I know we have to go over this every single time a visible poster is probated but:
1. Probation is always the second to last resort.
2. There is plenty of post editing, thread moving/merging, and personal off-channel talking to that goes on between staff and users prior to any probation.
3. We generally try to avoid having those communications public to spare people the embarrassment, unless a public call-out is warranted.
This is why it seems to some of the rest of you that probations "come out of nowhere" - because what you don't see are the private exchanges we have with these users many times before this option is taken, out of respect for them and for granting the benefit of the doubt. In this case, various members of staff have had to edit, merge, move, lock and otherwise talk to her about her posts, on this board and others. As little visible effort has been made to learn what certain boards or threads are for, she was now given her first timeout.
In short: probations and bannings are the visible and unfortunate portion of a largely invisible process of staff working with users trying to fit in. Usually people fit in just fine - even the ones who've been probated before.