If you break the rules...
Time ||Punishment
1 ||Warning
2 || Ban for 1 day
3 || Ban for a week --If you're a mod you lose your position until the warning goes away!--
4 || Ban for a month.
5 || Ban for two years and probation for at least one year after that.
A warning is taken away every 2 months, except in the case of probation, where the first two strikes are not taken away until you get off of it, meaning that any strike you recieve will end in at least a day's banishment (additional conditions may apply as well, depending on the individual situation). If the majority of the staff feels that the situation is such that the strike system is inappropriate, they can carry out special punishments, such as temporary banishment or probation.
Probation is similar to what it is in real life: You might be prohibited from posting in a certain area or thread, or be unable to start a thread, reply to an old thread, etc. Each probation violation is a strike.
