A -> B … If A is true, then B is true
::B … Therefore, B is true
It would be nice to see a point system similar to your driving record with the DMV…points drop off after a certain period (minor stuff over a course of a few months, major issues would be at least a year or two…kinda like a PUI). Under this system, most people will get warnings that they can have dropped by good behavior over the short term, and the more obnoxious posters would be up against the wall in no time and would lose posting priviledges either temporarily or permanently. Make the point system appear in the user’s profile only visible to him/herself and to the mods. After so much time, the points will decrease back to 0 for good posting behavior over an extended period of time.
In Desmo’s case, those first three warnings would probably dropped off, but those last four would still bear the same outcome…although Desmo might have changed his demeaner had he seen where he stood with the Mods.
Really, I think the whole warning thing is common sense.
I, as far as I know, have no official warnings. So if I were to mildly annoy a few mods over the next few months, I doubt I’d catch much flak, aside from a few knock-it-off posts. And if I were to stop and behave after that, it’d most likely all be moot after that, and the staff I annoyed would probably forget about me.
Now, if I were to spend the next few months after the mild annoyances insulting people in GD, pulling up lawn chairs, and being a major hassle, it’s perfectly reasonable for the staff to look at all my infractions, including the ones that weren’t a big deal at a time.
It’s all about context. However, I’m not a mod or anything like that, so I may be way off. I doubt I am. Recording official counts and stuff is not something a group of volunteer mods wants to be doing.
Well, verb intransitive, I think. I rather hoped I had coined the usage (as a verb rather than a noun), but of course (!) I was pipped to the post (!!):
Yes, I agree that these things need to have a Statute of Limitations. How about a year? That would include the “Final warning” in this present case, plus the others afterwards. I agree that keeping track of a warning from 2002 seems a bit… well…
There also should be a “how many warnings do I have” function or thread. Really, this could be part of the Search. I think I have one, and it was pretty tame… but who knows? If a MOD comes in and says “Ok guys, knock it off”- and I am one of the ‘guys’- is that a 'warning"- for me?
I disagree.
Re your last question: While I’m speaking for myself, I doubt that any mod or admin here cares that you were part of “the guys.” We simply don’t have time to take down names. If you were the instigator, or you were the major offender, then we might post your name in a “mod-only” forum, where it can be used against you if you continue to be a jerk. What’s so hard about figuring out if you’re continuing to be a jerk? Only a very small percentage of posters are jerks.
It’s not about quantity, per se. Quality of jerkness and a refusal to correct bad behavior is it.
Don’t sweat the small stuff.
Demosthenes, all this time I thought Demosthenes with pebbles in his mouth at the ocean. Oh my and now he’s gone.
Is there a private way to indicate to a Doper how close he is to the edge - something in the personal profile, for example? Viewable only to mods and the poster in question.
Regards,
Shodan
[reads link and squeals with delight]
Egad, Roger, do you realize how long it’s been since I learned something absolutely new, learned about a field that I didn’t even know existed? Years. Definitely, years.
Thank you. That is so cool. You totally made my week. 
So, can we discuss the derivation of the verb? “Tic-tac” on this side of the pond is a tiny, rather nasty breath mint. I assumed from the context of your remark that “to tic-tac” must mean something like “to gesticulate frantically”, but what it had to do with breath mints was what stumped me.
[Listens for echoes]
I’m not Hearing anything!
She was obviously doing it with hand signals. 
Yes, we have the little sweeties too. I had to look surprisingly hard to find ‘tic-tac’ used as a verb, but then again not too many small, local, independent bookies run websites, I would imagine.
When I was a kid, we used to go to point-to-points, these brilliant British institutions where you go to someone’s farm, which doubles about half a dozen times between September and May as a steeplechase racecourse. You take your picnic hamper, bottles of wine, flasks of coffee, and roll out your blankets on the sward - if it’s not too wet. Then you watch these brave chaps and chapesses (there are quite a few country girls who prefer the manly world of the jump jockey to the rather more feminine one of the show jumping and dressage arena) leap over hawthorn fences.
But the bit that enchanted me was the bookies, especially the tic-tac men standing on their old wooden crates. They’d semaphore the movements in odds to their bookies, who’d then bellow out the odds:
“Sevnavordaveal - sevnavordaveal”
It was only many years later that I realised they were saying “Seven to four the field”. If I ever owned a racehorse, I wanted to name it “Sevnavordaveal”. Wonder if they’d let me.
Excellent idea, but a bit too long. 
Hmm. Y’know, this forum is called “About this Message Board” and this thead is called “Desmostylus banned.” I’d like to suggest that posters please stick to topic?
People do know where they stand, of course they do. YOU may not be aware of what someone else has done, but they know, or they should.
And you can always write us and ask if you’re unsure of your own status, we’re happy to tell you. We’re here to guide you and part of the job is answering your questions; in fact, if you’re in doubt about the suitability of a post, asking in advance is the good way to go. “It’s better to ask for permission than forgiveness.”
What we are looking for most of all is a PATTERN of bad behavior.
Mostly when someone gets tossed out, it’s because they continue to do the same thing over and over again . . . even after being counseled by us . . . having the bad behavior brought to their attention multiple times.
It’s not a “oh gee, you’ve been warned 5 times over 5 years, you’re automatically out;” we look at all the circumstances.
But yeah, if we ask you to do something (or, conversely, NOT to do something) and you disregard us, we’re not left with a lot of choices. And that’s usually what pertains here.
I would estimate something like 99% of the community has no warnings at all. A few people slipped or misunderstood or let their temper get the better of them and they have a warning or two over the years.
Sometimes people make newbie mistakes, which mostly we don’t hold against them. They correct their behavior, they go on, that’s the end of the situation.
People that get banned have a laundry list of offenses and very often the same offense over and over again. (This does not count trolls/spammers, who get thrown out from the first strike.)
your humble TubaDiva
“Better make it an official Sticky dictating ‘No Off-Topic Discussions Or Minor Hijacks Ever Again’, then, and we’ll all see what we can do to comply…” she commented sourly.
[insert smallish rolleyes emoticon]
[egad, Dex]
See? If you had just googled Tic-Tac, none of this would’ve ever happened.
OW! Stop hitting me, Dex.
just a little bit of fun for old times sake, no offense meant
Better watch it or Dex will make you toe the line.
But are these the type of posters, adn only the type of posters, one wants, he wonders mischievously?
By the way, by my rough and ready reckoning, this post can’t be off-topic, as it’s responding to an Administrator.
And shouldn’t that be ‘tow’-ing the line, as in ‘kowtow’? ;j 
Shame to see Desmostylus go, he is one of the more intelligent and knowledgeable posters here and one that I always enjoy reading.
He does not suffer fools lightly and certainly got into some tangles with a few of our more prominent ones.
Desmostylus was hard done by based on the posts cited in the OP. Only a couple of the posts cited here were warnings and one of those was a misunderstanding by the moderator. It would be useful if warnings were less ambiguous than something like “knock it off”. It would also be useful if the members warning status was privately and clearly visible to that member. I think most would forget a subtle ‘warning’ made by a mod a few years back. I am sure if Desmostylus knew exactly where he stood he would be more restrained.