I recollect a different version of events. Not out of respect for you, your server or the players that play on the server but out of my own ability to know right from wrong I ignored numerous plots/houses and chests that did display a message stating that the plot was owned by a player.
You found a house, with a player's name on a sign above the door. You entered this house, and found a chest;
I have a sign outside my house too but I will never play again seeing as I am banned, how are players to know that my items are for the taking?
'This presented you with the message 'That block has been claimed by <player>".'
If I recollect correctly, players cannot open chests that are owned by other players without the player setting permission, you should be able to confirm this.
I don't remember the exact entry within the rule book but I assumed if I hadn't played in a week that the plot I had claimed would be available for any other player to claim, that assumption led me to believe that the houses that had no claims had not been playing for longer than a week or hadn't been on for an extended period of time.
I've come to the conclusion I was banned because the player was established and liked within the community as the other chests I took items from other houses has gone unnoticed.
Don't see this as an appeal any more, I couldn't give two monkeys, there are too many servers out there for me to play on for me to spend any more time here on 'Zedwork' I'm just trying to highlight the flaws in 1) your server setup and 2) the way your rules are enforced.
Good luck for the future, albeit bleak.
On a personal level, have a very Merry Christmas!
- Ezence (Perma Ban)