Comment by armchairhacker

The point is to have discretion but use it rarely. Reddit echo chambers use it way too often.

It’s not contradictory but unfortunately impossible to fully explain, otherwise it would be explicit rules. When someone acts borderline, you must intuit when they’re acting in good or bad faith. Hence I think a first warning, then short ban, is necessary for anyone not obviously breaking a rule; because the former will be careful, but the latter will keep acting borderline again and again, avoiding exactly what you warned about while still causing malice.