Pretty sure none of that is what got Kstatida and the rest of his buddies banned. The vast majority of that stuff is available on the wiki's and regularly talked about on both QHCF and the official forums.

There are a few of those things frowned upon (ie, some prep locations, explore area specifics), but then you could argue that actually exploring and knowing the game SHOULD come with some benefits.

Either way, literally nothing on your list is what I was referring to as cheating.

Also, your comparison is stupid. A better one would be no one telling you where to buy the best basketball shoes, or who to talk to to get the tastiest gatorade. Either way, it's not relevant. What Kstatida did was talk to his fellow players, players on the opposite team, and the refs and try to fix the game so it wasn't even competitive. In other words, he cheated.

In closing.. go fuck yourself.