Last updated September 2026
Cooldown policy
How reviewer accounts lose the ability to earn Heat and free burns, and exactly how they get it back. (Formerly the demonetization policy; reviewers are never paid money.)
Why this exists
Site owners pay for honest, attentive feedback. The replacement guarantee means BurnTest eats the cost of bad burns. Cooldown is how we keep the panel worth paying for.
What triggers a cooldown
Your rolling average rating falls below 3.5 over your last 10 approved burns. More than 30% of your last 10 decided burns were rejected. Or you submit a burn that is silent for more than 60 seconds at a time, spends most of its time off the target site, is under two minutes long, or clearly does not attempt the owner's brief. Or you attempt to contact a site owner outside the platform.
What cooldown means
You can still see and record burns, but for 7 days approved burns add no Heat, no credit progress and no badges. Ad ratings earn no Heat. Your level and badges stay; your Heat still cools if you go idle. Elite status (Blaze and above) is shown as usual but priority access and free audits pause.
How it ends
Automatically, 7 days after it started. An admin can lift it early after an appeal. Burns approved during the cooldown are not awarded retroactively.
Permanent removal
A second cooldown within 90 days, any attempt to submit AI-generated or pre-recorded content as a live burn, or any harassment of site owners results in permanent removal. Heat, badges and unspent credits earned through Heat are forfeited.
Appeals
If you believe a rejection or rating was unfair, reply to the rejection email within 7 days or open a ticket with the burn number. A human reviews every appeal; a successful one restores the Heat for that burn and lifts a cooldown it caused.
This page is provided for transparency and is not legal advice. Questions: support@burntest.io.