This post is simply brain storming - I'm not saying I do or even would support the ideas that follow.

I do not think it should be linked to payment at all. As mentioned, this is creating one rule for the rich and a stricter set of rules for the poor, and gives off the message that you can "buy" your way out of problems (to an extent). Bitcoin, and by extension, this forum, should be equally accessible to all, regardless of financial background.

I do think there are different "levels" of plagiarism, if you will. Compare the newbie bounty campaign spammer with >10% of their posts plagiarized solely for meeting their campaign requirements to the legendary with 1 or 2 posts out of thousands which were plagiarized but were posted to provide info or answer questions asked by others. Having said that, the former massively outnumbers the latter.

I think an argument could be made (not that I'm making it per se) for some leniency for this (very rare) latter group of users, if the user is a clear net positive to the forum. As ETFbitcoin said, this could be quantified by their rank, earned merits, or recognition from other members. Their number of good reports could also be a useful metric in this regard. Whether the user is a net positive could also be a decision for staff (as a collective group) to make on an individual case-by-case basis.

In terms of these users, then a punishment like a 6 or 12 month signature ban, or penalising of ranks and merits, for the first offence only seems appropriate. A second offence would result in permanent ban as it does now.

Having said all that, I think the cases that this would apply to are in the single digits, compared to the thousands and thousands of accounts being perma-banned for plagiarism. It would require a lot of time and energy from the admins/mods to set up this new system for the benefit of a tiny handful of users, and that time and energy could be much better spent elsewhere. The bottom line remains the same - if you don't want to be banned for plagiarism, then don't plagiarize.