Wardogs Now RCON has a big update for the people who run community servers and the admins who help them. The short version: if your team keeps bans and appeals in a Google Doc, you can stop.
Bans and appeals now live in one place
The new Ban log keeps a record of every ban, warning and note: who it was for, why, when, who did it, and a link to any evidence. The record stays after a ban is lifted or runs out, so you always know a player's history.
Where to find it: open your server in the console, choose Match at the top, then Ban log. It has tabs for Cases, Appeals, Watchlist, Templates and Settings.
- Add a case in seconds. On the Cases tab, press "Add a case". Pick ban, warning or note, write the reason, choose how long it lasts and paste a clip or screenshot link. One tick box also bans the player on the server, so nobody has to do the job twice.
- Appeals have a home. Open a case and choose "Log an appeal", or use the Appeals tab to see everything waiting. Accept or deny with a written reason. Accepting can lift the ban in the same step.
- Bring your spreadsheet with you. At the bottom of the Cases tab, press "Import from a spreadsheet" and paste or upload a CSV from Google Sheets or Excel. Importing never bans anyone on the server, and importing the same sheet twice does not double anything up.
- Take it back out any time. "Export CSV" is at the top right of the Cases tab.
Only the people you choose can see it
Ban log access is handed out by the server owner, permission by permission, under Server, then Sub-users. "Use the ban log" lets an admin view and add cases, notes and appeals. "Decide ban appeals" is separate, so the person who adds a ban is not automatically the person who can overturn it. Banning or unbanning on the server itself still needs the existing Ban and unban permission. Nobody gets any of these until the owner ticks them.
Let players appeal on their own
Owners can switch on a public appeal page for their server. A banned player opens the link, enters their SteamID and explains what happened, and the appeal lands in your queue. No account is needed.
Where to find it: Match, Ban log, Settings (owner only). Tick "Turn the public appeal page on", add an optional message for players, and the link to share appears underneath.
The page is built to be safe to leave open. It never tells anyone whether an account is banned, so it cannot be used to look people up. It is limited to a few submissions a day per person and per account, and it never touches your game server. It is off until you turn it on.
Discord tells you what needs attention
Connect one Discord webhook and the console will post when a new appeal arrives, when one is decided, when someone on your watchlist joins, and when a possible ban evasion hint is raised. Anything a player typed is made safe before it is posted, so nothing in an appeal can ping your staff.
Where to find it: Match, Ban log, Settings (owner only), in the "Discord notices" box. There is a "Send a test message" button once the webhook is saved.
A better look at a player before you act
Open the three dot menu on any player in the roster and choose History and notes. You see their logged bans and warnings, any appeals waiting, whether they are on your watchlist, and other names they have used, without leaving the page.
Where to find it: Players, then the menu on a player's card. It shows for anyone with either ban log permission.
Keep an eye on people, without punishing them
- Watchlist. Add a player with a note. When they join, your team gets a notice. Nothing is kicked, banned or sent to the player.
- Ban evasion hints. When someone joins using the same name as a banned account, a hint appears for a person to review. It is only a hint. Shared names are common, so very short, generic and widely used names are ignored, and nothing ever acts on a hint automatically.
Where to find them: Match, Ban log, Watchlist. Hints are listed in their own section under the watchlist, where you can dismiss one or move that player onto the list. Both need the owner to tick "Watch for joins" under Settings first.
Ban reasons that stay consistent
Owners can write ban templates such as "Team killing, 3 days". Admins pick one from a list when they ban, and it fills in the reason and length. It can still be edited before it is sent.
Where to find them: the owner writes them under Match, Ban log, Templates. Admins then see a "Template" picker on Match, Bans and in the ban log's "Add a case" form.
See who is actually doing the work
The new Staff activity page counts what each admin has done over the last 7, 30 or 90 days: kicks, bans, cases, appeals and more, with a four week trend. It also lists sub-users who did nothing in that time, which is handy when deciding who keeps access.
Where to find it: Server, then Staff activity. It needs the same "View audit" permission as the audit log.
Show your stats on your own website
For communities with a website, servers can opt in to a public stats API and embeds. Drop a live server status card or a leaderboard onto any page, or read the numbers as JSON. The owner controls it per server.
Where to find it: Server, then Public API, which also has ready-made snippets to copy. The owner can give this to a trusted admin with the "Manage public stats API and embeds" permission. There is a developer guide on the site at /developers/stats-api.
A cleaner front door
The Wardogs Now RCON landing page, at wardogsnow.com/rcon, has been tidied up. It is shorter and more consistent, and it has one clear button to add a server.
Where everything is, at a glance
- Log bans, warnings, appeals or import a spreadsheet: Match, Ban log, Cases and Appeals
- Watch a player or review evasion hints: Match, Ban log, Watchlist
- Write ban templates: Match, Ban log, Templates
- Turn on the appeal page, Discord notices or join watcher: Match, Ban log, Settings (owner)
- Check a player before acting: Players, the menu on a player, History and notes
- See what each admin has done: Server, Staff activity
- Give admins access to the ban log: Server, Sub-users
- Share stats on your own website: Server, Public API
The short version for server owners
Open Match, then Ban log, then Settings, and turn on what you want: the public appeal page, your Discord webhook and the join watcher. Then give your admins the permissions they need under Server, Sub-users. Nothing new is switched on for anyone until you choose it.