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[DE/EN] Infractions & Warnings: Things You Should Know
Contents - English
Foreword
Warnings
Period of validity
ConsequencesInfractions
Infraction points
Period of validity
ConsequencesReviewing infractions and warnings
Understanding the infraction label
The infraction historyUnjustified warnings or infractions
Foreword
Dear community,
With the following essay, I’d like to provide some information about our penalty system in order to create some transparency regarding the work of our moderating staff.
I will therefore explain the purpose of both warnings and infractions, under which circumstances both are given, possible consequences, and in addition, provide some advice on how to behave properly after receiving an infraction or warning that is possibly unjustified.
Warnings
Warnings are typically given for minor rule violations and their sole purpose is to make aware of both your misbehavior and our board rules.
Below, you find a list of some violations that would justify giving a user a warning:
- spam
- signature rule violations
- questions in a release section
Period of validity
A warning is usually active for one month and then expires. Though warnings with a longer period of validity are possible, they are quite uncommon and thus hardly ever given.
Consequences
For a common user, a warning is indeed nothing but a reminder of the board rules and thus has no further consequences, even not if a user had several active warnings at a time.
A Guardian however, is to expect the removal of his badge, as a warning still indicates a definite violation of our rules, which is not appropriate for someone in that position.
Applying as Guardian or even Moderator is not possible when having an active warning, whereby an application for Moderator even requires a full month without any new infractions or warnings, after the last infraction or warning expired.
Infractions
Infractions are given for more serious rule violations and their purpose is to point out that a line has been crossed and that we tolerate this by no means.
Furthermore, infractions are given on consecutive violations, i.e. whenever a user violates the same rule he had violated before and was given a warning for.
But basically any warning, no matter for what violation it was given, might result in a harder penalty on any consecutive rule violation. The decision on that is up to the moderator responsible.
Below, you find a list of some violations that would justify giving a user an infraction:
- consecutive (minor) violations
- insults
- referer links
- warez
- rank fake
Infraction points
Infraction points are what makes the difference between infractions and warnings. While a warning is always worth zero infractions points, infractions are worth one or more infraction points, depending on the severity of the rule violation.
Period of validity
An infraction is usually active for one month and then expires. Longer periods of validity are also possible on more severe violations; even permanent infractions can be given for violations that are considered inexcusable.
Points of an infraction are without effect after its expiration.
Consequences
A single infraction without any prior penalties is usually not a problem. It only becomes problematic, if there are several active infractions at once. To be more precise, it is the number of infraction points of all active infractions that matters.
When the limit of 3 points is reached, an account is banned temporarily. If you still break our rules your account will be banned permanently!
Just like a warning, an infraction will result in the removal of the badge when being a Guardian.
Applying as Guardian or even Moderator is not possible when having an active infraction, whereby an application for Moderator even requires a full month without any new infractions or warnings, after the last infraction or warning expired.
Reviewing infractions and warnings
Understanding the infraction label
After being given a warning or infraction, you might notice a new entry called Infractions on the left-hand side of your posts right below your avatar.
Unfortunately, this label often leads to confusion, because it will also say Infractions even if you have just been given a warning. So don't let this label confuse you, what actually matters are the numbers following that label and here is what they actually mean:The first number is the number of active warnings that you are currently having, second one is the number of active infractions and the one in brackets indicates the overall number of active infraction points.
Provided you are currently having any active infractions or warnings, this label is visible to both you and the staff, but not to other members.
Once your active warnings or infractions have expired, this label will disappear. However, your past warnings or infractions can still be reviewed by accessing your infraction history.
The infraction history
The infraction history is a list that holds all infraction and warning that you have ever been given, including those that have already expired or turned out to be unjustified and thus have been reversed.
It will tell you exactly when and for what reason you have been given a warning or infraction and will also let you know when your active infractions or warnings will expire. Just like the infraction label, your infraction history can only be accessed by you and the staff, but not by other members.
Provided you have already received at least one warning or infraction, you can access your infraction history via the corresponding tab on your profile. Here's a screen shot to illustrate this:
Unjustified warnings or infractions
Of course moderators are human as well and so it might happen that we make mistakes and assess a situation inaccurately which then might result in an unjustified infraction or warning.
What you can do in such a case:
First of all you should realize the reason why you were warned. Reflect the situation objectively and admit possible misbehavior on your part.
If you still don’t see any fault on your part, you should take action. The first person to contact is the moderator who gave you the infraction or warning. Contact the responsible moderator via PM and state why you feel that your infraction or warning is unjustified.
If the moderator made an obvious mistake, he will most likely realize and reverse your infraction or warning right away.
Should the moderator not give in and you are still not aware of having done anything wrong, you should create a topic in
in order to discuss the matter with the whole team.When doing so, you should explain the situation as comprehensibly as possible and point out why you feel that your infraction or warning is unjustified.
I’m going to repeat this, because I believe it to be the most important part: try to assess your own behavior objectively, because without having objective and thus comprehensible arguments, prospects of success are vanishingly small which makes a possible complaint only a waste of time for either side.
Auch Dankeschön für die Mühe. 
