Why was my account suspended?

Why was my account suspended?

If you have received a temporary forum ban ("time-out") from the moderators, it's because you have not followed the Forum Rules and, in most cases, not heeded previous reminders.

The moderators would prefer to issue only reminders rather than suspend a forum member's account, but in serious cases this type of disciplinary action has proven to be necessary to get a forum member's full attention and cooperation.

What should I do about it?

Your account will reactivate automatically after a certain number of days. Review the Forum Rules and follow them when your account is again active. That's usually all there is to it. If you observe the rules, the moderators won't have any further issues with your posts.

Your cooperation is appreciated!

Why didn't I get a warning first?

If you broke a very serious rule, the moderators may apply a time-out to get your immediate attention or to stop you from posting until you've reviewed the rules.

In most cases, however, users are sent one or more reminders about the rules, with no loss of forum privileges, when they break the Forum Rules. Only if they ignore the reminders and continue to break the rules will a time-out be applied. Reminders are sent to help you avoid time-outs, and time-outs are given to help you avoid a permanent ban.

What Determined the Length of my account suspension?

Disciplinary actions are based on the rule involved, the nature of the violation, and any history of prior violations. Some rules are more serious than others.

For repeated rules violations, discipline may increase from short time-outs to longer time-outs to a permanent ban. In other words, a 1-day time-out for a rules violation can become a multi-day time-out the next time.

What if I Disagree?

We hope that the reason for your time-out is clear from the message you received, the post involved, and from any previous reminders. If not, see What if I disagree with moderation of my posts?

What if I have more questions about account suspensions?

You'll find a wealth of information in the Moderation FAQ.