Becoming on staff
Firstly: If you want to be on staff, don't ask us, we will ask you.
You can increase your chances by doing the following:

• Follow the guidelines
• Be mature
• Be active in the areas you wish to mod

When are punishments normally handed out?
Firstly: we do not hand out punishments for no reason. Often suspensions, post disable or moderation queue are last resorts used when people do not heed our warnings. Exceptions can be PM advertising, flaming and violating a serious part of our TOS (such as posting warez). Punishments are usually the result of two previous warnings, sometimes one depending on the warning and the severity of the situation. Please be aware that punishment lengths and when they occur vary from person to person - different factors will effect the outcome, including whether it is the first time the problem has occurred, whether or not (if one was given) a previous warning has not been listened to, has the person been around long enough to know the rules and so on.

I was punished in some form - why?
If you are punished we contact you to let you know why.

Suspensions
If you are suspended please check your inbox, you will most likely find an e-mail waiting for you. If you do not, check your trash can or junk box - your service may have blocked it as spam. If you feel your punishment was unfair, contact the person who dealt it to you but do so in a mature and calm manner. Flaming may result in you being ignored and even prolonging your punishment. I can tell you now, rational people are more likely to get me to listen and discuss it (and possibly reduce or rid of the punishment) than abusive and threatening fools.

If the e-mail doesn't appear, DO NOT CREATE A NEW ACCOUNT. This will enflame the situation more - duplicate accounts (as outlined in our rules) to get around a punishment may result in a ban. Instead it is advised you contact a member of staff. If you do not know who did it - which is most likely - you are advised to contact a community administrator such as ViSiOn(vision@vgamingonline.net) and ask about it. They can check and talk to the member of staff to find out why or check your warn logs and let you know.

In either case remain calm, type neatly (leet speak may cause your e-mail to be ignored - I have no intention of spending five minutes trying to decipher four lines ), ensure any point you wish to make is made clear, don't flame or start name calling and be sure that you're not just clawing at excuses - if you were, say, suspended for flaming people after being warned about it twice before, you clearly did it knowing that it breaks the rules and you also failed to take notice of previous warnings. No excuse would shorten or rid of your punishment.

Post Disable
If your ability to post is disabled, you will receive a PM rather than an e-mail. You can still respond to PMs. Again, if you do respond to argue your case, please follow the guidelines above. Flaming and such via PM will mean you are committing a second offence and could lead to a suspension. Don't fan the flames - either respond in a mature manner (whether it is to apologize or debate your case) or don't respond at all.

Moderation Queue
This is probably the kindest of punishments. This merely means your posts have to be viewed by a moderator before they can be allowed on the forum. I can assure you that you needn't stop posting because I check daily the Mod CP moderation queues for any waiting posts.

Yet again you will receive a PM rather than an e-mail. And again, if you do respond to argue your case, please follow the guidelines above to ensure you don't make the situation any worse.

All in all, whatever happens, you're best to wait it out, and if you must, speak with the staff member to discuss it and perhaps resolve it. But hey, lets hope you don't have to do any of this.
Follow the rules and all will be well.