SHOWTIME | Help Center (2024)

What is moderation?

Being "moderated" means that you have violated our Terms of Use agreement. The penalties are:

• Warning - If you get too many, you could lose level points or get suspended or banned.
• Suspension - Temporary restriction to your account.
• Ban - Permanent restriction to your account.

When you signed up for your GameSpot account, you must accept the Terms of Use agreement. That means you are legally bound - regardless of whether or not you paid for a subscription. We recommend becoming familiar with the community rules. This is where we outline all the rules for using our website.

What's the difference between a suspension and a ban?

Suspensions are normally temporary and bans are permanent. Suspensions usually last from one to seven days; but staff can make them longer at their discretion (depending on the offense).

How can I find out why I was moderated?

You'll usually receive a Private Message indicating that you've been moderated. To find out the details of your moderation, log in to your account check your My Moderation History (Must be logged into your account). The link is located in your Profile on your "Vitals" tab. If you want to know more about your moderation, it would be best to ask your question in the Moderation Clarification Station. The GameSpot moderators will help you out.

My account was suspended, what should I do?

First, log in to your account and check your Moderation History to find out why you were suspended.

If you were moderated from a forum, go to that forum and read the sticky threads. Make sure that you didn't miss anything about the additional rules mentioned for that specific forum. There are some forums such as; Xbox or Playstation 3 that do NOT allow any other platforms discussions. Example: You may receive a severe moderation with a suspension for talking about the Playstation 3 in an Xbox forum. However, each forum may have a different set of rules mentioned in the sticky thread so read them thoroughly before posting.

Next, re-read the Terms of Use agreement. If you still have questions about why you could have been moderated, wait out your suspension and then post your question in the Moderation Clarification Station to learn more.

Why has my suspension lasted so long?

Suspensions don't begin counting down until midnight Pacific Time and are lifted at Midnight Pacific Time. So if you were suspended for 1-day at 3:00 pm on Monday the 1st, you would not be able to post as soon as you were suspended. However, the clock on your suspension doesn’t begin counting until the following midnight, so you wouldn’t be released from suspension until 12:01 am Pacific Time on Wednesday 3rd.

If your suspension seems to be lasting longer than what was described, moderators cannot remove your suspension but you do have the option to contact Customer Support to request the status of your account.

My account was banned, what should I do?

You have the option to appeal your permanent ban only if you are certain that your account was terminated for an unknown reason.

Here are some ways to figure out if your permanent ban was accurate. First, log in to your account and check your Moderation History to ensure that you are aware of the reason why you were banned. If your moderation history does not answer your question, and it states that you were banned by Admin's discretion, this can only be done by GameSpot Staff. However, if you are absolutely certain that your account was banned in error, don't fret! Contact Customer Support about your moderation.

There are a very few cases where a system glitch will make your account look like it has been banned. If you feel this is your situation, then you will need to contact Customer Support. Make sure you include the username of the account that was banned.

Can I be banned if I paid for a subscription?

Different subscriptions will entitle you to a number of benefits, including faster downloads, no advertisem*nts on the site, and so on, but it does not grant you a right to have access to our Community features. All users (free registrants and paid) have the same consequences if they do not follow the Terms of Use agreement.

I logged in on my friend's computer while suspended/banned and they got banned. Why?

We track IP addresses, so if you try to dodge your suspension/ban by using someone else's computer, you are putting their account at risk for being banned. The same thing applies if your friends try to log into GameSpot from your computer. Avoid doing this.

Someone used my GameSpot account and got me banned. How can I fix this?

As per our Terms of Use, you are responsible for your account. If you give out your password - or store your password on your computer - and someone gets into your account, you are still responsible for their actions because it is your account.

I reported an item for abuse but it still hasn't been deleted. What should I do?

When a user reports an item for abuse, this is placed in a moderation queue. The volunteer moderators and administrators go through that queue from time to time and deal with each report. Depending on the number of moderators around and the number of reports, it can take a while before they get to each report. If the item is very serious, please be aware that the more users who report the abuse; the higher the moderation item will be flagged of importance in the queue.