![Image](http://i57.tinypic.com/6qjvk7.jpg)
It always helps to know what time the server your on is set to. In our DayZ Colony Private Shard server, the time is 16:00.
When a server restarts and you try to rejoin it, take a close look at the server time.
If it says 8:00 or 9:20, do NOT join. The server at those times is not connected to the central hive.
If one tries to join the server at that time, there is a very high probability you will have a fresh character.
Even if this happens, all is not lost...
Simply disconnect as fast as possible, give it 20 minutes and retry. If still fresh, disconnect and wait several hours.
What happens is if you stay too long with a fresh character, you run the risk of connecting to the central hive and over-writing your character.
Hope this helps!