Moderators have found you have a link with the deal/company you have posted. And as a result you have been banned.

For the purposes of OzBargain, it's posting a deal, comment or voting while not declaring that you are affiliated with the company.

Some examples:

• A person posts a deal pretending to be a customer when they are actually the business owner.

• A friend, family member, or employee posts a deal without declaring affiliation.

• The OP creates multiple ghost accounts which then vote or comment on the deal.

The length of your ban (e.g. permanently or 1 month) depends on:

• the severity of the incident
• initiating a dialogue with us through the Talk with Mod forum
• an explanation of the sockpuppeting
• what policies you set to prevent this in the future
• whether the sockpuppeting was intentional

Whilst many users & stores have been permanently banned for sockpuppeting, some have come back. These companies have imposed a strict social media policy and become valuable members of OzBargain.

Are you….

• working for the company? (all tiers - including management!)
• on the companies payroll?
• designing the companies website?
• working as a marketer for this company?
• designing/making/producing the product being sold?
• related to someone mentioned above?
• a contractor for this company?

have you….

• been asked by someone to post on this site?
• been offered money/prizes/incentives to post this deal?

If yes, its okay! All you need to do is declare your affiliation

If its a direct affiliation - tick the “i am a rep” box.

If you're unsure, just write it in the body of the deal.

Example: “Disclosure: I worked here over the holidays”

* If you believe this was unpublished for the wrong reason or would like the deal reassessed by a different moderator, please contact the moderators. *

However, lying to moderators will result in ban extensions, including permanent bans

Wikipedia:Sockpuppeting

Ozbargain: Sockpuppeting