Before Steam Was a Social Media Platform (Please Understand)

[Vandal]

Steam used to be a private repository of your Valve games. There was no community page that represented you in all multiplayer games you might play. Nowadays, it IS a social platform that represents you in all of your multiplayer video games. I get harassed and yelled at. The punishment for a choice I made when I was 12 haunts me in every game I play going forward. The punishment increased substantially when my account became the central point of my gaming social media.

The discussion is simple: Is that fair to expand punishment like that? At the time, I had the Counterstrike 1.6 collection and the Counterstrike: Source / Half-life 2 games. The reason is unimportant. I cheated in CS 1.6 with a public cheat 6532 days ago (about 18 years ago). It is a permanent ban, which I agreed was fair and moved on. I wanted to play CS:S after all. I accepted the terms of my punishment and moved on. I bought games as Steam became a retailer for non-Valve games. I've bought and bought.

Suddenly, one day, my community page became active. Instead of the prohibition against playing any 1.6 title in a multiplayer server secured by VAC, I additionally had this mark against me in a social setting. People started harassing me when I played games, especially if I played well. The punishment expanded beyond what I accepted at the time I decided to move on with my life and keep my account. It went from not being able to play a game in my library under sensible circumstances to everyone I play against seeing this huge message that says I cheated in multiplayer video games. Such an increase in punishment... one I would have used to create a new Steam account before buying games on this one had I known what it would mean years later. Is that fair to me? Do I deserve to be seen in this light for the rest of my gaming I do online forever into the future?

And then the punishment seems only to expand. Apparently, I can't upvote reviews in free-to-play games. Great. And there is some prohibitions against voting on Workshop content present in 1.6 games. More expansion. What else do I have in my future beyond public display of an 18-year-begone decision? I guess it depends on whatever Steam developers decide to do. Please, just consider this edge case when expanding the punishment that a person accepted as fair well before Steam became a social media platform with reviews and many other things.

I have many solutions to this if a human with empathy can understand this situation and cares to remedy the wrongdoing. I'd be fine with my ban simply not showing while the prohibition against playing in 1.6 titles in a server that is protected by VAC remains. I'd be ecstatic if the ban could, due to these incredibly messed up facts, be removed. I'd be fine if I could be given a new account with all my games, statistics, achievements, and friends already linked up that I have known for decades with 1.6 missing, so I'd have to buy it again to gain access to the 1.6 collection. Or with 1.6 simply not banned anymore since the years of harassment I have received surely came out of nowhere to augment the impact of my ban. I chose to accept the punishment and move on when Steam didn't proudly display my mistake on my primary, gaming social media platform.

Please, understand how this is different from other discussions like this one that are entirely unlike this one. Anyone who is an adult, and likely anyone who is a teenager, should comprehend the problem here. The once a cheater always a cheater is a motto I've heard for more than a decade now when I haven't cheated on my account in any game for close to 18 years.

I accepted the punishment and moved on. There was no concept in my mind that I'd be harassed for decades to come and that everyone in my real life who I connect my Steam to would see a decision I made close to 2 decades ago, sitting on my gaming social media account.

Can, at least, one or two Valve developers read this spiel? Please, do not filter it out as being some begging for unfair treatment. My identity can be confirmed over these decades as well since I've used my cards even recently to purchase new games, and I've used my cards well into the past to purchase new games.

No one is trying to beat the system. They're trying to display how the system changed without consideration of a small fraction of people undeserving of an intensification of punishment out of the blue. Especially for an account that has decades of history maintaining the same identity and never cheating again. My account has never been shared with anyone ever.

I would be tickled to death if Valve maturely handled this situation for me and for people like me. It simply isn't fair, and you have a history of when the punishment intensified out of nowhere versus when Steam services issued a ban. You know when this undue hardship struck a person like me. I'm not asking for much as there is nothing that can be done to undo the years of harassment I have received. Just check my profile page where page after page is people insulting me likely in part due to the perception that I am an evil person on my gaming social media account. I am a logical person, and I view all that I have written as legitimate, as something that will improve many people's lives despite a mistake they made decades ago, as something people who made that decision and chose to continue on with their account unaware of the future that social media would start to exist and exist on their Steam account no less. Please, help me use my account for clean fun free of youngsters harassing me over and over for something I didn't decide to happen and could not foresee. Of course, all bans in all games issued after the transfer to a social media platform that sells most games in the market, featuring reviews and various feedback mechanisms, should remain stiff and unwavering. This situation, though, is completely different. I had no choice here, because I didn't have access to Nostradamus's works to comprehend this would happen (Century VI, Quatrain 97).

