Because not every banned user filed an appeal to be unbanned, this is a fantastic opportunity for those who departed with a clear conscience and those who were wrongfully banned for a single offence.
If they didn't care enough (or didn't know how) to file an appeal, how would this thread help? Are the admins going to e-mail every banned user? Or is this targeted only towards ban-evading users who are assumed to be following meta dramas closely enough to notice this thread?
Whatever the idea behind this thread is, I don't get why that effort shouldn't be applied to handling the actual ban appeals the way these appeals were intended to work.