Introduction

The "Account Standing" is a tab on your profile which can only be viewed by you and by staff members. This tab indicates your current overall account standing and a list of formal warnings you have ever received (along with their punitive actions, explanation, and a link to the Private Topic if applicable).

Account Standing Classifications 

Your Account Standing is classified in one of six categories which will appear on your profile's Account Standing tab:

• Good - You were never issued a formal warning
• Caution - You have a history of at-most two formal warnings with minor discipline taken. At this point, deleting your account will result in your username, e-mail address, and IP address being blacklisted (cannot be used with new accounts) to prevent a moderation loophole.
• At risk - You have a building history of violations. You are no longer qualified to apply for, nor run as, a staff member at this point. And you are at risk of more severe and restrictive discipline for future violations.
• Restricted - You have an active restriction in place (access to a zone / category / page being revoked, a privilege being revoked, or being silenced from a topic or forum). And you are at risk of more severe and restrictive discipline for future violations.
• Probation - Your account is currently in probation (you are very restricted with what you can do, and most content you submit will require staff approval before it becomes visible).
• Danger - You have a severe and unacceptable history of violations. The next time you violate the rules / Terms of Service, you will be permanently banned, no exceptions.

Does My Standing Improve Over Time? 

Not usually. The two exceptions to this are the Probation and Restricted categories; once you no-longer are restricted or no-longer in probation, you will typically go back to the 'at risk' category and stay there (unless you were in the 'danger' category in which case you stay there). We expect all members to follow the rules from the very start. So there are no rewards / decays for good behavior to make up for previous bad behavior.

What Causes Me to Drop a Category? 

• On your first formal warning, you will drop from the 'good' standing. Usually you will drop to 'caution', but for more severe violations, you could immediately drop further than that. Once you drop from 'good', you cannot ever go back to it (unless all your formal warnings get appealed).
• You will drop to 'at risk' on your third formal warning, when you were assessed 100 or more total bad karma from discipline, when you have a history of probation (under 14 days in total), or when you have a history of any privileges or zone / page / category access being restricted as part of discipline.
• You will be in 'restricted' when you are currently silenced from one or more forums or topics, or if you have an active restriction on a site privilege or page / category / zone access. You will usually go back to 'at risk' when the restrictions expire.
• You will be in 'probation' when your account is in probation. You will go back to 'at risk' when your probation expires.
• You will be in 'danger' when you've previously been account or IP banned and the ban was lifted (but not appealed), if you ever get reported to third-party blacklists for severe spamming, if you've been assessed 250 or more bad karma in total from discipline, if you have 6 or more formal warnings, or if you've been assessed 14 days or more of probation in total from discipline. This category takes priority over all others even when currently restricted or in probation.