If that rule has been there for a very long time, its an abusive, stupid rule that needs to go. The action of spamming and the action of building gates is entirely different and cannot be compared.

Throw away instant invulnerable gates are far worse in my opinion. It seems I'm not alone in this thinking, as Michael will be implement rules to prevent this from happening again.

Yeah bring in ingame mechanics to prevent such things. But as long as an option is available ingame it should not be a violation, simply because its there to be used as a feature.

Slave colonies have always been banned, despite it being a feature. You should know that.

will you ever get it, that he was supposed to stay ? How is recruiting a member slaving?

You say he was supposed to stay, but the one in SA didn't. The one in Africa was used only as a shieldable OP.

That is still not wrong. Slave colonies are your way of referring to them. However they are legitimate players who built their colonies ingame. Building gates for us to gate into Africa is NOT a violation by any means, and if such instances have been banned in the past, its WRONG and its ABUSIVE. You have a feature ingame it is NEVER wrong to use anything you have in front of you in order to play. If you do not intend for it to be there, then get rid of the feature. Like I said, getting rid of the feature is the proactive thing to do, if you dont intend for it to be like that. Throwing bans around, is not right. Infact, lots of things in the game can be interpreted as abuse, and may become bannable. Honestly no one can keep track of what is bannable and what isnt, if its included in the game. If you dont want it, remove it. If you dont, dont complain.

If this player was simply backstabbing, it's legitimate... but these were colonies constructed for that sole purpose. That's what makes them slave colonies. Get it through your head.

You have to get it through your head, that EVEN if they built there just for the purpose of gating, its NOT a violation. Why? Because the game allows it. Its possible for a guy to join, for you to gate, for him to be kicked. Now if you dont want that sequence of events to happen. Change it. If you aren't changing it, then it means that its a valid option available ingame. It also is not a bug. Using a valid option ingame, is NOT wrong. Ingame mechanics and options should not be subject to individual or circumstantial interpretation, as being valid or invalid. The game developers have provided players with that option, and people work with what they have in hand. As simple as that.

It's also in the game mechanics for you to get friends to place colonies as spammers, you conquer them and they choose to never rebel. For players to save up resources and build tons of OPs for you to take... things like that are all in the mechanics but against the rules. There is precedent for this, sorry you decided to ignore it.