I've seen quite a few experienced veterans getting suspended recently on Ask Ubuntu... As I'm an old, grouchy, grumpy, cranky geek, I'm starting to get worried...
Is this a new script running that proactively gives everyone a "suspend score" and when the threshold is met just bans someone?
Or will we still be contacted by a human first and only get suspended under the "Three strikes and you're out" regime?
What the hell is going on???
There is nothing new going on. Users are suspended when they do things that are in blatant violation of the site's rules. And yes, a suspension will always be given out by a human and you have the ability to respond to the human.
The mods, and SE, do not give suspensions lightly over nothing. I cannot discuss the details of any specific suspension, but I can tell you that when someone is suspended, everyone on the mod team is made aware of it and the suspension is usually (except in blatant cases where a discussion isn't even needed) discussed by multiple mods and we decide what to do together.
So you can rest assured that when you see a suspension, there have always been humans involved in that decision. You can also rest assured that the mod team is either behind the suspension or, in the case of network-wide suspensions which can only be doled out by SE staff, aware of it and in agreement with it.