[William Shakesman]

People on this board are never actually opposed to harassment or insults. They just want someone the system allows them to freely abuse without punishment. Caste systems are getting more popular these days after all, and cheaters are the designated untouchables now, even 15 years on.

Publicado originalmente por Piston Smashed™:

Up until 2005 people got Vac bans removed, however, after folks carried on cheating, even on their newly unbanned accounts they were made permanent. If Valve were to unban everyone as per your request then everyone would want unbanning and that is not going to happen.

Everything is about you and how you are suffering, how you are being harassed, how you cannot do this or that like we are suppose to take pity on you. You have not once mentioned being sorry for the troubles and grief you caused, only how you are suffering.

We understand only too well but just like when you used the cheats to harass, disrupt and inflict suffering on those who just wanted to have some fun playing games, we don't care, justice has been served...

If he said he was sorry would you sympathize? (Thats a rhetorical question. This quote is just an extension of the first paragraph of my post lol)

[Vandal]

Publicado originalmente por Piston Smashed™:

Up until 2005 people got Vac bans removed, however, after folks carried on cheating, even on their newly unbanned accounts they were made permanent. If Valve were to unban everyone as per your request then everyone would want unbanning and that is not going to happen.

Everything is about you and how you are suffering, how you are being harassed, how you cannot do this or that like we are suppose to take pity on you. You have not once mentioned being sorry for the troubles and grief you caused, only how you are suffering.

We understand only too well but just like when you used the cheats to harass, disrupt and inflict suffering on those who just wanted to have some fun playing games, we don't care, justice has been served...

This is arguing a straw man. I didn't say "unban everyone" or that bans should be temporary. Instead of telling you the same stuff in my other posts, go read them. This is NOT your standard, "I just don't like VAC bans boohoo" post. Additionally, you make a great example of someone abusing me despite my original punishment that I accepted being private. The punishment retroactively became public on my single gaming social media account. I do not deserve this since that wasn't the punishment at the time I cheated, and I would have made a new Steam account 18 years ago if I knew punishments would arbitrarily grow

Publicado originalmente por Leonardo Da Pinchi:

Unfortunately, actions have consequences. The ban being permanent, is the consequence of the action of the account cheating.

It's hidden from the public eye after 7 years, outside of some certain resourceful individuals using third-party sites or checking the xml details.

Obviously, cheating has consequences just like speeding in a car has them. However, after you pay the punishment of the time -- your speeding ticket -- you do not receive retroactive additional bills. If the bill was US$250 at the time you sped and the state increases the bill to US$500 and you have not sped again, you do not get a US$250 bill in the mail. Read my other posts for more information, because it seems like you do not understand the original punishments for 1.6 VAC bans when Steam just came out about 20 years ago.

Also, way to show you haven't read a thread before "contributing" to it. Arrogant much? I guess you just know everything and need not read what others are saying before you give your "valuable" opinion. This has been pointed out three or more times here: You can see bans on any account by simply changing the URL very slightly. There are also websites that check for you if that is too complex for you.

[Tito Shivan]

Publicado originalmente por Leonardo Da Pinchi:

It's hidden from the public eye after 7 years, outside of some certain resourceful individuals using third-party sites or checking the xml details.

The thing is removing the mark from Steam profiles (IE: Not showing even if you do the xml trick) won't remove the stigma associated to being banned. It'll simply move the mark elsewhere.
Third party sites will carry that work of accounting who's a 'dirty cheater' and who's not (with all the shortcomings and errors third party sites can have) Just like we saw these sites related to who was a trade scammer (or was related to one) and who wasn't.

Publicado originalmente por William Shakesman:

and cheaters are the designated untouchables now, even 15 years on.

Now? Hatred for cheaters has been a staple of gaming since... forever. This is nothing new.

Publicado originalmente por Vandal:

Read my other posts for more information, because it seems like you do not understand the original punishments for 1.6 VAC bans when Steam just came out about 20 years ago.

There's a problem with unbanning old VACBanned accounts. Size and ownership.
There's a sizeable volume of these accounts laying around. And quite a volume of those have been sold to toxic parties by their owners (See the reason why VAC Banned accounts cannot engage with UGC)

You don't want to enable that army to be toxic again in-game, worsening an already perceivedly large cheating issue.

