There are two types of Infraction, depending on the severity of the rule breach and whether it's a repeat offense.
For first time offences, where we believe that the rule breach was made in error, you will generally receive an warning also know as a yellow card . An warning informs you of what the rule breach was but does not apply any "penalty points" to you. If you repeat the offence, then you can expect to get hit with a full Infraction also known as a red card.

An Infraction informs you of the rule breach you have made and will then apply penalty points to your user record.

Penalties are based on a points system. Depending on the severity of the rule breach, you will be allocated points between 1 and 10. These points have an expiry period. This also varies, based on the severity of the problem.

If you reach 10 or more active points, you will be banned from the site for a set period of time.

You can view your warnings and active and inactive penalty points by viewing your user profile. To do this, go to Quick Links and then My Profile and click on the tab for "Infractions"

If you feel you have been unfairly warned, you can reply to either the email or the PM expressing why you feel the warning was unfair. Warnings can be removed if they are judged to be unfair. However, please do be polite. Angry or rude responses will simply be ignored.

Your Infractions and cards are only visible to you and to forum moderators. Your warning level is not visible to anyone on the forum except you and the staff team.

For more information on the feedback system, see here

However, it is also possible for us to ban users manually and in extreme cases we may decide to instigate a ban without waiting for the penalty points to build up.

A suspension is time dependant and will expire after a set period. If you have been suspended, you will be informed at the time of the suspension when it will expire.

A ban is permanent. You may or may not be informed at the discretion of the admins. If you are banned manually, your behaviour will normally have been extreme and it shouldn't be too difficult to work out why we banned you!

If you receive a ban, your username and IP address(es) will be banned forthwith from posting on this forum. We have a duty to all of our members to ensure that this is a pleasant place to post, and if someone persists on breaking the above rules, we are left with no alternative but to remove their posting rights.

If you are banned, we reserve the right to forward any information which we have regarding you (including your known IP address(es) and email address) to other forum owners. Further offences (including attempts to post under a new username) will lead to us reporting your activities to your system administrator - whether this be your ISP, your educational establishment, or your employer. We also reserve the right to reveal your identity (or whatever information we know about you) in the event of a complaint or legal action arising from any message posted by you.

The administrators' decision is final in these matters.

Why someone who has been clearly shown they are not wanted in a community would persist in trying to get back into it is a mystery to most of us, but it does happen from time to time.

Ban evasion will lead to us reporting your activities to your system administrator - whether this be your ISP, your educational establishment, or your employer - or to those responsible for you.

It is not our responsibility to constantly explain the rules to you - it is your responsibility to ensure that you are familiar with the rules - you agreed to that when you clicked the "I agree" button when you joined.

If you've received a warning, then it will expire after a period of time. If you don't repeat the offence (or commit any new ones) then you have nothing to be concerned about. So now would be a good time to read the rest of the FAQ, don't you think?

Ignorance of the rules is not a defence