Yeah, that was it. What makes it worse is it probably wasn't true and people just use whatever desperate excuse they can think of which will get them the most sympathy as a last ditch attempt at saving their account. As I said in the thread, I would have had more respect if he had just apologised without the sob story (which I really don't believe). I wonder if theymos will ever implement signature bans? The only time I would ever let these users off is if they had their signature removed for x amount of time and they only got it back if they showed they contributed to the community in the meantime. Most are only here for payment so most probably wouldn't bother, but if you're active and contributing then I suppose you could redeem yourself, especially if you only copied a post or two. I would much prefer it if people just read the rules though and didn't actually copy and paste, because there really is no excuses for it.
I know chi off forum, quite a few of the collectibles guys do. And this is a rare case where what sounds like bullshit was actually true, I feel bad for Chi - but I also think he was a solid gold prick for doing it. Now I know it needs to be one rule for all, but in his case as I know the full story I do think he deserves a pass - maybe with a stipulation that he cant wear a sig for 6 months. On the flip side I can also see how much further Meta will turn into a cesspit of "but he got his account back" type posts.