I don’t know the exact number or even a ballpark figure but I’ve seen plenty of requests to be banned over 21 years. AFAICT, the requesters are told to simply stop posting unless TPTB believe they’ll eventually be banned, anyway.
Not if the poster doesn’t have other issues that warrant banning. The OP doesn’t have other recent warnings.
Case by case basis. If you’re talking about Tim, he requested but he was also warned for being a jerk multiple times before that.
Other cases in the past, I recall TubaDiva, giving posters temporary suspensions as they requested it as they knew they would have a hard time staying away on their own.
But for a poster that is otherwise not a problem, it is the policy to let them cool off and then decide on their own. Most people can walk away if they want to. I don’t think I could, but most people could. 
Unless I’m missing something here, I’d say “no, it’s not.” That’s not what sycophant means.
Just so we’re all on the same page. In my book, a sycophant is “a fawning parasite,” or for the more genteel amongst you, “an insincere flatterer.”
Maybe appropriation is the word you’re looking for. (Note - I did not say “cultural” appropriation.
Just wanted to say that I agree with reply’s politics, but the bigger issue is the point that a calm, factual discussion of flag patches is NOT the place for it. It really did feel like someone dropped a deuce in the middle of the pub…
Speaking of pubs, this reminds me so much of That One Friend who canNOT be part of any discussion without bending it around to how horrible Trump is, and gets so worked up that he cant even say his name:
“Yeah, your mother did sew you a nice embroidered patch someone should embroider a patch right over the LYING maggot-infested mouth of that…that- that- sewageforbrains MAGAt with the cockweasel on his head!!!” [spittle ensues]
I don’t really think we need additional political commentary in this forum. Since the OP hasn’t received much support for his position, I think it’s better to close this.