Waaay back at the beginning of the FEI, many realms had an official policy along the lines of "You must roleplay within a certain (reasonable) time after you arrive, or you will be OOC banned." This was seen as normal and appropriate at the time.
Times change. The OOC ban is no longer a particularly effective tool for...well, much of anything, and the FEI has long since lost its official "RP Island" descriptor.
I don't remember how long ago Ethiala was born or died, but my guess would be they were taking their cue from that.
