I've been seeing a LOT of ban requests recently not being investigated and getting swept under the rug because it takes too much time to read through the logs. As an ex-admin on Community back in the day, here are a few tricks and procedures to drastically accelerate the investigative process. Some of this information is dependant on the system the server is run on, and the way admins get access to these logs:
1. Linux server with SSH access -- grep command is your friend. Not only can you grep the current logfile for a specific string, but you can do a recursive search trough all logfiles with wildcards. Examples of use:
grep "Meow" log* > Meow.log will pull out everything Meow ever done or said from every log file and output it into a seperate convenient text file. From that point, you can use timestamps to find interesting events and read the rest of the information around it. Time to complete investigation: 2 minutes tops. It's also good to pull out PlayerIDs so you can find Alts for people who like to hide behind alts to troll.
With FTP access only or on a Windows dedicated server, download log files to any linux box, run command. There's probably even a grep windows util or a similar program to parse/search through logs easily.
No admin should have to search logs line by line, that's a waste of everyone's time. However, if people provide EXACT times at which events happen, that should be just as valid a justification as a screenshot. The only method of proof that trumps all if a FRAPS video, which is a lot of hassle for all involved as people don't tend to FRAPS their gaming sessions on the off-chance that shit will go down.
2. The other option (and probably the best one) is simply to give FTP READ-ONLY access to the log files to all players. That way players can do their own investigation without being able to tamper with the logs, find the relevant information/timestamps and then IF there's any doubt or controversy admins can scan the logs themselves -- Take any unique sentence said during the timeperiod, CTRL-F in notepad, paste line, jump directly to relevant section.
I'd like to hear feedback from all on these suggestions, admins and players both. I think it would satisfy the burden of proof that is placed on the accusers, while cutting down on admin work. These logs do not contain ANY secret information -- no cd-keys, no passwords nothing of value it's information that is publicly available to anyone connected to the server at that time.
