Wikipedia talk:No get out of jail free cards

No punishment
There's nothing in Wikipedia policy that gives anyone any authority to punish someone for misdeeds. The purpose of actions such as blocking and banning is specifically preventative -- to stop damage to the project -- rather than punitive. Repentance only enters into it insofar as it is actually predictive of future behavior. --FOo (talk) 08:39, 15 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Essay updated to reflect this; although nowhere did I mention punishment per se. However, there have been incidents in the past where an AN thread has been opened and then everything 'swept under the carpet' because the user is established. It doesn't happen often, but it has in the past.  RichardΩ612  Ɣ |ɸ 18:02, May 15, 2008 (UTC)

Moderating circumstances
Activity of an editor is an important consideration, see my essay here. Bottom line: yes, active editors should respect the policies just as everyone else, but an editor that makes one bad edit per 10 edits, compared to an editor who makes one bad edit per 1000 edits, even if they have one bad edit per month (as first editor has 10 edits per month, and second, 1000) are NOT THE SAME.--Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus 18:51, 30 September 2008 (UTC)