I know this comment will be unpopular, especially most people are not sure what Sam did, but I couldn't be happier with this moderation. Seriously, bsh and his team are setting the reasonable rules and following through with them, something Max was a bit loose on (he was still an excellent mod).
Being a teacher myself, I know how difficult it is to set and follow through with rules, so I have a lot of respect for this work being done. It is thankless, often nasty work, and whilst it could be argued that it's not all smooth sailing, they are human and I'm willing to overlook the very occasional misstep.
I've watched Sam flagrantly and maliciously break the rules (he attempted to doxx in my AMA thread, and then spammed doxxing questions and information in it, too), and he gets banned for it. I've watched other people break the rules, and they get banned for it. None of the bans are draconian, and the punishments seem to be thoroughly thought through and weighted, something Max continuously got right, too.
Anyway, I know Sam probably thinks he's a martyr for a good cause, but he's shown a complete disregard for the community by so odiously ignoring the rules. No one wants a community wherein people are continuously attempting to doxx and ruin people's lives. What's more shocking is that Sam seemed to be one of the more sane members on this site, someone I really didn't have any beef with. But again, moderation has shown that it doesn't give special privileges to people breaking the rules, which is nothing short of admirable. When Sam receives another chance, I hope he returns to his old, sane self so that the community can welcome him again.
I hope we appreciate how great this moderation is, because boy oh boy it can get A LOT worse.