I would suggest that since Alan makes so many edits when he gets going, sometimes he'll not really click that he's violating his topic ban.  It would probably be beneficial to allow him the benefit of the doubt by at the least warning him and allowing him to undo his topic-ban-infringing edits before giving him a substantial block.  Speaking purely speculatively, I imagine Alan has made 1000 good edits for every couple of "bad" ones lately.     
 :The number of good edits was the reason I was sad to see the bad ones. I appreciate the viewpoint about warnings, but I personally think that the previous two-week block (after the ones before it) was enough of a warning. Moreover, excessive warning before blocking has its own drawbacks. — Carl ( ·