Hi guys, sorry I'm late to the party
Let me outline the process of banning here to clear things up a bit; it's is very simple. Moderators are alerted of ban candidates in two ways - first off is first hand. They notice that a particular member is troublesome - typically its obscenity that pushes us over, but to be honest, our censor filters are far from perfect and if we deleted all the obscenity, we'd delete most of the forum. So we do the best we can. The next is from the 'report post' button that was mentioned above. This is pretty powerful. You have no idea how many people lurk on the forums and use these. Only the moderators know. Plus a lot of people PM us all the time.
Actually, there is a third method - my bosses sometimes lurk and since they pay the bills, they have ultimate veto power on anything.
Anyway, once a member has sufficent evidence against them - direct observation, reports from others, PMS etc. the moderator gives a clear warning. In a nutshell, it will say something like "behave or you will be banned". We draw a line in the sand. If the member then chooses to cross that, they will be banned. Period.
Now, banning is a very simple process. I just flip a switch on or off. Typically, troll react in one of three ways. One is they come back apologetic. In such cases, we listen to their case, and usually give a second chance. Two is they come back all mad like "why the hell was I banned?" Nevermind the earlier warning - the "line in the sand" - this is a clear case of someone who doesn't get it. With that kind of attitude, they stay banned. One of the recent banned members reacted this way. Three is that the completely ignore it - it really wasn't a big deal for them. They move on. The other recently banned member has reacted this way.
We appreciate your concerns as members of this forum, but realize this was not an arbitrary decision, but one that we have been working on for a while. Nor is it a permanent decision. Also realize that you may be spending energy to fight some one else's fight, some one who has moved on. Don't waste your self.