Did a ton of punishments just wear off or what?

For a while(2-3 weeks) everything seemed to get magically better. All the sudden I was only getting one or two trolls a day instead of one or two games without one. People were being considerate and willing to try new things and forgive mistakes. This remained consistent for so long I was completely convinced that Riot had done something amazing and the trolls were finally going away. Then a couple days ago, all bets were off. It turned right back into what it used to be, with me getting lucky to even get one troll free game in a day.

So what happened? Was it just that a wave of punishments ran it's course, or Is this just entirely random despite there being such a drastic change that it seemed like a miracle?

Edit: downvotes are hilarious on this, sweet example of the forum crowd.