I don’t believe they expire in the current configuration. They are weighted less by the moderators if a long time has passed since your last warning or note.
Yes, that is correct – your infractions list is, indeed, a permanent record. That said, we take length of time between infractions, if more than one, into account.
One warning followed by three years without additional warnings: not a problem.
One warning followed by another and another at one-month intervals – problem.
Keep in mind that the system doesn’t send infraction reports to the mod loop: neither an announcement that someone just gave a warning nor a periodic scorecard of who’s carrying how many warnings. The only way we know if you’ve got other warning is if we look at your “infractions” tab – which most of us do when we issue a warning, to see if this is part of a pattern of misbehavior. You know that ominous “the mods will be discussing your posting privileges” comment you see in some “warning issued” notes? That’s what that’s about – the mod giving the warning has noticed that there are several others, probably in a fairly short time frame, and it’s time for the mod loop to discuss the person’s posting privileges and whether it might be time for a suspension or a ban.
Nah, we’ll probably just start nuking people from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.
Ellen Cherry, the charter members will be discussing your posting privileges.
Hey, it works for Twicks.
It could be. 
Perhaps it would be better to describe it as a no-win situation.
You’ve received one mod note that I could find (and there might be others), but no official warnings. For the most part we don’t keep track of mod notes, although if someone receives a bunch of them they’re likely to get a talking-to.
Which is only likely to happen if the same mod has to make mod notes to you, or notices others in passing. Because mod notes aren’t recorded (right?).
They aren’t compiled in one place, no. I’ll usually see any mod notes by other GQ moderators, though, at least if they are issued in response to a post report (since I’ll look at all reported posts).
Fingerprints are so last century. Send me the results of the DNA test and we’ll talk.
Thanks for the answer, all.
I too can’t help being curious about the record number of warnings.
We don’t keep any formal tally, so we don’t really know. The automated system has only been in place for three years, and for previous years we would have to search for them manually. I don’t think any of us would be inclined to make the effort, nor to publicize the name if we did.
OMG, I see I’m off to a slow start! I can see that I need to get serious and get a few, to establish my bonafides here!
[sub]Hmmmmm… what’ll it be? Trolling? A little spam? Gratuitous obscenities? Posting deliberate false answers in GQ? I’m sure I’ll want to be at least a little bit creative! . . .[/sub]
[sub]ETA: Aha! I know just the thing! Fonts and colors![/sub]
Any explanation of the ‘expire’ and ‘points’ headings in the UserCP? I assume the expires is always never, but if the points are always 0 then any number of warnings would have no increasing numerical value. This is very disheartening if you intentionally break the rules and can’t even gain a cumulative effect as a result.
The warning system in vBulletin allows you to set expiration dates for warnings, and assign different point values for different kinds of infractions. We don’t use them here. (Actually, warnings never expire, and the points are always zero.) We prefer to handle suspensions and bannings on a case-by-case basis through discussion among the moderators, rather than booting someone after they have accumulated a particular number of points. We look not just at the number of warnings, but what they were for and their frequency to evaluate whether to impose a suspension or a banning.
It’s hard to explain, but you’ll just know. Other pedestrians will hurriedly cross to the other side of the street when they see you coming towards them, even in heavy traffic. People will avoid standing next to you during electrical storms. If you attend a child’s first communion, the priest will stare directly at you during the part when he asks him/her if they “reject Satan and all of his empty promises.” Automatic sliding doors will not open for you. When you walk into an empty restaurant, the maitre d’ will politely but curtly inform you that there are no available tables. Your dog will snarl at you when you offer him a treat. Your wife will start suffering from “migraines” every night before bed, etc. You’ll be in denial at first, but eventually you’ll realize that all of the pieces fit and when you log in to the SDMB and check your messages, your worst fears will be confirmed.
skdo23, that brought tears to my eyes.
And here I was, mocking my old teachers for threatening us with “That’ll go on your permanent record…”
We had a lot of fun with that, after one of my kid’s teachers invoked that old chestnut. My son came up with: “Okay, imagine, you’re up for VP, and the CEO calls you in, and says ‘According to this, you pulled Gloria Glueggenhoeffer’s pigtails in kindergarten…[turns page] Twice’.”
Luckily, I’ve given my kids enough Anti-Dope lectures that they won’t have to worry about having a permanent record here.
Is there a way to get warnings removed? In my case, I received a warning for something I did not do, and when I protested, I was told by the mod that he would “take that into consideration”.
Are arbitrary warnings still going to stay on a poster’s record, even when they are there for demonstrably false reasons?
[Moderator Instruction]
If you want to complain about a warning, open a new thread in ATMB. Don’t rehash the issue here.
I looked at the warning (which was not by me), and it seems to me that it was justified. Your initial post was clearly against the rules, and your response after that falsely claimed that you hadn’t violated the rule. I don’t think you’ll get much traction among the moderation staff on getting it rescinded.
So warnings never expire. Can they be expunged like an arrest? Who do I mail the petition to? How much is the filing fee? 