I've been put on 'warned' (stupid mods are stupid) and as it happens, you can view and post on the 'Rock' board at any level, but must be level 15 or higher to do so on the 'Metal' board.
Metal is better than rock.
Nuff said.
that's because the metal board is more prone to ignorant jackass trolling alts who belittle your taste in metal while verbally masturbating over their own. Or, if you get warned for being a douchetruck, you can't immediately create another account and just keep being a douchetruck.
level 15 forces you to grow your trolling alt in advance.
And then if usermap banned you're forced to time off from the higher boards, unless said alt was also never on your usermap.
all in all I think it's a decent system -- it's bypassed if you know what you're doing though.