Help me buy a washing machine for my mom?

Well, i do believe in what you said, but begging doesn't seem acceptable on this website, there are 2 indications towards begging in the guidelines, while none mention cards as an example. The topic was still considered begging in the end, and that was enough to punish the person.

It might sound bad, i know... but the guidelines are there. Perhaps if said person went over with the mods first and made a valid point with his campaign, while showing proof to backup on his campaign not being a scam. Perhaps, there could have been an exception. But even with such exceptions, it usually creates a bad precedent going forward, as people will look at this "campaign", and will attempt to create scams of their own and pester the mods.

It the end, it is understandable why they suspended the person, as hard as it seems to be. This is a gifting site. Not a charity. The moment the mods accept something, anything could come out of that one "exception".

I understand your POV, guidelines are subject to change, you can even see CG edited 1 year ago or so the guidelines.

I can't really pinpoint 100% if your example was good or not when it comes to guidelines, as they were likely to be different back then (implying it was more than 2 years ago or so). But the best solution was to go along with the mods first, with a support ticket and see a proper solution, if there was any.

Cards can be obtained for free, yes, but at a slow rate. Asking for them, means you bypass this "slow normal rate" of earning them for free. Which could be a problem to consider.

This topic shares some similiarities, but it's not exactly the same situation in the end. People can also advertise their youtube channels and make a living from that if they get decent growth.

I would dare say this topic is mostly on the good side of the guidelines, i'm no mod though, just doing it based on what i read and understand. The one example with the cards, i wouldn't dare go higher than 50/50 on either side, it's a mixed topic that is both good and wrong at the sametime. (i could be wrong though)

Isn't advertising user projects only allowed in public giveaways

The guidelines clearly state advertising is allowed in discussions (just search the guidelines for "Advertising" then look at paragraph 4 under discussions). Also, it's very different asking to participate in a project (that requires voting, but you're not required to vote in order to join any of the associated giveaways) or directly asking for something of value, like cards (you can sell cards for money, so they do have value, even when you initially got them for free). The latter is clearly begging.