back to this community. (It's rare for me to write posts here, or anything like that, so for the rest of the people that aren't the "convicted two", sorry if I said something stupid)

P.S
wonder nie mów nic więcej lepiej, 25 + 15

I just want to say that "having an autism" was not, is not and never will be an excuse, just because you have an autism doesn't mean you can just stalk/harass/do whatever to other people to the point of making them feel unsafe, kind of stupid, but I can say "Sorry, I murdered my grandma, but I have an autism, sowwy ^-^", like fuck off with this bullshit, I had to hear that shit before. You're only remorseful because you got caught, otherwise I'm more than certain you'd pull the "autism" card some other time. In my opinion you should be perma'd the same way jyrkas is perma'd. I have no full context on what jyrkas did, so I'm not gonna elaborate on that, however your show of "remorse" (hence why one of you is banned for a shorter period of time) is complete bullshit. I'm not gonna text here anymore, because it's just a waste of time, I just wanted to let you know that you're not appreciated here and what you did will cough back to you in your lives later on. Goodbye, hope you never come back to this community. (It's rare for me to write posts here, or anything like that, so for the rest of the people that aren't the "convicted two", sorry if I said something stupid)

P.S
wonder nie mów nic więcej lepiej, 25 + 15