Just a quick comment about the "joking about suing" thing. Having been through a fairly frivolous lawsuit, having to spend >$10k to defend against it, despite having a signed contract with the plaintiff saying he would not hold me liable, and ending up having to pay $6000 just to settle (to prevent me paying another >$10k in legal fees) - having been through all of that, you're lucky that you simply got banned. If I were Ueber and knew then what I know now, I'd have seriously considered filing a preemptive lawsuit alleging that you were purposefully breaking rules in order to drive members away, thereby reducing site membership and potential advertisement dollars.
I used to have no patience for frivolous lawsuits and the people that bring them. Now, I have less than that.