

All downvotes in our own conversation do indicate a clear pattern, though.
You need to take into consideration those are small communities, post per month may not be that high, and post may not get a lot of engagement. If you are a mod of a small community I can see why you should check and worry about even little things. Size of the community and the threats they usually endure make it relevant I think.
After reading more of the OP I’m inclined to think that the mod actions were overly cautious. Probably they should step down a little. I’m a big fan of mods issuing warnings before a permanent ban (and with small communities it’s possible to do without getting overwhelmed). I’m starting to think that they should just message OP stating that they have seen that they had only issue downvotes in the communities and that they will need to take actions if nothing changes in the future, or something like that. Anyway, I’m thinking that ban was not justified.
Still think that people tend to be too happy with the downvote button. It has its uses, but systematic downvoting without good reasons it’s not good lemmy etiquette I think.
Kerbal Space Program 2 still hurts me.