It is better to be leniant and let stuff happen that to be overly restricitve
I would possibly agree with that, and favor "less moderation" in general...
IF the moderators were willing to grant individual users more control over how they interact with the site and other users.
For example, if the blocking feature were beefed up so that it does more than simply stop private messages and @ing on the forums. Or if they allowed us to disable/control the comment sections of our debates. Unfortunately, they have been highly resistant to these ideas when I've presented them in the past.
So you can either;
1. Have a very open-ended website where anyone can do anything with no restrictions placed by other users, but the moderators step in quickly when there is a problem.
or...
2. Have a very structured website where users can control and limit their own content, as well as block unwanted interference with said content.
What you
can't do is have the open-ended website where the moderators allow someone to break the same rule repeatedly for several months before meekly slapping them with a two-day temp ban that tosses the entire community into a drama frenzy. I think you should see the flaw in this system as well as anyone, considering you are mad at someone who did exactly this.
And as I've said elsewhere, this site can't both be a life support system for the last dying vestiges of the DDO community and attract new users at the same time. You can't let former DDO trolls run amok and not expect anyone else who comes along to assume this place is run by the inmates at the aslyum.