[William Shakesman]

Publicado originalmente por Tito Shivan:

Publicado originalmente por Leonardo Da Pinchi:

It's hidden from the public eye after 7 years, outside of some certain resourceful individuals using third-party sites or checking the xml details.

The thing is removing the mark from Steam profiles (IE: Not showing even if you do the xml trick) won't remove the stigma associated to being banned. It'll simply move the mark elsewhere.
Third party sites will carry that work of accounting who's a 'dirty cheater' and who's not (with all the shortcomings and errors third party sites can have) Just like we saw these sites related to who was a trade scammer (or was related to one) and who wasn't.

Publicado originalmente por William Shakesman:

and cheaters are the designated untouchables now, even 15 years on.

Now? Hatred for cheaters has been a staple of gaming since... forever. This is nothing new.

Publicado originalmente por Vandal:

Read my other posts for more information, because it seems like you do not understand the original punishments for 1.6 VAC bans when Steam just came out about 20 years ago.

There's a problem with unbanning old VACBanned accounts. Size and ownership.
There's a sizeable volume of these accounts laying around. And quite a volume of those have been sold to toxic parties by their owners (See the reason why VAC Banned accounts cannot engage with UGC)

You don't want to enable that army to be toxic again in-game, worsening an already perceivedly large cheating issue.

Aye, nothing new about hatred for cheaters, but now we have made an ever expanding tarball of procedural issues into their eternally growing punishment to the smug giggles of the peanut gallery. And when you have a community that has changed to an obsessive policing of supposed "toxicity" in normal interactions, that energy is just going to burn white hot against the approved outlets for it.

[Vandal]

Publicado originalmente por Tito Shivan:

Publicado originalmente por Leonardo Da Pinchi:

It's hidden from the public eye after 7 years, outside of some certain resourceful individuals using third-party sites or checking the xml details.

The thing is removing the mark from Steam profiles (IE: Not showing even if you do the xml trick) won't remove the stigma associated to being banned. It'll simply move the mark elsewhere.
Third party sites will carry that work of accounting who's a 'dirty cheater' and who's not (with all the shortcomings and errors third party sites can have) Just like we saw these sites related to who was a trade scammer (or was related to one) and who wasn't.

Publicado originalmente por William Shakesman:

and cheaters are the designated untouchables now, even 15 years on.

Now? Hatred for cheaters has been a staple of gaming since... forever. This is nothing new.

Publicado originalmente por Vandal:

Read my other posts for more information, because it seems like you do not understand the original punishments for 1.6 VAC bans when Steam just came out about 20 years ago.

There's a problem with unbanning old VACBanned accounts. Size and ownership.
There's a sizeable volume of these accounts laying around. And quite a volume of those have been sold to toxic parties by their owners (See the reason why VAC Banned accounts cannot engage with UGC)

You don't want to enable that army to be toxic again in-game, worsening an already perceivedly large cheating issue.

Once again, I am not suggesting an unban of all VAC accounts. I am suggesting an unban of a very tiny fraction of banned acounts -- those who had their punishment increase from a private VAC ban to a public VAC ban. There simply aren't that many accounts that fall into this bucket. I understand your worries here, but it will be a drop in the bucket. Bad actors will continue to buy accounts for US$10 from random websites or whatever they do. Adding something like 0.001% of previously banned accounts back into the pool will not push the needle significantly at all. These accounts also, I'd speculate, fall into two main buckets anyway: 1.) Abandoned accounts that are lost forever. 2.) Old heads that kept their account since they didn't see having a private VAC ban on record as being a big deal (not bad actors). There might be some 3.) crazy bad actors. However, (3) is a tiny fraction of a tiny fraction of accounts. It's a double tiny fraction. This just change will bring practically almost zero accounts into the hands of bad actors.

Additionally, it really doesn't matter if would move the needle or not, because as I've discussed throughout this thread, what is right is what is right. It is horrific that many people received an upgrade to their ban retroactively, and this upgrade in punishment is far beyond what they understood the punishment would be when they decided to continue using their account. If I had a speeding ticket from 5 years ago, say it was US$250, and I paid it, the punishment should stay in the past and stay that amount. If the state increases the speeding bill to US$600, I shouldn't receive a US$350 bill in the mail. That's not how punishments work in any just person's head.

