Just when you think your opinion of Reddit can't get any lower... I can't believe how many people think you should go to jail for being mean.
First-hand experience in my case. He and his GNAA attacked my volunteer-run open source project and did many things, including calling Child Protective Services (CPS) and making false complaints -- leading one of my volunteers and his children to have to undergo interviews with CPS to suss everything out.
They emailed one person's professors at university and made false, damaging claims. Bosses were tracked down and jobs were contacted. Parents were found and harassed. Our web site was attacked and taken offline. Our business associates were contacted and they concocted a fictitious business persona to file spurious complaints with our payment processors, leading to us being dropped from two providers.
weev was not just "being mean", he transcended that to stalking, bullying, and harassment. He caused emotional harm to my volunteers and staff and fiscal harm to my business. All in the name of "trolling".
And yes: we pursued the legal route. The FBI is just not super interested in tracking down some random dude on the Internet for harassing a small business. They were happy to talk to us and very compassionate and gave us some advice, but that was the extent of it.
Basically, the prosecution wanted a harsh sentence to set precedent and weev gave them the ammo to do it.
Justiceporn (people getting their come uppance) and cringe (originally things that made you cringe in sympathy, but latterly videos of socially awkward youth that Reddit could bully and mock) are two examples, but there are others.