Smogon Tour Incident
 

Recently, an investigation with the aim of unveiling claims of certain users involved in a DDoSing scandal to disconnect players in Smogon Tours was conducted. Upon thorough investigation, the claims were found to be true. The users involved in the DDoSing include kd24, locopoke, Faint, and an unfamiliar name known as Rudy, with each having different levels of involvement in the DDoSing. IP addresses were gotten a hold of and said IP addresses were used to disconnect users, with user Rudy believed to be the one who enacted the DDoSing by using the IP addresses he was provided with. The details regarding their level of involvement will not be discussed here.

While originally quiet about the entire ordeal until recently, locopoke helped to bring the truth regarding the DDoSing to surface by providing logs and other details about the DDoSing once the investigating started to pick up, with the other parties involved confessing to being involved in some way. While we thank locopoke and the others for their assistance in uncovering what happened, it does not change the fact that they participated in assisting with the DDoSing and originally hid their knowledge of what took place.

Given the severity of the actions, the consequences must be served. As stated above, Rudy was the person who did the DDoSing, and kd24, locopoke, and Faint had a hand in the act by posting IP addresses, not actually DDoSing people themselves. After long discussions, their punishment came out to be the following:

1. kd24 is receiving a year long tournament ban for his actions. He will be allowed to finish participating in the current tournaments he is in, including his assistant manager position in SPL. kd24 receiving the longest punishment isn't to say he was the mastermind behind the entire scandal or was the main culprit behind disconnecting users.
2. locopoke will be receiving a tournament ban until the start of this years World Cup, which is roughly six months from now. Like kd24, he will be allowed to continue playing in any current tournaments he is in, SPL included.
3. Similarly to locopoke, Faint will be receiving a tournament ban until the start of this years World Cup. He is allowed to continue participating in SPL and any current tournament he is involved in.

Seeing as we don't even know who Rudy is, he cannot be punished unfortunately. Let it be known that DDoSing is an illegal activity. If we knew who he was, he would face more severe punishments. We apologize to all of those affected by this scandal. We were unaware what was happening behind the scenes until a few weeks ago, and iconic was even a victim of one of the DDoS attacks - poor fella. Thank you for reading and let it be known that cheating in Smogon Tour or tournaments in general won't go unpunished.

On behalf of locopoke and myself, we can't really begin to apologize enough for the actions we took a part in (assisting in a DDoS). We undoubtedly frustrated and screwed over a lot of people in what was supposed to just be a joke. But what we did wasn't a joke and sadly we realized it far too late. It started as just friends messing around but it quickly snowballed into something so much bigger and we are responsible for that.

I never planned on it going as far as it did, nor did I ever think it would be used to our benefit. When it was, I didn't come forward and put a stop to it like I should have. I took advantage of the illegal assistance I was given and for that, I'm truly sorry. I lied to authority when I was asked if I was suspicious of the help and again for that, I'm truly sorry.

If you're questioning just how sincere this regret and apology is, know that I never abused or took a part in these actions after that Smogon Tour. I know what we did was wrong and I wanted to break free of it as quickly as it started. Our failure to do resulted in an unfair tournament and probably cost someone a chance at their glory.

While I didn't wish to use it for my own benefit, it ended up happening and I didn't step forward. So again, all I can say is I am deeply sorry and that I accept my tournament ban. Thank you and sorry.

I made some edits to the OP by mentioning a person by the name of Rudy. I neglected to mention him originally and did so now in order to clear up some confusion regarding the DDoSing. kd24 also asked me if he could write more about his involvement, and I will honor the request. Below are his words.