So let me explain how our ban process works.
First, we never wait around for socratease. lol.
Second, the vast majority of rule breaks are very obvious and the only discussion is one of length of ban, not if someone actually broke the rules or not. As such, usually the only thing us mods are waiting around for is for people to voice durations. For some offenses, there is always an assumed minimum (typically 7-30 days).
For any ban short of a permaban, we typically wait until we have at least 2 mods on board. If the 3rd and 4th mods come along later the ban duration can always be modified.. either shortened or lengthened. That's why sometimes you see us make a post where we have banned someone for a week but then it's upgraded to 30 days pending more discussion. And no, the person that makes an initial thread in the announcement forum for 7 days doesn't imply they are vouching for that timeframe, they just put the minimum while debate continues.
Usually another mod or two will eventually come along and concur or dissent. If only one mod is dissenting, they are outvoted 2-1. If it's 2-2, I can't tell you what happens because it's never come up a single time. Almost all bans in the end end up with 4-0 consensus. There has never been a ban where we were tied on the issue. I dont know what would happen in that case. Maybe no action? It's never come up. Again, peoples violations on here are usually very obvious.
When it comes to permabans we hold ourselves to the standard that every single mod must be on board (minus soc cause he's never around). So 4-0. If you are a liberal and are butthurt maineman or thedude is gone, sorry but rana voted yes as well. If you are a conservative butthurt that usaloyal or whoever else is gone, damo agreed. I agreed. permabans mean all mods explicitly supported it.
So in conclusion:
Almost every single ban you see is agreed upon by all the mods. Sometimes someone might want 30 days vs. 45 but we don't sweat the small stuff.
So while I wasn't around initially for the tom vote, I came back, saw the comment, saw 90 days, and consented.