[tommorris]

There's a very good reason not to do that. I'm a Wikipedia admin, and we have a policy on blocking and banning that sort of makes sense. A block is done to "prevent damage or disruption". That might be short term or indefinitely, but not permanently. You put in a block when there's an issue. But a ban is a formal statement that you are no longer allowed in. You only do that after some thought and consultation.

Github is actually pretty similar given that the commercial side of Github is fuelled by the free, open-source side. There is a feeling of community ownership. Going straight for the ban without some thought and soul-searching is confusing fixing an issue with making a more detailed judgment about whether the user ought to be on the site at all.

IMHO, Github played it about right.