[Piston Smashed™]

Publicado originalmente por Vandal:

Publicado originalmente por Tito Shivan:

The thing is removing the mark from Steam profiles (IE: Not showing even if you do the xml trick) won't remove the stigma associated to being banned. It'll simply move the mark elsewhere.
Third party sites will carry that work of accounting who's a 'dirty cheater' and who's not (with all the shortcomings and errors third party sites can have) Just like we saw these sites related to who was a trade scammer (or was related to one) and who wasn't.


Now? Hatred for cheaters has been a staple of gaming since... forever. This is nothing new.


There's a problem with unbanning old VACBanned accounts. Size and ownership.
There's a sizeable volume of these accounts laying around. And quite a volume of those have been sold to toxic parties by their owners (See the reason why VAC Banned accounts cannot engage with UGC)

You don't want to enable that army to be toxic again in-game, worsening an already perceivedly large cheating issue.

Once again, I am not suggesting an unban of all VAC accounts. I am suggesting an unban of a very tiny fraction of banned acounts -- those who had their punishment increase from a private VAC ban to a public VAC ban. There simply aren't that many accounts that fall into this bucket. I understand your worries here, but it will be a drop in the bucket. Bad actors will continue to buy accounts for US$10 from random websites or whatever they do. Adding something like 0.001% of previously banned accounts back into the pool will not push the needle significantly at all. These accounts also, I'd speculate, fall into two main buckets anyway: 1.) Abandoned accounts that are lost forever. 2.) Old heads that kept their account since they didn't see having a private VAC ban on record as being a big deal (not bad actors). There might be some 3.) crazy bad actors. However, (3) is a tiny fraction of a tiny fraction of accounts. It's a double tiny fraction. This just change will bring practically almost zero accounts into the hands of bad actors.

Additionally, it really doesn't matter if would move the needle or not, because as I've discussed throughout this thread, what is right is what is right. It is horrific that many people received an upgrade to their ban retroactively, and this upgrade in punishment is far beyond what they understood the punishment would be when they decided to continue using their account. If I had a speeding ticket from 5 years ago, say it was US$250, and I paid it, the punishment should stay in the past and stay that amount. If the state increases the speeding bill to US$600, I shouldn't receive a US$350 bill in the mail. That's not how punishments work in any just person's head.

Friday, November 17 2006 just a few short months after you received your ban, Vac announces that it caught over 10,000 people cheating. Now these 10,000 people that were caught cheating weren't caught over the period of a few months, they were all caught a week prior to the 17th of November 2006. You was caught on the 13th July 2006 and you say that it is a tiny fraction of banned accounts.

You keep saying your punishment has increased but it hasn't you are banned "Permanently" you are still paying for your crime, you haven't paid your dues, you still have the ankle bracelet on and under house arrest. You cheated and got caught knowing what getting caught would mean. I mean you had had your account for a few years so you can't even say you were new to Steam.

You are not the victim here, the victims are the ones you cheated against NOT you.

[Vandal]

Publicado originalmente por Piston Smashed™:

Publicado originalmente por Vandal:

Once again, I am not suggesting an unban of all VAC accounts. I am suggesting an unban of a very tiny fraction of banned acounts -- those who had their punishment increase from a private VAC ban to a public VAC ban. There simply aren't that many accounts that fall into this bucket. I understand your worries here, but it will be a drop in the bucket. Bad actors will continue to buy accounts for US$10 from random websites or whatever they do. Adding something like 0.001% of previously banned accounts back into the pool will not push the needle significantly at all. These accounts also, I'd speculate, fall into two main buckets anyway: 1.) Abandoned accounts that are lost forever. 2.) Old heads that kept their account since they didn't see having a private VAC ban on record as being a big deal (not bad actors). There might be some 3.) crazy bad actors. However, (3) is a tiny fraction of a tiny fraction of accounts. It's a double tiny fraction. This just change will bring practically almost zero accounts into the hands of bad actors.

Additionally, it really doesn't matter if would move the needle or not, because as I've discussed throughout this thread, what is right is what is right. It is horrific that many people received an upgrade to their ban retroactively, and this upgrade in punishment is far beyond what they understood the punishment would be when they decided to continue using their account. If I had a speeding ticket from 5 years ago, say it was US$250, and I paid it, the punishment should stay in the past and stay that amount. If the state increases the speeding bill to US$600, I shouldn't receive a US$350 bill in the mail. That's not how punishments work in any just person's head.

