Atomika's only purpose was to cause harm to this site. He wasn't (and isn't, and can't be, just yet, because he's 14) a member so an IP ban was warranted in pretty much the same way we'd IP ban a spambot if one was flooding the place. Which, btw, *is* pretty much what happened.
That said, I was still hesitant to act, wanting a vote on it first. Dunc got there faster than I did, probably because I also wanted to await his opinion.
There's always a risk that someone tries to take over, but there's really very little we can do to eliminate the risk completely. We have two web monkeys, we have a semi-permanent admin that is the very definition of integrity and honesty, if you ask me, and we have rotating short-term admins.
The risk was a lot higher a year ago, by the way.