> How on earth does that deserve a ban?

That does not deserve a ban in and of itself. Repeated instances of that following warnings of unacceptable behavior, on the other hand, does.

It would seem Richard here was in the second situation:

> You've been warned repeatedly about the Bugzilla Etiquette rules, and you're still failing to respect them.

Linus has no qualms of telling someone he is full of BS:

http://pardel.wordpress.com/2007/09/07/90/

Which really is irrelevant to the subject at hand.

The "offender" could/should be more polite, but enforcing etiquette mustn't stifle progress.

I don't mind the downvotes, but could you add why you disagree?

Commenting about why you should be downvoted might stifle progress (of your karma downwards.)

I'm here for discussion, not karma.