As I've stated previously, however, I never got so much as a warning at the Ed Forum. I think that fact speaks to the state of moderation at the time - principally James Gordon and Kathy Beckett, both of whom were very nice to me. I think Simkin was out of the picture by the time I joined. I was also gone (I think) by the time Sandy Larsen was appointed, which even at the time I regarded as the Beginning of the End. The addition of Niederwacky made the moderation about as close to a reign of terror as one could find.
City-Data is a wild ride. They have umpteen different moderators for umpteen forums, and you have to learn the "culture" of each forum or risk being banned from the whole thing. I was banned about eight times - I made a hobby out of reappearing with a new persona and seeing how long I could get away with it. My favorite - always on the Religion & Spirituality forum - was Irkle Berserkle, who has been gone for years but is still occasionally mentioned in the vein of "thank God he's gone."