Sometimes mistakes are made. Rules unintentionally broken or there's a particularly bad day and someone racks up a few points against them when someone/thing else offends them at the wrong time.Well if users would follow the rules and be respectful of others, then there's no reason to be worried about getting banned. If you (I don't mean you as in the OP, just in general) are getting ready to post a picture or say something that you think might be questionable, then your best bet is to not post it, because it's really not worth it.
Here is a scenario I always envisioned in my head. This site is composed of many different age groups but the youngest group of people on here are the high school teens. Suppose that a 13-15 year old joins the SHH only to be banned for valid reasons and rightfully so. Is that same person not allowed to have a second chance on these boards a few years later when they are 18 - 21? The usual teenager matures a heck of a lot during that gap. Sure there are ways to get back to the site even if permabanned but users would still have to be hush-hush about it due to the mods.
I've never had it happen to me nor do I know any users who fall into that category but it is a scenario that I view as unfair. It's really not just teens who fall in that scenario since everybody matures over the years and some mature later in life than others, but I gave the teen example due to it being the simplest one.
I read that whole post in the voice of Chris Hitchens.
This is somewhat off-topic but just out of curiosity, does this site have any history of a mod abusing their "power"?