2) You're right - I got lazy with the 2nd sentence in that post and should have explained why 85M is too high for a Nintendo system (for the record, the only non-outlier system that has crossed the 85M is the GB if you include the GB Colour sales numbers to it. The DS and the Wii are outliers for obvious reasons). 

1) As for Kerotan's post that you used as an example, there is no double standard. The PS4 is outpacing the PS3 sales, the Switch isn't outpacing the 3DS + WiiU, systems of which it is the successor. There would have been a double standard if the PS4 wasn't outpacing the PS3's sales and Kerotan was touting it as a success.

In the same line of thought, about a better atmosphere in the community, all in all , I am getting the feeling that the method of moderation in general has shifted more towards reacting than preventing. I see more enforcement of rules, but less encouragement, less of the "older brother" approach I've seen in the past, where mods try to lead the users into bettering themselves.

Examples of mods who I saw do that in the past are Axumblade and Smeags, and early on Carl. But now I have to admit I don't see it as much, but I see more of a robotic kind of way of enforcing the rules and that's perhaps why there is this cold kind of atmosphere where it's about rules rather than about spirit and attitude.

I'm not saying this to hurt or to discourage anyone, on the contrary I offer this as a challenge to the mod team. Also this is not something I can prove, it is a general sense of the energy on the site over the past 2 years.

1) It is a double standard, because the bar is set much lower for the PS4 (11 million, when the best-selling Sony system is at 23 million) than it is for the Switch (27+ million when the best-selling Nintendo system is 33 million). Additionally, adding together userbases is misleading because of the overlap in console ownership, espeically in a saturated market like Japan.

2) I'm answering your paragraphs in reverse order because, taken together, it is also a double standard. You say that 85 million is too high because GB, DS, and Wii are the only single consoles to pass that mark. But how does that mesh with your previous standard of combining 3DS + Wii U sales when setting a goal for the Switch? Clearly, 85 million is easily attainable if you think that it's sensible to combine 3DS and Wii U sales. From 1997 to 2012, Nintendo was shipping over 20 million handhelds + home consoles per year. Even if you think the DS and Wii were outliers, Nintendo was easily shipping 100 million units of hardware over a 5-year period during both the 5th and 6th generations.

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=230847

Since the Switch is their only platform going forward, all it needs is 5 years of typical Nintendo sales to pass 85 million.

You can't have it both ways. It is either 1) ludicrous to combine 3DS and Wii U sales, or 2) 85 million is a completely reasonable target for a Nintendo hybrid system.

Yeah, but then again, the reason why I like the mods here is because they're nice and approachable. Miguel, Axum, Boom, Bristow, Raven, Ryuu, I like how I can just talk to them and they treat me more as a friend, rather than as some distant person. A lot of the time we don't even talk about VGC, but I just like the pleasant discussion. That's what I enjoy about the mod team here.

Ah, I see you're still upset about that...

"You know as well as anybody that you can't just call someone an idiot even if you don't agree with what they're saying. There are plenty of ways to get your point across without resorting to insults."

I'd hardly call that a robotic response, I mean sure it does rely on the tried and true structure of a moderation note, but when a rule says you can't call other people an idiot, and you come out with "You really are an idiot.", then the fall back becomes necessary. 

I'm sorry, but this is nonsense. Regardless if the other party is offended or not, you shouldn't have called them what you called them. The bottom line is it was wrong and you know better!

*EDIT for specific response to Bristow that I forgot to type.

I wasn't refering to the moderation note, but the mod responses to my appeal.*

I'll give you a hypothetical example.

Poster A: You are an idiot. I am stunned someone believes what you believe.
Poster B: Hold on a second. You misunderstood me. Here's what I really meant.
Poster A: Ah, okay. That makes more sense. Sorry for being rude earlier.

Later a third party files a report for poster A's first post. A robot mod issues a moderation because a rule was violated and that's all that matters. A human could review the conversation and take the context into account, so it's not a given that a moderation would be issued. 

The above does not represent my specific ban, it's only meant to show a fundamental flaw in the line of thinking that breaking a rule is the only thing that matters. What happened during my specific ban is that a third party reported my post, the mod team seemingly only ran a CTRL+F search for the word 'idiot' and called it a day because the whole conversation had too many long posts.

If you want to read up on a practical example with a much harsher tone than a single use of the word 'idiot', you can check DerNebel's moderation history and view a moderation by Mr Khan that contains such a case which was eventually overturned by Mr Khan himself.