Read the whole thing during a break at work. Good times.
Did someone actually post something about the mods taking it upon themselves to moderate being a bad thing? What are they supposed to do, open up a poll?
Just like us, every mod is a single user and they make right and wrong calls. Luckily for us, they are right a clear majority of the time.
Saying that no one else has ever questioned the legitimacy of your cards is quite a broad statement.
I had visited your thread before and questioned them myself. I simply didn't tell you about it or post in your thread as I didn't want to thread crap for something that was, at the time, not really my business.
But, since this has now been brought to everyone's attention, I figured I may as well throw in my two cents as I have nothing better to do at the moment.
IN MY OPINION
The mods are right to do whatever they feel is necessary to protect the bulk of the CAG community. If I had a trading ban set in place for questionable activities, I would be less worried about my reputation and more worried about clearing my name ASAP.
You are also right in stating that a pic of cards means nothing. That said, taking a pic of some cards and posting or sending it to someone is also an extremely simple way to avoid any potentially negative situations (such as this one).
Who would ever assume that a mod "recommending" something wasn't saying that it
should be done?
I recommend you don't step out in front of a moving bus.
I believe it's fairly obvious in this case that the recommendation is being made to avoid a negative result. Mods contacting you in regard to a thread and making a "recommendation" would be taken in the same way by pretty much anyone I think.
Finally, and again, this is just my opinion as I can only speak for myself, but there is no way I would want to deal with you even if your name was cleared.
To be very open, it has
absolutely nothing to do with the trading ban itself as some people have been banned while an investigation was underway and have come back from them without issues.
The reason I would not deal with you is that fact that you are being so obtuse when it comes to fulfilling a simple request. (Yes, feel free to pick at my usage of the word request. Again, as above, recommendations or request from those "in power" are typically not simple requests)
I feel like I would be on the end of a trade with you that would only result in some kind of drama just like this and I would rather avoid it.