Well speaking as only one of the mods, let me say we do not take perma bans lightly. Unless it is a spammer, or an outright threat (there have been few of those) the normal process is us taking a vote on any suspension, which is normal done after so many actions of getting one of those concerning your posts PM that we send out.
The normal progression starts with a min 3 day but usually a 7 day cooling down vacation. with a warning telling them to cease this conduct.
If they come back and continue being a PITA, rude, personal attack or insulting others (have been the biggies so far). They usually get another series of PM's from one of the mods.
If it continues they get 14 days to think about it. Rinse and repeat the warnings.
If it happens again they get 30 days. With a repeat of firmer warnings about Telling them next time it is forever.
We do not take these actions lightly and for every suspension it usually take a minimum of 6 mods to issue vacations after a long debate in some cases.
As you can see unlike some other forums there is very little one person bans or vacations it is a lot of work that we put into making the decision. With in some cases 50+ posts in a MOD thread before we make these decisions.
I hope this helps You to understand that before someone gets the perma ban they have been warned for the most part dozens of time and have been given, 7 14 21 30 days most of the time before they get the life time award. In most cases we have communicated with them via PM or email as many as two hundred times. I have seen as many as 10-15 back and forth pms on one of the concerning your post PM's. Almost always giving them the option to appeal it to another mods or Admin.
All of these bans at 7, 14, 21, 30 days and Permanent bans are subject to appeals to Admin Tned. If the member feels like we took inapporiate action.