I like your comments about if a banning occurs, it be hub specific...excellent point. If the developers can impliment this change, that would be a big benefit. I encourage you to drive this point and I offer my help.
On the voting subject, the concern expressed by many, be they HL's or not, is new members maliciously voting 1 star right out of the chute. Many who get banned, immediately return with a new alias and it's the 1st thing they do...to get even. My comments to Agoracom on this subjet was prompted by 50+ members who PM'd/emailed me this year, so I took it from there.
Requiring a new member to reach Treas level before having voting privaledges was the topic of my request to Agoracom, which they felt had merit.
Thanks again for your input.