Friday, November 17 2006 just a few short months after you received your ban, Vac announces that it caught over 10,000 people cheating. Now these 10,000 people that were caught cheating weren't caught over the period of a few months, they were all caught a week prior to the 17th of November 2006. You was caught on the 13th July 2006 and you say that it is a tiny fraction of banned accounts.

You keep saying your punishment has increased but it hasn't you are banned "Permanently" you are still paying for your crime, you haven't paid your dues, you still have the ankle bracelet on and under house arrest. You cheated and got caught knowing what getting caught would mean. I mean you had had your account for a few years so you can't even say you were new to Steam.

You are not the victim here, the victims are the ones you cheated against NOT you.

I apologize, but I will have to end our conversation since you seem to be trolling. If you aren't, I hope you're a kid, because you are likely in major trouble if you can't process the information I'm giving you. Just reread what you replied to a few times nice and slow. It's all in there.

[Ben Lubar]

You're not getting your ban removed. Either make a new account and don't cheat on it or live with the consequences of your actions.

[Piston Smashed™]

Publicado originalmente por Vandal:

Publicado originalmente por Piston Smashed™:

Friday, November 17 2006 just a few short months after you received your ban, Vac announces that it caught over 10,000 people cheating. Now these 10,000 people that were caught cheating weren't caught over the period of a few months, they were all caught a week prior to the 17th of November 2006. You was caught on the 13th July 2006 and you say that it is a tiny fraction of banned accounts.

You keep saying your punishment has increased but it hasn't you are banned "Permanently" you are still paying for your crime, you haven't paid your dues, you still have the ankle bracelet on and under house arrest. You cheated and got caught knowing what getting caught would mean. I mean you had had your account for a few years so you can't even say you were new to Steam.

You are not the victim here, the victims are the ones you cheated against NOT you.

I apologize, but I will have to end our conversation since you seem to be trolling. If you aren't, I hope you're a kid, because you are likely in major trouble if you can't process the information I'm giving you. Just reread what you replied to a few times nice and slow. It's all in there.

I read everything and can process it all no problem however, all I see is your typical boohoo story "I've been banned and it's unfair". If I had a quid for every time I've heard such a story then I'd be retired at 50, guess what...

10,000 accounts were banned in one week prior to the 17th November 2006 and that is from Valve after the release of Vac 2. You was caught on the 13th July 2006, your ban is permanent. That is not trolling, that is FACT!

[Vandal]

Publicado originalmente por Ben Lubar:

You're not getting your ban removed. Either make a new account and don't cheat on it or live with the consequences of your actions.

Way to not read anything in the thread. Congratulations for the arrogance reward where you suspect something is going on and then speak random intuition out as if it were worth everything to everyone.

[BJWyler]

Publicado originalmente por Vandal:

Publicado originalmente por Piston Smashed™:

Friday, November 17 2006 just a few short months after you received your ban, Vac announces that it caught over 10,000 people cheating. Now these 10,000 people that were caught cheating weren't caught over the period of a few months, they were all caught a week prior to the 17th of November 2006. You was caught on the 13th July 2006 and you say that it is a tiny fraction of banned accounts.

You keep saying your punishment has increased but it hasn't you are banned "Permanently" you are still paying for your crime, you haven't paid your dues, you still have the ankle bracelet on and under house arrest. You cheated and got caught knowing what getting caught would mean. I mean you had had your account for a few years so you can't even say you were new to Steam.

You are not the victim here, the victims are the ones you cheated against NOT you.

I apologize, but I will have to end our conversation since you seem to be trolling. If you aren't, I hope you're a kid, because you are likely in major trouble if you can't process the information I'm giving you. Just reread what you replied to a few times nice and slow. It's all in there.

He provided facts. You provided nothing but pulling numbers and suppositions out of thin air.

Neither Steam, nor your profile, is a social media platform, no matter how many times you try to state otherwise. That is a fact, and it is a fact in the eyes of the law.

VAC bans are permanent, and have been since before yours was received. It doesn't "grow" any more than that. Your $250 speeding ticket is still $250. And it's public record. Those who don't want to deal with a speeder are well within their rights not to want to deal with you. That's life, and life was never guaranteed to be fair or work in your favor when you want it to.

[Ben Lubar]

Publicado originalmente por Vandal:

Publicado originalmente por Ben Lubar:

You're not getting your ban removed. Either make a new account and don't cheat on it or live with the consequences of your actions.

