>From what I've seen, banning has been on balance effective to deal with uncivil behavio
Based on what evidence? Are you able to see the IP addresses of new accounts to correlate them with shadowbanned accounts? All we can see as outsiders is that shadowbanned accounts mostly stop posting, but we can't tell how many immediately signed up for a new account and started trolling again.
All we can see as outsiders is that shadowbanned accounts mostly stop posting
You're right. And this itself is evidence that banning is effective. It's not effective because they can't create new accounts (which they can); it's effective because they generally stop posting.
In addition,
- I haven't seen users obviously thumbing their noses at the mods with respect to the ineffectiveness of banning;
- I haven't seen the mods using or discussing any other methods stronger than banning to combat trolls, which I think they would if banning wasn't effective.
On the flip side, what evidence is there that banning isn't effective?
I've been a little frustrated by your lack of answers to some pertinent questions I've asked:
- Do you have particular examples where the mods haven't been fair?
- Do you have any other ideas as to how to fairly and effectively shape community behavior?
Based on what evidence? Are you able to see the IP addresses of new accounts to correlate them with shadowbanned accounts? All we can see as outsiders is that shadowbanned accounts mostly stop posting, but we can't tell how many immediately signed up for a new account and started trolling again.