Did Zenbane and Atmos73 deserve the ban hammer?

From a purely "did they break the forum rules" standpoint - absolutely. 
Zenbane and Atmost73 broke multiple forum rules.  I'm sure I've broken them a few times myself.

0. First and foremost, don't be a jerk.
You know when you're being one, so don't do it.

2. You must remain respectful of other members, moderators and admins at all times.
Although civil debate is acceptable, please be respectful of others while you do so.
This means you may not call people names or otherwise make personal attacks on another member.

3. No trolling, inflammatory threads, or flame wars.
Please do not make posts or start threads when you know it will anger or insult others and spark a heated debate.
Even if you are not the original poster, please do not add fire to the flame by responding.
If you'd like to discuss a controversial topic in a controlled and civil manner, you may do so. For those unable to, there will be consequences.

9. Keep threads on-topic.
Do not post irrelevant messages in topics. If you'd like to discuss something other than the topic with another member or members, either discuss it through PM's or make a new thread in the appropriate forum. Don't derail threads.

It's pretty obvious the mods don't swing the ban hammer at the first sign of a breach of conduct.  If anything I'd say the mods here are quite tolerant.  The problem (as I see it) was that mods were soft-handed and Zen threw it back in their faces.  He dared them to ban him.

Cyber responded.
In my mind there is no doubt they deserved a ban.  Both of these guys knew they were breaking the rules and being disruptive yet they continued their fight across multiple threads, despite multiple warnings, and even mod-deleted posts.  At some point the mods had to say "enough" and to his credit - Cyber did.  

The decision now is where they fall on the "Warning System"

Warning System
Breaking any of these rules can earn you a warning or possibly two, depending on the severity.
First Warning - Just a warning.
Second Warning - Account limited for one week.
Third Warning - Account limited for two weeks.
Fourth Warning - Permanently banned. Any accounts made after this will also be banned.

It's up to Cyber whether this qualifies as a minor or major infraction.  That's his call, but based on how tolerant he has been in the past I fully expect him to lift the ban on both members.  Zenbane and Atmos contributed greatly to the forum so I'd like to see them remain part of the community.  If they do return, it's entirely up to them whether they self-moderate, or force Cyber to do it for them in a more permanent fashion.

Just about every post I've seen nay saying zenbane, has an over-exaggeration or two in it.

Sure he got out of line sometimes, but for those who actually paid attention to the bulk of his posts, most of the time he posted stuff that was beneficial, and generally unoffensive. His main problem was resorting to insults and personal attacks when someone argued with him repeatedly (especially if they didn't know what they were talking about) and he seemed to like jumping into arguments almost like a mob mentality thing.

I agree, he definitely needed to tone it down, but he also had some good points and opinions.

You could at least always count on him shooting trolls down real quick, and he always was fast to do so. Atmos was ok, his main issue was twisting everything pro vive and ignoring/disregarding others who disagree, troll baiting (and zenbane took a bite of every lure). A warning ban should be all that's needed.

@cybereality please bring back Zenbane ASAP. Zenbane was best in the discussions he created.  Let me give a few examples

https://forums.oculus.com/community/discussion/44659/anyone-else-pick-up-euclidean-during-the-halloween-sale
https://forums.oculus.com/community/discussion/44443/thank-you-stambol

He has countless more like this. No other person in these forums has added so much insight into VR as Zenbane. Zenbane had a problem of attacking people too often (and comparing everyone to Atmos73 when he disagreed)  and not letting issues go but he more than made up for it with the value he added to the forum.

Banning Zenbane makes these forums a lot less interesting to me.

@DaftnDirect I think you may have gone too far in pushing to ban Zenbane when he started attacking you here.
https://forums.oculus.com/community/discussion/comment/462909/#Comment_462909
That was another one of the many deceitful discussions from Atmos73 which obviously provoked Zenbane. People like Atmos73 are especially difficult for moderators I think because their individual posts are not personally abusive but they have a negative influence on the forums over time which adds up and becomes destructive.

I think it's sadly ironic that the friends list Zenbane created keeps popping up and we see that Zenbane is banned.
https://forums.oculus.com/community/discussion/40670/oculus-friends-list-megathread/

@zboson The problem with your argument is that the positive actions of a member don't always override or erase the negative aspects of their behaviour.  I completely agree that Zen is/was one of the most prolific members of the board.  He made great contributions to discussion but much of the time he was also a complete ass to other forum members.  The current system of forum points makes him look far and away the most valuable member of this forum.  The problem is that we have no way to track the members he drove away, or the people who would have down voted many of his posts.  

I talked with both of these guys in pm and they're fine one-on-one.  Both are intelligent and reasonable people but for some reason they got under each other's skin and into a downward spiral.  Maybe a temporary break will let them disentangle without losing face so they can go back to adding their awesomeness to the forum instead of derailing it.  

(edit: word choice)

Just a minor input - I've definitely noticed how much better the forums have been - more sociable, more enjoyable and not having to check who is making a post and having to think about what wise-crack retort will be posted to any replies I might post. When such a post was made, I would just think the guy was a complete tugger (whoever made it), but that's beside the point. I have let myself be wound up by Zenbane a couple of times and posted things I normally wouldn't.

The place is considerably better now. Probably made people think more about what they are posting, too.

Atmos should have gone a long time ago. He was obviously determined to troll as much as possible - I was gobsmacked with what he got away with.

ps: in the last week or two before the ban I wasn't reading any of their posts, so don't know how it had developed.

@Zboson, in the thread you refer to, I was asking Zenbane to take care so that it didn't result in a ban. I thought that was clear.

@DaftnDirect well I hope he is unbanned soon. As I said the forums are less interesting now and the people coming out who Zenbane turned away have not made it more interesting so far. You have banned the single largest poster in these forums (after
CyberReality). It will be a long time before anyone surpasses him even if
the ban is not removed.

If he is unbanned and comes back being less attacking then the ban will have had a positive effect but if the effect is that he contributes less to the forums then I think the ban will have had a negative impact.

Quantity =! Quality.  This isn't a public square where you are constitutionally guaranteed your right to free speech (referring to Americans here).  This is a private company's public forums where participation is a privilege.  There are rules to follow.

the constant bickering was getting annoying.  If they BOTH wanted to bicker with people or with themselves, they should have taken it to the Private Message, or call each other on the phone or meet up a place and duke it out.  All the bickering does no good to the forums.  PERIOD