In my mind it is up to these banned/sig banned DT members to explain themselves (sooner than later) and provide some context with the reason why they were sig banned and appeal to DT directly. The mods/staff/this insane new bot have done their job and now it's up to DT to act aswell.
Do we now have different rules for DT members and non DT members as it concerns plagiarism? This is an offence as far as I agree with your post though. The forum has its standard for such misconduct .