After reading 4-5 threads about the whole drama, it looks to me as those bans were a long time coming. I have seen two names pop up every time - Meph and Lyth. And since probably all 6 of the guys opted to continue playing in a disruptive way, all that's left was probably that perma-ban.
These sort of things have happened in the past ever since the Disco forum was first created, more than 10 years ago.
I see nothing dramatic about it - on the contrary, the community moves on (as always) and new players will come in time.
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