I have been on numerous sites as a member and a fair share as a moderator.
Moderating teams seldom stay the same for more than a one to two year period, for any number of reasons. Most teams have the option to pass on voting if they are either chummy with, or have had vicious run ins with, the person under discussion. Add in that fact that not every moderator may be on for every disciplinary action, and you will very seldom have the same "group mind" at any given time.
So where one group of mods may have upheld rules and favored certain ways of ruling over others (veteran members being let to slide, or new members getting multiple chances), when the next influx of moderators occurs, they may very well vote in the completely opposite way.
To imply that this moderating team is the exact same one that allowed HickBoy to stay, and therefore it is therefore hypocritical for then to ban him now, shows faulty thinking on the parts of some members.
I never knew HickBoy, nr interacted with him. I have neither a positive, nor negative, knee-jerk reaction to his name. That may help me see things a little clearer.