I'm late to the party and saddened myself.
Sounds like a banning episode on a non-sports board I used to frequent. Strong personalities and well-meaning administrators were involved. We were asked, even begged not to question the decisions made, but when the facts came out there was indeed some thin skin, inconsisitency and personal agendas involved. It was understandably maddening that the banned posters weren't allowed to explain themselves on the board, and had to accept "they know what they did" as an explanation beyond reproach. Some otherwise very nice people were not exactly honest about stuff.
Maybe that didn't happen in this case. I don't know.
But banishments, censorship and secrecy end up making a lot more work for mods and admins than cool down periods and self-policing.
If personal privacy was wittingly violated and liability issues involved, that's another story.
That other board continued. Some welcomed the banishments. Some thought it opened the board for more civil discourse. But it turned out those banned posters and their friends were a lively bunch, and the board got a whole lot less interesting and active without them.
