They think I'm a bot and I'm gonna get banned? :\

Good afternoon. I wanted to jump in here quickly before I end up getting kicked off the forum unnecessarily.

I reached out to the TV subforum moderator regarding a thread she closed (which wasn't even my thread), and her response was basically accusing me of being a sockpuppet account for someone who’s already banned. She even threatened me with a ban myself.
I honestly have no idea what happened.
Way back when—maybe seven years ago—I had another account on this site, but I never actually posted anything. That old account was probably linked to some childhood email address.
I’ve had this current account for three years now. I don't post much, and I've never been banned in my life. I always stay polite and I'm definitely not a troll, so I'm completely lost as to why this is happening.
It’s possible—though I'm not sure if it's technically feasible—that I set up this account using the same email as that old one I can't even remember. I didn't know which email was linked to this one or how to check, since I'm not very tech-savvy with forums. Edit: Found it, anyway.

All I really want is for someone to tell me if I actually did something wrong, or if the moderator just made a mistake. I really don't want to be banned when I've been nothing but respectful here.

Thanks for the help. 😕

Edit: Well, there we go. I went ahead and deleted my private messages, even though 95% of the text was just my own words and only 5% was the moderator asking if I realized I was a clone and could get banned. I figured my own info was fine to share, and her question about me didn't reveal anything sensitive. I assume posting this is okay since it's a misunderstanding that might get me kicked off unfairly?

Anyway, is there a way for me to just participate normally like I used to? I never felt the need to post private messages before because nobody was threatening me with bans. I haven't cursed at anyone, let alone insulted them. My signature isn't huge, my avatar is fine, I haven't posted any inappropriate images, and I don't post one-word replies that are off-topic.

Just a heads-up—you can get banned for posting private messages too. I've seen it happen firsthand 🙄

nimblesurfer77 said:Just a heads-up—you can get banned for posting private messages too. I've seen it happen firsthand 🙄

Thanks for the input, but... really? Just like everything else I supposedly did? 😢

edit: just checked to see if my old user account still exists. since it was only two words, I tried every variation. they're all taken now—someone else has them. so that ancient account is clearly gone. Like I said before, I never posted anything from it, and I logged in maybe ten times total.

Leaking private messages containing discussions between moderators and users regarding moderation policies and similar matters won't result in any punishment.

Thanks so much for confirming I’m allowed to post these specific messages. Sorry about the need to move the thread around.

I spent two years moderating an official forum for a major US retailer, so I know how this works—I always made sure to answer user questions politely.
Following that logic, I'm still waiting on an answer to my initial question, or even just some feedback from the moderator regarding this situation :< I hope I'm not being too naive.

So, Schwarzenegger has been active several times since then—I can see her posting elsewhere. I actually sent her a private message to ask what was going on after she threatened me with a ban, but she couldn't care less. Honestly, if a moderator thinks it isn't their job to answer polite questions about moderation, yet feels the need to throw around baseless threats of a ban, I really don't see the point. It’s a shame if this kind of behavior is actually acceptable here; I was under the impression otherwise. 🤷