Yes points are a demerit in a way, if points are given out a member can get banned for a short duration, lets say a week just for instance for a first infraction, for further infractions the ban can be extended for months or even a permanent ban if enough points are given out for infractions. There are several moderators on AS and they all can drop into a thread at any time and give out points as they feel necessary. Sometimes the site owners drop in if enough reports hit the ,report board, and often that is not a favorable thing for any member commuting infractions.
It would be far better if members alerted one of the moderators to look into anything that looks suspicious, they can deal with things like that without so much fuss and muss as the saying goes about the smelly stuff hitting the fan. As the moderators cannot and do not see every post in every thread on a daily basis we do rely on the rest of the members to send us a ,report, so we can look into that immediately after signing in and deal with it. This will save a lot of drama, arguments and accusations that lead to overheated threads.