It's an extremely messy situation, but I am thankful the mod was able to receive this update at all.
I think it was also a good call to link the documents & keep mostly neutral in the new post, but I still feel overall conflicted about the wording (specifically "interpreted as") & even baffled SuperPhanto had been able to contribute, as I'm not in the relevant channels.
It has been a long time in my mind at least since that ban, and I understand people can work for forgiveness & strive to better themselves so such incidents never happen again. But they also have to respect the boundaries placed on them, and by skirting the ban like this it shows a lack of that respect. I also know to many, this doesn't feel like a long while, so time didn't get to heal either. It's an extreme shame.
I also think it's important to let the content of a banned user remain on the site so long it itself isn't ban worthy. Others may still be using such mods, playing them, using them for reference in their own mods or building upon them, and such. It's good for archival reasons- sure, it may not be on the same level of, say, versions of the Unofficial Skyrim Patch being removed, which caused huge waves of problems in that modding space when it did happen- but it wouldn't be "right" to remove one's work when they're banned.
As for the actual mod update itself, it's very very impressive. I really do appreciate all the subtle nuances going into the code to make things feel just right, and I am thankful for the changes to the general gameplay as well as shields in particular. I also played around with the SRB2 mode, and while it took adjustment, I think it still feels great on controller & am glad to see a way to support SA Sonic in servers that focus on balance. Testers apparently hated the mode, according to one user? I understand making things highly committal will feel weird to one who's played mostly SA & other platformers, but it lines up exactly with SRB2 & the Classic Sonic trilogy's style & took only some getting used to. It's like making the jump from Castlevania: SotN's fluid buttery controls, to playing a proper Classicvania, then seeing people complaining it feels too stiff & calling it shit because they can't adjust to every action needing 100% commitment.
In any case, I hope to see things improve both on the mod's side & outside of it.