573
The mod banning these users is the same mod who made the posts they downvoted. This is mod abuse, turning the downvote button into an auto-self-ban button.
The message is "If you disagree with me, you will be banned"
Monitoring and banning users for using lemmy as intended to signal boost your opinion should be grounds to have all mod privileges removed. This behaviour undermines the integrity of the server and the wider fediverse.
It would just be one person. But it wouldn't even necessarily be noticed to be reported to the admins.
Oh well. It's been like this for years now and I think broadly speaking, it has majority approval because of how it cultivates a high-trust culture.