If you want, please comment Roch. Your opinion would be appreciated.
OK. It's a difficult one. Personally, my natural inclination would be to take a tough line in order to stamp out recurring, problematic issues. Some on-going issues can only be assessed on a member by member basis (i.e. not all issues not easily fit in to a categorised 'offence').
I understand the ethos of the forum is towards toleration and inclusion and I couldn't 100% guarantee that taking a firmer line would result in a 'better' forum. There would probably be some loss or sacrifice entailed in the process.
In theory, if it's easier to incur a ban - that should translate in to more sensible posting and less work for the mods. The return of the banned member might depend upon their posting behaviour elsewhere...