it still irks me that blizzard banned the guy for something they gave him. it was their mistake, not his. when blizzard sends me a pet in the mail, am i supposed to first check with a GM that i'm actually allowed to have it?

unless there's something to this story that blizzard didn't reveal. like maybe the player and a GM were in cahoots or something... now that'd be a story.

but if the facts are as they've been presented, the player was wronged and deserves restitution.

There is a difference between checking an item out, and what he did.

They went into Ulduar, used it multiple times, got several world firsts, and then went into Trade and bragged about it. They knew using the item was wrong, he should have been banned.

I also believe I know how they got it in the first place. If you check out the item ID number for Martin Fury, it's 17.

http://www.wowhead.com/?item=17

Item #117 is Tough Jerky.

http://www.wowhead.com/?item=117

I bet when they were restoring his guild leader's low-level Warlock, they mistyped the item ID number.

Unless you're thinking about the Jiminy Glick fat suit (+40 Humor, +40 Obnoxiousness). Which is also known as the Martin Short.

when blizzard sends me a pet in the mail, am i supposed to first check with a GM that i'm actually allowed to have it?

Only if you mouse over the pet and it says "Bringing this pet out in front of bosses will cause them to insta-die" or something.