I always appreciate the job mods do in any forum, even if at times it must be a very thankless task. I can't answer the question of who should be banned or not, or in what circumstances, but do know one thing, the best mods in any forum are like the best referees in any sporting contest.
In my mind, the best refs are not rigid rules lawyers, but rather almost father like figures who monitor the ebb and flow of the game, knowing when a quiet word in the ear is needed to pre-empt anything later, or when a stern warning, or even a card is necessary. Such refs exercise excellent judgement, and do their best to enable the best possible game to be played out, doing their best to keep the best players on the pitch if at all possible, while maintaining the delicate balance of control over the game and its participants. Sometimes players need to go too, and the best refs don't hesitate for a moment when that time comes too.
So, for me, its quite a delicate balance, and if anyone watched international soccer in the past, Pierluigi Collina, would have been the embodiment of all I prized in a referee in any sport, before he retired some years ago.
I generally try to avoid commenting on moderation policy here, but if brought up, as it has been in this thread, my thoughts would be that mods here can be a bit abrasive sometimes, and while I personally have a thick skin for these things, that bit of abrasiveness may sometimes be the litmus paper for inflaming something rather than cooling it.
In any event, one of the the acid tests for me when it comes to referees in sport, is whether most of the best players have ended up on the pitch, or off it, at the end of a game. If the latter, I would tend to ask myself, did the ref do the best job they could have, and sometimes here when I see the forum haemhorrage some good posters, I tend to ask myself could the moderation here be a little better sometimes.
Thats my opinion, straight from the gut, with no desire to antagonise or belittle the moderators or moderation here in any way, but rather provide feedback as solicited.