Way to not read anything in the thread. Congratulations for the arrogance reward where you suspect something is going on and then speak random intuition out as if it were worth everything to everyone.

I've read the thread many times. You want your VAC ban to be removed because you cheated before Steam had public user profiles. That's not a legitimate reason for a VAC ban to be removed. The only reason for a VAC ban to be removed is if it was erroneous, which yours wasn't.

[Vandal]

Publicado originalmente por BJWyler:

Publicado originalmente por Vandal:

I apologize, but I will have to end our conversation since you seem to be trolling. If you aren't, I hope you're a kid, because you are likely in major trouble if you can't process the information I'm giving you. Just reread what you replied to a few times nice and slow. It's all in there.

He provided facts. You provided nothing but pulling numbers and suppositions out of thin air.

Neither Steam, nor your profile, is a social media platform, no matter how many times you try to state otherwise. That is a fact, and it is a fact in the eyes of the law.

VAC bans are permanent, and have been since before yours was received. It doesn't "grow" any more than that. Your $250 speeding ticket is still $250. And it's public record. Those who don't want to deal with a speeder are well within their rights not to want to deal with you. That's life, and life was never guaranteed to be fair or work in your favor when you want it to.

It sure does grow. When I decided to keep my VAC ban, the bans were private for my viewing only. Now, anyone I'm in a game with on pretty much any game can fetch the ban. This is a social function that has augmented my punishment. Now, people mistreat me in random games, and people might think differently of me that I link up with from IRL. I can't believe you're pretending not to understand this. It's about as simple as it gets.

[Vandal]

Publicado originalmente por Ben Lubar:

Publicado originalmente por Vandal:

Way to not read anything in the thread. Congratulations for the arrogance reward where you suspect something is going on and then speak random intuition out as if it were worth everything to everyone.

I've read the thread many times. You want your VAC ban to be removed because you cheated before Steam had public user profiles. That's not a legitimate reason for a VAC ban to be removed. The only reason for a VAC ban to be removed is if it was erroneous, which yours wasn't.

You are falling into a thinking trap I'm well aware of (and I'm legitimately sorry this isn't common sense to you :(... ). So when someone says something should be different, many people have the rebuttal, "Well, that's not the law/policy." Right... that's the entire point of the argument. It SHOULD be the law or policy. It's common sense that the suggestion is against the current law or policy. For example, if someone is against capital punishment in a state that uses it, it makes no sense to argue, "No, this false. In fact, capital punishment is allowed here." Hopefully, I have improved your ability to think logically. This happens all the time in philosophy 101 courses where, for whatever reason, people need to be explicitly told that moral conclusions are different than legal ones.

Thanks,
Vandal

[Ben Lubar]

Publicado originalmente por Vandal:

Publicado originalmente por Ben Lubar:

I've read the thread many times. You want your VAC ban to be removed because you cheated before Steam had public user profiles. That's not a legitimate reason for a VAC ban to be removed. The only reason for a VAC ban to be removed is if it was erroneous, which yours wasn't.

You are falling into a thinking trap I'm well aware of (and I'm legitimately sorry this isn't common sense to you :(... ). So when someone says something should be different, many people have the rebuttal, "Well, that's not the law/policy." Right... that's the entire point of the argument. It SHOULD be the law or policy. It's common sense that the suggestion is against the current law or policy. For example, if someone is against capital punishment in a state that uses it, it makes no sense to argue, "No, this false. In fact, capital punishment is allowed here." Hopefully, I have improved your ability to think logically. This happens all the time in philosophy 101 courses where, for whatever reason, people need to be explicitly told that moral conclusions are different than legal ones.

Thanks,
Vandal

Your ban would be completely unknown to me and many other people if you hadn't posted about it here, even if I had a reason to look at your profile.

VAC bans that are older than 7 years are only visible to the account owner unless there's a newer ban on the account.

That's the compromise Valve made. The permanent ban stays permanent, but it's not broadcast after a certain amount of time.

If a rule exists, it probably exists for a reason. Understanding that reason can help you understand whether the rule is correct. And in this case, the logic seems pretty sound to me. Temporary bans were tried and they didn't work to stop cheating, so Valve turned to permanent bans.

Bans that affect accounts, not people. Accounts do not get "killed" when they're banned from playing a specific game in multiplayer. There's not a government taking someone's life here. You, a person, can create a new account for free. Or even keep using your current account. You're banned from the one game you cheated in.