User blog comment:Humans Vanish/Vandalism/@comment-1786741-20110425193721/@comment-217683-20110426075058

They aren't enforced harshly though. They're enforced evenly. That's the key here. Policies are enforced across the board. Sometimes this makes policy seem too harsh, and sometimes it makes it seem too lenient, but all we're shooting for is an even-handed application of site policy. In all honesty, it's mainly to protect the editors from abuses of power by admins. If we have a set, consistent policy with a clear precedent, it's a lot harder for any one admin to go off the deep end and start banning people left and right, isn't it?

And again, you misrepresented the situation in your first post: no one was contemplating banning anyone for saying moron when you posted. There was a misinterpretation of site policy that led to some unpleasantness, but it was resolved quite some time before your post, apparently to everyone's satisfaction, even the aggrieved party, if his talk page is any indicator.