# How Many Warnings Before Permanent Banning **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [February 3, 2010, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-warnings-before-permanent-banning/527478 "2010-02-03T03:07:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-warnings-before-permanent-banning/527478/1 "2010-02-03T03:07:00Z")
How many warnings do you have before a permanent banning? For instance let’s say you’re a member here for ten years and get one or two warnings every years-won’t it eventually accumulate if warnings are counted to ban someone? ---
**Author:** ![ajb867](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@ajb867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ajb867)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-warnings-before-permanent-banning/527478/2 "2010-02-03T03:14:25Z")
> **[Banning and being banned](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=549604)** > > How does one know when one is close to the razors edge of being banned? Do the mods generally send out private messages or emails, warning that a poster is walking on thin ice, or does the mod warnings in a given thread constitute the sole channel... It dropped of the front page about a day ago. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-warnings-before-permanent-banning/527478/3 "2010-02-03T03:19:25Z")
There is no definite number. However, warnings don’t accumulate over a long period of years. While they are still on record, let’s say that we take them less and less into account as time goes by. A couple of warnings from five years ago are not going to count against you. What we are generally looking at is a pattern of behavior, and a refusal (or inability) to change that behavior in response to moderator warnings or advice. Getting several warnings over a period of a few months (especially for the same or similar things) is likely to get you a notification that you are on thin ice, and any more after that will result in a suspension. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-warnings-before-permanent-banning/527478/4 "2010-02-03T06:39:49Z")
It takes a lot of work to get to a suspension; that means we’ve tried to counsel and it’s not getting anywhere. It’s the next to the last resort, pretty much. After a suspension any other bad behavior generally goes directly to banning – if you get to the point where suspension is called for, after that the next time is most often the last time. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-warnings-before-permanent-banning/527478/5 "2010-02-03T06:48:42Z")
I should also mention that the overwhelming majority of people who get counseling from a moderator on a problem shape up. The overwhelming majority of people who get Warned get one Warning and then they don’t get another one, ever. Somehow these people are able to learn from the consequences of behavior and they make modifications and life rolls on. Then we have some who make the same error of judgment over and over again. They don’t ever change their behavior. The outcome is not a good one. As we say in the [FAQ](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/faq.php?faq=vb3_board_faq#faq_sdmb_rules): \*\*Please remember that you are our guest here, and that we reserve the right to exclude you at our whim, for any or no reason whatsoever. . . . . . By registering and using the board you acknowledge this right and agree to abide by our rules and to submit to their interpretation and enforcement by our moderators and editors. \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-warnings-before-permanent-banning/527478/6 "2010-02-03T15:53:45Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > Somehow these people are able to learn from the consequences of behavior and they make modifications and life rolls on. > > Then we have some who make the same error of judgment over and over again. They don’t ever change their behavior. The outcome is not a good one. It’s kind of like life in general… ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-warnings-before-permanent-banning/527478/7 "2010-02-03T16:43:16Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > Then we have some who make the same error of judgment over and over again. They don’t ever change their behavior. The outcome is not a good one. They get to be **my** patients! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-warnings-before-permanent-banning/527478/8 "2010-02-03T18:54:08Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > They get to be **my** patients! 🙂 _nods sadly_ And he’s got cold hands, too… ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-warnings-before-permanent-banning/527478/9 "2010-02-03T19:20:51Z")
Warm heart, though.