You folks all act like this is some kid's club and you can just revoke someone's access to to tree house.
Actually, they can, and there is nothing childish about it..
There are LOTS of places where you will get banned if you don't act like an adult.
Now, I have no idea if the ban was deserved or not..
But this IS their site and they DO have the right to ban whomever they feel violated their ToS.
I get really confused when adults don't understand that, because it is exactly the way it works in the adult world...
And as for "gloating," that's one way to look at it.
Another is that it's way of letting people know what will happen.
At work, when people get in trouble for going places the "shouldn't" on the internet, they are always asked to step down and no one knows about it..
In my mind, if we were able to state just once that "Mister X was let go because he went places he shouldn't have on the internet," then maybe some other people would be less likely to try it themselves..
And in a free market (and the Internet is the ultimate in free), there are checks and balances..
If it happens too little, the site becomes a troll central (for good or bad). If it happens too much, people stop going there..
Site mods try to find a balance..
And that balance can (and probably should) include bans to help keep it balanced.
It happens in the real world. It happens on the Internet...
Big deal.. Such is life.. ;-)
desiv