At the risk of having the thread locked before I can finish my piece...
FPez, you have a hard job, made harder by setting your standards so high. Everyone has a moment where their manager is caught eating in their office, or the policeman double-parks, or the President accidentally says "fuck" into an open mic. It's an embarrassment, certainly. But even though the authority figure slips up, nobody thinks that voids the rule.
Each one could be totally legit, too. The manager might be diabetic. The policeman might be investigating something. And it's not the President's fault the mic was open. In your case, your comment was hardly "red" at all. At most, it was eggshell pink. But because it contained some detectable amount of red, people ribbed you about it. Some of your actions lately have upset your peers (regardless of whether legit or not) and so these people were right there to point it out and probably happy (or ecstatic) to do so.
Now here's what should've happened. You would've blushed, caught staring too long at the cookie jar. It doesn't matter whether you were staring because you were thinking of the delicious cookies within or because you were awestruck by the way the potter managed to layer the glaze to faithfully recreate the iridescence of a butterfly's wings. You were seen staring, and so you earned some peer ribbing. At this point, you're supposed to blush, realize (and admit!) that nobody's perfect, had a laugh with everyone, and then gone back to the job of Mod with eyes opened to the possibility that it might be OK for folks to push up against the rule-barrier, so long as everyone knows that it's not OK to break through that barrier. Doing this would have served to garner respect from your peers AND it would have served to show exactly where that barrier is and how "stretchy" it is.
Instead it looks (to many) like you went into Dictator Denial Mode, trying to cover it up and pretend it didn't happen, and since this board is ultimately a (loose) democracy, you were promptly met with quite a bit of resistance. It happens. Unbelievably, it's still salvageable. All it will take is for everyone involved...everyone*...to behave like the adult Humans they are. No workplace, no community, no city, no spacecraft crew, nor vacation caravan is made up of people who 100% love each other all the time. People do stuff other people don't like all the time. So long as they don't make a habit of it, they shouldn't be punished endlessly for it, either. Hey, everyone? Get over it. If that means getting over yourself first, then so be it.
--Patrick
*This includes you, Dear Reader.
EDIT: FWIW, I have an incredibly thick skin, the patience of Job, and no plans to leave any time soon. I'm more than willing to keep coming back and post sensible discussions until you snap and pray for ragequit.