"I know that usually when folks do that (
ping Jim to a post), its to alert Jim that someone needs to be considered for banning." Well, I don't do it for that reason since I would just hit the abuse button and state my feelings directly to the mod ... and have done so in the past. I don't know how many posts are made to FR each 24 hour period, but I would guarantee that Jim cannot read them all, so if there is a debate issue for his consideration I ping him.
I don't do it often, but I will ping him (and am pinging him with this post also because he is mentioned in the post) on a thread where his integrity has been impugned and a continuing debate over the rightness or wrongness of voting to nominate a candidate for whom I agree with him would be disasterous for conservatism.