As part of ongoing efforts to involve community discourse in our decisionmaking, we've recently finalized a new change with the Tournament Committee regarding how permanent tournament bans will handled going forward.

From now on, permanent tournament bans will be considered as indefinite instead. What this functionally means is that they may now be appealed.

A summarized version of the functional changes this produces are as follows (you can consult the tournament bans wiki article for more information):
- Indefinite tournament bans may now be appealed after at least two years (24 months) have passed since their first offense.
- There is no guarantee that an indefinitely tournament banned player will have their appeal accepted.
- Appealing an indefinite tournament ban requires the demonstration of a substantial amount of time, effort and investment into the broader osu! community to make up for the damage they have caused to the scene.

Most permanently/indefinitely tournament banned users will derive no change in their status from these changes, but some may find a narrow window of opportunity to redeem themselves and fix their standing in the osu! community, in line with our view that everyone deserves a second chance.

We understand that this may appear as if it is a sharp departure from our previous zero-tolerance stance on offenses in the tournament scene - please rest assured that we intend and expect this change to permit an extremely small minority of genuinely remorseful people to return to play after a long period of contribution. It does NOT mean that all indefinite tournament bans will be treated with any less gravity as permanent ones were, or that any chance of success in appealing these bans is guaranteed at any point.

Each individual will be judged as per their specific circumstances and offenses, and there will be no standardized or 'one-size-fits-all' terms similarly to how normal restriction appeals function.

To better facilitate transparency in this regard, we have decided to publicly announce all indefinite tournament ban reversals made via these appeals. Please consult the posts below for summaries of individual users who have returned in this manner.

Flaven

During 2019, Flaven was caught red-handed utilizing replay modification tools to obtain an advantage in an officially-supported tournament, and after being discovered, was issued with a permanent tournament ban.

Over the ensuing four years, Flaven has had a spotless behavioral record and has participated in several unbadged tournaments without issue. He has expressed considerable remorse for his actions on multiple occasions, and has actively worked to repair the damage dealt to the tournament scene by hosting two unique tournaments (le Grand Prix de Flaven in 2020, and a second iteration in 2022) in conjuction with many highly respected helpers and staffers.

After discussing his progression in this regard, the osu! team and Tournament Committee have both arrived at the conclusion that his risk of reoffense is minimal, his remorse sincere, and his broader contribution to the osu! tournament scene sufficient enough to warrant a second chance.

As of 2023-07-26, Flaven's permanent/indefinite tournament ban has been downgraded and removed entirely, allowing him to once again play in officially supported tournament at the discretion of its hosts. We understand that opinions may differ about his suitability in this regard, and leave the option for hosts to exercise their own judgement in regards to his participation within their work as they see fit. Hosts wishing to exercise this discretion will still need to follow our standard protocol in regards to emailing us and inquiring about any exclusions on the matter, however.

Flaven's appeal will set a minimum standard for the quality and effort required for indefinite tournament appeals going forward.