I call BS on the "capricious bans". Tildes bans rarely (only one person has ban power on the site), and when it does, there's some discussion around it.

See for example: https://tildes.net/~tildes/15my/new_users_ask_your_questions...

Occam's Razor: If someone got banned, it's more likely that they were being an asshole than that the admin of a site that's been running peacefully and smoothly for 4-5 years is suddenly on a power trip.