I logged in, and I saw a message saying that I was banned. Later on I tried again and I did log in. What happened? Was I really banned? If so, what for?
Does a ban accomplish its goal if the banned person won't even notice it??? "Hey yo, I hope you learnt your lesson, you were banned." "Really? I just came back from vacation. Thanks anyway."
I wasn't intending to post yesterday anyway, so although I sort of noticed it, it didn't make any difference.
The normal procedure is that you receive a PM informing you of the reason for your ban. Each ban also gives you 1 infraction point, which expires 4 months after issue. The length of any subsequent ban depends on how many active infraction points you have (which should be visible in your user profile).