I used to see this on Reddit, I’m disappointed this behaviour is also on Lemmy.
Users collecting mod status on multiple communities, and then using that power to mass-ban a single user from a bunch of communities.
Modlog show how incredibly trigger happy some mods can be. Minor transgressions, deserving to have their comment removed at least, but then banned from unrelated communities as a consequence. This will only get worse as users become supermods.
Edit: It seems this is how an instance ban is reported, by banning from any communities the user has participated in. Then perhaps it isn’t all as bad as it seems.
In other situations, mass bans sometimes happen because it’s easier. Moderators often use custom scripts they’ve written to ease the administration burden. Personally, I don’t even provide a reason for bans, its just one more field to fill, and for the benefit of someone disruptive or acting in bad faith? Why bother.
Moderators don’t owe anyone anything. If you don’t like a mod, it costs you nothing to spin up another community. Hell, if you do it on another instance, you can even have the same name, and with crosspost merging apparently coming to this corner of fedi, it makes even less difference.