Vouch.
I personally believe the severity of his punishment was unfair and uncalled for, given the circumstances.
The first problem is a matter of consistency and transparency. In the past, we have been very lenient on how we should punish players who change their username to one resembling another member of the community. For example, in late 2019 I jokingly changed my alternate account's username on 3 separate occasions to names that resembled the forum display name and former Minecraft username belonging to Wilee (you know him as Polaris Seltzeris). Under this alternate account, I would occasionally use certain administrative commands.
Examples:
https://pastebin.com/3yHqP27X
The severity of any offenses like this should be higher, and yet I was not sanctioned for this. This leniency of the enforcement of this rule in the past is likely what led many people in the community (including Dragon) to believe that behavior like this is okay. The sudden and out-of-the-blue decision to indefinitely ban a member of the community with zero warning (despite the leniency of how it was enforced in the past) sets a bad precedent for how similar punishments will be enforced in the future.
Two things should have occurred that would have set a better precedent than just flat out banning him:
- Dragon should have been given a strong warning for his actions instead of outright banning him. If he continues, then ban him.
- An announcement should have been made noting that the leniency of the enforcement of this rule is no longer in effect and that future offenses will result in an indefinite ban.