I'm gonna be frank, there's little to understand from talking to him due to:
a) his accusations of me attempting to use my dev position to gain advantages for the house;
b) the fact he pulled the "freedom of speech" card instead of even remotely thinking before writing a response down;
c) his attitude in the past concerning this faction (past events where he almost caused a conflict between Liberty and Breotnia when Joe was a Fleet Admiral; his accusations of me attempting to "coup" BretGov with BAF| just to start a war with Liberty);
d) the general behaviour of this individual in the Discovery Freelancer community.
I absolutely understand and sympathize with the thought that point d) shouldn't be enforced except in extreme cases i.e. DDOS attempts, etc, but the other three points remain fair and square to keep track of.
The reason I did decide to contact him over the general channel of our faction chat is because the matter concerns the faction as a whole, not just a singular person. This has been also the process in past cases where the HC would talk to the person openly, as a "closed doors" policy is not productive for the long-term cooperation of the members. Furthermore, discussing it publicly would also leave the gate open for other individuals to argument their own position on the matter and thus, indirectly, help us in figuring out how to deal with the situation.
I, and by extent, the HC, will continue to uphold this approach for as long as there are active members in the faction, as doing otherwise would lead to an unnecessary detachment from the people that matter in reality (active people).
I would like to close this chapter by reiterating my previous position on the topic. As long as members of the BAF| player faction continue to be around, we will enforce a policy of "maintaining respect" towards other players, regardless of their status as developers, contributors, faction leaders, or what have you, unless the other party to the discussion breaks this rule of thumb and acts in ways that may not be well received by our players.
The standing question about whether or not this was handled correctly will receive a simple answer, that being a yes. While I agree that there certainly is need for improvement on the tone used, I also don't believe that pulling a victim card and expecting to be suddenly believed is a profoundly thought-out attempt to prove your point. Discovery, overall, needs to grow beyond the point of "crying loudest and waiting to simply get your ideas accepted". That's not how groups work. That's not how BAF will work, either.
At any rate, I am thankful for the feedback provided on the topic.
