We punish people who cheat based on the severity of it. Its not against the rules to be a giant turd when you play, so if we start to punish players for things unrelated to rules violations, then we start to lose credibility. None of those things are okay, and those are all things relating to the rules of the game and the integrity of the game. We handle those things on a character level.

This incident is the first (and only one I am aware of during my time as an imm) where we have had a player act out in this manner for this extended period of time. Regardless of the quality he brings to the table or has brought to the table in the past, the antics he pulled are not okay. It has nothing to do with a character at that point, it however has everything to do with the choices of the player. And if those choices are something that he considers to be acceptable as a way to treat the staff and the game at any point then I consider a perma-ban of said player to also be acceptable. Contrary to popular opinion, we do not treat players differently because of who they are (well outside of chances to join the staff).