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The mod banning these users is the same mod who made the posts they downvoted. This is mod abuse, turning the downvote button into an auto-self-ban button.
The message is "If you disagree with me, you will be banned"
Monitoring and banning users for using lemmy as intended to signal boost your opinion should be grounds to have all mod privileges removed. This behaviour undermines the integrity of the server and the wider fediverse.
Niche communities who might be targeted by disproportionate amounts of downvoting are unlikely to surge into /all/ just because they ban people who downvote everything from there. The topic would still be niche.