Think I'm encountering the same issue.
I'm also using Opera, when I got my VPN turned off. I keep getting I've been banned message. And I can't do anything. If I go to any other page then the forum, then it's as if I'm logged out.
If I try and log in, it takes me to the forum message where it says I'm banned. And I'm logged in again. And it won't let me log out either, as it just takes me to the I'm banned message.
If I turn on my VPN, I'm able to log in, and out again, and browse like normal. (How I'm posting this message right now, fyi.)
But obviously I don't want to upload a whole map trough my VPN. That's just gonna take way too long.
Any idea what's going on here? Is it a bug, or have my real IP somehow been banned?
I also tried sending an email regarding this issue with the "Contact Us" at the bottom of this page. But the email appears to have bounced back. As in, "[email removed]" doesn't exists, or is misconfigured.