Same. However, offending people deliberately and expecting no punishment for it strange. If a player targets the other player's racial, ethnic or religious background, that player should be punished. Of course, we don't have to go to extremes and punish people for saying the f-word or just calling other people idiots in a heated context.

I’m not sure about this one, since someone’s idea of trolling varies wildly (you could consider anything from worker harassment to deleting captured buildings trolling, and both are commonly used tactics.)

I like the distributed farmers idea. There would be lots of gameplay ramifications for eco efficiency and vulnerability to raids. One outstanding point is the slot ("trees" as mentioned by @DesertRose) priority per farmers. Instead of some script that would place each additional farmer at the best possible slot depending on dropsite and farm orientation, slot prioritization should be done based off the path the farmer takes to access the farm when tasked to farm on it (whichever slot is closest).

I have a sanction idea that satisfies both sides of the argument but it is a bit difficult to implement technically: Every time JC says a racist comment, his units increase in cost by 20%.  When he insults another player, his units loose 20% of attack damage. When he trolls, his units loose 10% max HP.  The penalty changes depending on the severity of the offence. 

That's not necessarily true. It's definitely a discussion we can have.  Your other points are 100% fair. My main reasons for starting DE.  Collaboration, especially online collaboration, can be very frustrating at times. But what you can do (which you've already done and which I've done) is use your mod for experimentation, etc., then parse out bits and pieces you think would serve well the base game and make PRs.