I appreciate your position, Else, and 'I was just kidding around' is indeed often used as an excuse to troll, flame, and to keep people from disagreeing using ridicule. We do keep an eye out for exactly that kind of behavior.
On the other hand, I think there is room for people to be a bit silly or make tongue in cheek comments if they'd like, even in threads where there is also serious discussion. As with most things, going too far in either direction is probably not good for the health of the forum, or the atmosphere we are trying to create, here.
Ultimately the moderators have to make a determination as to whether something breaches the guidelines or not. It's a judgement call on our part, and not everyone is always going to agree with us.
I would encourage everyone to report things if they feel that they violate the guidelines. Whether or not we ultimately take action, we do take every report seriously.