If you receive 3 points total at any time, you will be moved to the "I could be banned!" usergroup, which will entail reduced posting rights, in addition to a visible title showing your decreased status in the community.

If you receive 4 points total at any time, you will be banned until one of the 4 points expires.

Here is a list of the different types of warnings that can be given by a moderator:

Bad Sportsmanship: (1 Point, 21 Days) This warning is for players who do not conduct themselves appropriately in the Tournaments or WiFi Battle forums. Players are allowed to express their displeasure, but moderator discretion will be used for when the line is crossed. Note that, since tournament battles are extensions of the Tournaments forum, egregious misconduct in battles is liable for punishment as well; this goes for official IRC channels, such as #pokemon, as well.

Forum Specific Rule: (1 Point, 21 Days) This warning is given for breaking a rule that only applies to the forum the post is in. This is one of the most common warnings in the Pokémon and the Site & Project forums. Good examples include someone giving a bad team rate with no battling experience to back it up, posting a Peer Edit without proper format or not listing an entire team in RMT. Please read the Rules Sticky in each forum to understand what these rules are. When you are warned with this, a moderator will tell you which rule you broke.

Incoherent Post: (1 Point, 21 Days) Generally, this category entails use of chat speak or leetspeak. Other posts that can be warned with this category include posts that use excessive heavy coloring and posts that have to be deciphered before they can be read properly. Accidental typos are acceptable, but intentional mistakes (such as "liek" or substituting numbers for letters) are not tolerated.

Junior Modding: (1 Point, 21 Days) This one has some fine lining to it. People commanding the moderators in any way (such as "move this to Trou", "this thread should be locked") is usually what this warning is for. "In before lock", or anything similar is surefire Junior Modding. Telling other members that they've broken a rule in a civil matter is acceptable.

Lurk More: (1 Point, 21 Days) If there was a vague definition of this, it would be "he just doesn't get it". Usually, this is someone breaking a Smogon-wide rule that is not covered by another warning. A good example of this is someone making a thread in Smeargle's Studio asking about Pokémon. This warning is oftentimes similar to Forum Specific Rule.

Multiple Posting/Flooding: (1 Point, 21 Days) People who do not know where the edit button is get this one. Civil double posts (can often be recognized by something like "sorry for the double post, but for emphasis I believe I'm going to have to start a new one here") will often be excused - clearly the poster is aware of what he's doing. Anyone spamming up the forums in a malicious manner will actually be banned outright as soon as possible, so do not mix that up.

Thread Necromancy: (1 Point, 21 Days) Do not bump old threads. Making meaningless posts in threads that have long since died is strictly prohibited. If you have something of consequence you’d like to add to a thread that has fallen off the front page, feel free to do so. All “bump”, “to the top”, etc. posts will be warned and deleted without exception. If someone actually adds something to the thread, they will not be warned for it. Like with double posting, often times this is paired with "I'm bumping this because...". Note that Contributions & Corrections is an exception to this rule. Keep in mind that mods can see deleted posts, so no stealth bumping either.

Advertising: (2 Points, 60 Days) This one is simple, as long as you know where to put the line between "this site has the answer to your question" and "this site is awesome, check it out, www.otherwebsite.com".

Creating Multiple Accounts: (2 Points, 60 Days) If you create another account to actively use on the forums, for whatever reason, it will be banned and your main account will be warned.

Insulted Other Member(s): (2 Points, 60 Days) Someone insulting, insinuating, or otherwise calling out a member in a rude way. Insulting includes calling names, telling someone to shut the fuck up, saying he sucks, etc. Note that saying a set or a move is stupid is not insulting a member, merely their ideas. Of course, if you do it without backing up your argument, you could be warned under the Lurk More category.

Disrespected Staff: (2 Points, 60 Days) Same as above, except it is directed at Moderators+. This warning is usually reserved for people who send dumb and disrespectful replies to warnings.

Repeated Offense: (2 Points, 90 Days) If someone was warned for something before and he or she does it again, this warning will be given out.

Trolling: (2 Points, 60 Days) The general internet definition of trolling tends to be "trying to lure a negative reaction", generally done by playing Devil's advocate in a really extreme and annoying way. Stupid RMTs with 6 Wurmples fall under this too. This one is hard to draw an exact line for, but generally the moderators will know it when they see it, and their decisions are final.

Illegal Activities: (1 Point, 21 Days) Linking to ROMs, Warez, etc. is forbidden. Discussions of ROM hacking and patching and emulators are allowed. It's just piracy that isn't.

Plagiarism: (3 Point, 90 Days) Passing off someone else's writing as your original work in C&C, The Smog, or any other workshop for future onsite material. Plagiarism is considered a very serious offense that disqualifies you from almost any position of trust. Don't do it.

Malicious Account: (4 Points, indefinite) This warning is reserved for a quick ban on advertising bots; if you are reading this FAQ now, you will never receive this warning. The only other time this warning can be used is if the purpose of your account is to threaten Smogon with a cyberattack or a Smogon user with violence.