Forum Moderators: phranque
If you're implementing it yourself, you have lots of control. I came up with a subtle but beautiful solution. Follow me on this...
You need SOME SORT of login to ban. But if you don't want all that overhead of managing user accounts, you can simply require an Email Account for a type of pseudo-login. If you're paranoid about the legitimacy of the email account, you can implement a system where they make their post visible by clicking on a link in the email confirmation of their post. But that's not really important.
You never display their email address in their posts (you don't want them spammed), and you tell them so. Once you collect their email address, you have to cookie their machine to record that you know who they are. You should probably encode the email address cookie, and make it persistent for a couple of months, so when they return to the forum, you will still know who they are. Sure, cookies get deleted, but the email pseudo-login will constantly re-establish it.
You create your ban list. You program your forum so that no one can see posts from people on the ban list, without you specifically approving those posts. Now, here's the trick: people can ALWAYS see their own posts (even those who are banned!). So, banned individuals will never know they are banned. It just looks like their posts are being ignored by everyone.
They will see that their posts are missing if they check from a new machine, but only up until they do their email login, at which time they will be able to see their own posts again. They may never (and usually never do) even know they've been banned. It avoids most of the contention that banning causes, and they feel like their messages are being read, and are just being ignored. Nothing makes trouble-makers go away, like being ignored. You deny them the attention they want.
I'm sure others can make great suggestions, but my best one is to ignore the perp as much as possible, since such people are usually after attention more than anything else.
For the short term, try a few hours moderator delay, and delete the trash before it appears.
Leave the posts that are only mildly ascerbic, so as to allow the perp to gain his own reputation for being a clod. Delete the inappropriate ones. Censor parts if necessary (properly labeling them as having been censored due to inappropriate language etc) in order to leave enough evidence of his abusiveness.
Never, ever counter his points or point out his prior similar comments somewhere else. It engages him into debate, which is what he wants.
Try assigning a new mod to him every few days, so no one person ever gets to know him. Each time a mod writes to warn him it is his first warning, and he never gets a chance to get personal with the mods. Takes restraint and patience, but since all the mods have to know the point is to ignore him, so no big deal.
I once had great success by sending him to another forum :-0 I replied to his post in a supportive way, along with a comment that the people he hated were congregating mostly at the other forum ;-) Next thing you know he was gone (over to there, I suppose).
Good luck! Don't let the b*stards get you down!
