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Almost 2 week ago I asked a question, which first put on hold but after I had edited, it re-opened. Since then I have been banned from asking question. According to help centre, in order to ban to be lifted, my positive contribution to the website must be higher than the negative ones, but here is the catch, I'm just a freshmen physics students, who have passed English *proficiency exam 2 month ago and taking his first Calculus course in the summer term. Most of you don't know but, there was a discussion about that question and by asking this question, I have literally learned how to ask a question in math SE, but I am banned, and I have lots of questions to ask. I'm trying to answer to some calculus questions, but some of them about a topic I don't know and the others is answered before me. So what do you think I should do in order to ban to be lifted ?

*I'm at a English-medium University in a Turkish spoken country, so in order to start your own department, you have to pass English proficiency exam.

Edit:Thank you so much guys, both for answers and the up votes.

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    $\begingroup$ Is it the rate-limiting ("ask again in $n$ days"), or is it the almost-permanent ban ("Sorry, we're no longer accepting questions from this account")? $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 7, 2016 at 16:21
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    $\begingroup$ @DanielFischer "Sorry, we are no longer accepting questions from this account. See the Help Center to learn more." $\endgroup$
    – Our
    Commented Aug 7, 2016 at 16:23
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    $\begingroup$ Yuck. A bit harsh, I think, all things considered. Although, you've been shown a quality ban warning before posting three times, and the four questions before the last one were all closed, two of them deleted, and three of them downvoted. Nevertheless, with the last question reopened and upvoted, it's at the very least extremely unfortunate timing. But the situation is what it is. So what can you do? a) Edit your zero-score or downvoted questions so that they will receive upvotes. Caution: if the edit isn't really good, the bumping can lead to further downvotes, $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 7, 2016 at 17:33
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    $\begingroup$ which would make the situation worse. So if you edit, edit well. b) Provide good answers. As a beginner, the range of questions you can give good answers to is limited, of course, but if a question already has an answer that doesn't mean you can't add another answer. But do it only if your answer adds something new, repeating an existing answer isn't helpful. c) Suggest useful edits. Accepted edit suggestions are also positive contributions that help lifting the ban. $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 7, 2016 at 17:34
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    $\begingroup$ Sometimes you just have the bad luck that the first person who sees your question downvotes it. $\endgroup$
    – Mr. Brooks
    Commented Aug 8, 2016 at 21:30
  • $\begingroup$ My ban was lifted after I reached rep 1000 but I keep getting downvotes so I'm not sure what happens after the next ban! $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 17, 2016 at 7:26
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    $\begingroup$ You can receive the 'popular question' badge and still be question-banned. Go figure. $\endgroup$
    – user584285
    Commented Mar 2, 2019 at 15:04

2 Answers 2

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You're lucky today. Some users upvoted a few of your better questions, and that was sufficient to lift the ban. For the time being, at least.

But you are certainly still close to the ban-threshold, so asking a badly received question will probably reinstate the question ban. On the other hand, asking a well-received question will move you further away from it.

So use the regained ability to ask questions wisely.

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  • $\begingroup$ I've been banned to for asking 1 bad question. $\endgroup$
    – jimpix
    Commented Aug 27, 2016 at 7:53
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    $\begingroup$ @jimpix No, more than one bad question. Of your last 13 questions, eight were closed/put on hold (plus one marked as duplicate), only two have a positive score (each +1), five have score 0, and six have negative score. Only one of them has a very negative score, but as far as the algorithm is concerned, any negative score is bad, closed/on hold is bad. Edit your questions to make them better, provide context where needed, so that they may be reopened and get a couple of upvotes. $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 27, 2016 at 13:28
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According to What can I do when getting "We are no longer accepting questions/answers from this account"? on Meta.SE,

Automatic bans never expire or "time out". This means that you cannot simply wait for a certain amount of time. If you do not take action, you will never be allowed to freely post again. The only way for the ban to be lifted is by contributing positively to the site in other ways. Mods can't help also.

What can you do?

  • Focusing on improving old question instead of new ones

  • Do not delete your question

Like described here, one should try to edit his question to make it better instead of deleting it. In case you have deleted your question until it is not total spam undeleted them if deleted by you alone and if it is deleted by other users with delete privilege just try to edit the question. In case you felt you have given your best and it is not undeleted yet ask for feedback over here in Constructive Feedback Room or ask for feedback to undelete in CURED chatroom and Requests for Reopen & Undeletion Votes (volume 01/2022 - today).

  • To improve your question, I would suggest one checks this list. See also the comprehensive set of related links here.

  • If you're blocked from asking questions and are unable to improve your existing questions (or your existing questions are all deleted), you'll get the chance to post one new question 6 months after your last question. Your block will still remain once that question is posted, but a single positively-received question could be enough to lift you out of the block. (This does not apply to answer bans.)

  • If you are banned from asking questions, then writing a few quality answers that get upvoted might enable you to ask questions again. But as the internals of the filter are secret, there is no way to know for sure.

  • Also consider asking the question in the Mathematics chatroom, or other Useful mathematical fora.


This is based on this answer; the hope is to make an answer more comprehensive than the other answer here, since this Question seems to be the 'canonical dupe target'. This is community wiki, so please edit if you can improve this answer.

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  • $\begingroup$ For some reasons when I edit questions I get even more -ve vote because of too low quality post (maybe) and also for some questions system is not allowing me to undelete and edit. Does "contributing positively to the site" also include upvotes from answers and comments I do to help others to lift this ban? $\endgroup$
    – tbhaxor
    Commented Jan 11 at 11:52
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    $\begingroup$ @tbhaxor I think answers count but comments do not. You can consider discussing your potential changes in the Helpful Commentary chatroom, or the main math chatroom linked above. People there might be able to help you improve your questions. If you cannot undelete yourself, you can post in the Requests for Reopen and Undeletion Votes thread (I suggest, after discussion in a chat room). $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 11 at 14:41

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