Point 1: you can visually check that there is a gap. If you want the units to pass through smoothly, your gap should be large enough to be visually obvious
Point 2: moderngui is the way to go right now
Point 3: every time you mark someone as buddy, their name is written to a list in user.cfg locally. Nobody else knows who you mark as buddy as this is a purely local action and not synced. If you log in on a different computer, you will loose all of your friends. You can implement an enemy list in a similar way but I recommend you to get along with other players instead
Since I don't do I MP consider myself impartial. I'm not aware of the incidents leading up to this apparent ban. I just want to say that a ban sometimes is necessary, and I want to pick up a point which I think is fundamentally wrong:
I disagree. WFG is providing access to its platforms for the public, that includes the games. I think there would be no discussion about banning a player who frequently produces racial slurs in games; I consider it a duty of those acting on WFG's behalf to look into complaints about in-game behavior.
I am not convinced by the idea that players must protect themselves by downloading and activating third-party tools such as the AutoCiv Mod. I am in favour of clear and strict moderation.
Maybe sometimes ... in most cases, a community suffers punishment because bullies are not banned.