Ping masking and one of the easiest ways to spot it.

[Patmonster]

An informative article on ping vs latency by a Valve programmer:
http://www.bluesnews.com/articles/latency_vs_ping.shtml

Very good article. So while ping - 40 maybe a general rule, it is not what is actually happening. I have to say since valve's most recent updates that ping below 5 is no longer an instant kickable offence.

BUT,
Let's just say - for shits and giggles - that he is ping masking. He isn't lagging or hurting anyone in the server. He dies when you shoot him, he shoots other people and they die just as normally, why on earth would we kick someone for that? I did a bit of googleing and while I haven't tested it yet, it seems like ping masking can be done by just a simple command. So his ping could be effected by a command he forgot he put in. Who knows? Point being, he isn't lagging, he isn't hurting anyone. No need for ban.

[StarsMine]

An informative article on ping vs latency by a Valve programmer:
http://www.bluesnews.com/articles/latency_vs_ping.shtml

"Ping is a simple round trip time for a message from one computer to another."
Latency is more complicated, and is affected by variables such as client FPS, server FPS, and server ticrate.

So the assumption that latency = (ping - 40) based on your respective values of 5 and 45 should not be generalized as a rule of thumb. In Zero's case, his ping was only 1 or 5 above latency. I've been accused of ping masking as well, although not by admins. I usually have a ping of around 5 because I live close to the server and have a fiber optic connection, but my latency is considerably higher because I often get 20-30 FPS in WCS, depending on map and player activity.

once you go below 45 ping, the ping-40 no longer works, and should show a latency of 5. If thats what your showing, and its not going below that your fine.

[Patmonster]

once you go below 45 ping, the ping-40 no longer works, and should show a latency of 5. If thats what your showing, and its not going below that your fine.

Well after some google searching I really couldn't find proof to deny or confirm that 5 is the min. anymore. Even in that article there is nothing that says anything about a "cap." But again, this just leads back to my second statement. If he isn't hurting anyone, no reason to kick/ban him in the future.

[Rellikdloc]

pat cmon did you read anything? he wasnt ban for ping masking only kicked.. he posted in here b/c he was having issues with that topic tho.

[Bruce Dern]

pat cmon did you read anything? he wasnt ban for ping masking only kicked.. he posted in here b/c he was having issues with that topic tho.

i was banned after being kicked and told to come back without ping masking and to fix my rates (which i did, and they were barely off by anything at all). both were for something i obviously could not control (short of moving or finding a new isp)
edit: or technically i was banned for "ignoring admins" i did not ignore him however, i told him my circumstances and that i couldn't do anything about it (except fix my rates slightly). so by my doing what i was told to do, i was banned

[ZERO]

I would say that given what we now know about latency it should be clear not from the actual value but instead when an abnormally low value is combined with a client being laggy which is logically impossible.

[Patmonster]

pat cmon did you read anything? he wasnt ban for ping masking only kicked.. he posted in here b/c he was having issues with that topic tho.

Rellik cmon, did you? damn dude. He was banned but that is WAYYY besides the point of what I was talking about.
Read before post

[jwtemp]

Rellik cmon, did you? damn dude. He was banned but that is WAYYY besides the point of what I was talking about.
Read before post

Pat, you're new here, so you aren't aware of this, but Rellik can't really read. Harsh bro.

[Rellikdloc]

sry pat didnt realize i to spell things out , i meant he wasnt ban for ping masking yes he was ban but it was for ignoring gummy. mmmkay

[ZERO]

I could just run this and we then have the servers auto kick anyone trying to mask: https://forums.alliedmods.net/showthread.php?t=98195