Why was my account suspended or banned?

Accounts are suspended or banned when a moderator finds that they broke our Terms of Service. A suspension lasts a set number of days; a ban is permanent. The reason is shown when you try to sign in, and you can ask us to review it.

Warnings, suspensions and bans

• Warning: a notice that something you posted or did broke the rules. Your account keeps working. You get a notification, and the warning is listed in My Infraction History.
• Suspension (temporary ban): you're signed out everywhere and can't sign in until it ends. It lifts automatically when the time is up.
• Permanent ban: you're signed out everywhere and can't sign in. Any paid plan ends.
• Community ban: a community's moderators can ban you from that community only. The rest of your account isn't affected. See Removed or banned from a community.

Separately, accounts that get 3 copyright strikes in 12 months are closed. See My upload was taken down for copyright.

Common reasons

• Harassment, threats or hate.
• Spam, or fake plays, followers, likes or XP.
• Uploading content you don't have the rights to.
• Impersonation, or creating accounts to get around an earlier ban.

See the full list in What isn't allowed on offtheave?.

See why

• If you can sign in (a warning or a community ban): open /account/infractions. Each entry shows the type, the date, the reason and any moderator notes.
• If you can't sign in: sign in with your email and password (or the way you usually sign in). Instead of your account, you'll see the decision: suspended or banned, the reason, and until when.

Appeal a warning or community ban

1. Go to Account standing.
2. Open the entry and fill in Appeal this decision.
3. Answer the questions. The first two are required; the last one is optional.
4. Select Send appeal.

You can appeal each decision once. The entry then shows In review, Decision kept or Reversed, and you get a notification when a moderator replies or decides. You can reply to the moderator on the same page while it's open.

Appeal a suspension or ban

1. Sign in as usual. You'll see the decision instead of your account.
2. Fill in Appeal this decision and select Send appeal.
3. To check on it, sign in again. You'll see its status and any replies from staff, and you can answer them there.

You can appeal once. If it's reversed, you can sign in as usual again. If you can't sign in at all (for example, you forgot your password), contact us with your username.

Don't create a new account while you're suspended or banned. New accounts linked to a banned one are banned too. See Why was my new account blocked?.

Related

• How do I get support?
• How do I report something?