This isn’t how you improve mod behaviour.

You (octoshrimpy, not op) went out of your way to push their buttons, not converse.

Part of the reason the fediverse is so cozy, is that a lot of us remove users and comments the second the tone goes adverserial. I too do “vague” rules because when you don’t, you inevitably get people who deliberately mess with a community and its users by finding every shitty thing they can do that is technically allowed.

And if someone I banned in one of my communities, comes at me in the comments on another community I mod, you better believe that ban then (and only then) goes into effect on every community I mod.

Contact me with a DM asking me to justify, and if I fail to do so, change my decision, and I’ll engage in a back forth for as many messages as you like.

You might feel that this stuff should happen in public for transparency, but the reality is that people are far more likely to listen when changing their mind doesn’t involve losing face in front of a bunch of spectators.

That goes both ways. I take the discussion into DMs with problematic users all the time, because they’re far more likely to actually engage with what I’m telling them, instead of wiriting performatively for an imaginary audience cheering “fuck mods”.

Edit: What I’m saying is this. Even as they are failing, this mod is trying to be reasonable. That should be adjusted, not blasted for all to see as a complete failure, crushed never to contribute to moderation again.

Are they power-tripping and justifying themselves after the fact? Maybe. But you’re not gonna get that admission in public. You might, after you get it in private. And that’s how you get them to do better next time.