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[–] WhiteRonin [S] ago 

  1. That works for large sites or spam senders. Voat ... Not so much. Plus how many IPs will respond to "he trolled me" blocks? IP blocking can work once all devices get dedicated IPs IPv6 is still being rolled out and we still have a few blocks left of IPv3 as of last year. Another few more years before you can pinpoint the exact user. For now I can switch from home to mobile or roll into Starbucks and get around an IP block. Or just go to another VPN.

  2. Good point t. Totally about services like Google's VoIP.

  3. My only argument here is one based on TV. If you don't like CNN nothing stops you from never changing to that channel again. It's shadow banning but on a per user preference. If you block a user personally you don't have to hear CNN spewing their narrative. You can do the same to Fox. A ban prevents people from posting which causes anger. If you block them they still get angry but if their votes get blocked from your totals then even a brigade can only talk shit about you. True, though, spawning a new alt is easy ... So rinse and repeat. I haven't seen @henrycorp got pinged brigaded.

I'm still thinking that blocks can be more effective in the long term since trolls have been socially engineered into the world of "ignored" rather than being "punished".

Note: I'm enjoying this discussion because it's obvious that you have thought about this alot. We seem to agree on some areas and others not and I'm actually appreciating the differences because they add to the conversation.

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[–] Talc ago 

how many IPs will respond to "he trolled me" blocks?

None, shouldn't be trying to get anyone sanctioned for trolling. You'd be surprised how many will respond to an official block notice for flooding, spamming, ban evasion and other sorts of net abuse.

In just about every case where I've ignored a user and that user has had a rant at me, some "kind soul" has decided to fully quote that user's words in response, There are many users out there who delight in this form of low level trolling and will go out of their way to circumvent the ignore and make sure you see what you're trying not to see, some will even make it sound like they're trying to support you but the end result is the same. This has been going on since the 90s when usenet was the biggest "forum" and some of the trolls on there decided to elevate trolling to the level of performance art. The only way ignoring works is if you ignore the whole place and never return.

If you block them they still get angry but if their votes get blocked from your totals then even a brigade can only talk shit about you.

The abusers will very quickly learn to use different accounts to trash talk and downvote. You'll have the trashtalk accounts blocked but the downvote accounts will never say anything offensive to make you block them (although they might play the supportive "kind soul" as described above). Sure this might stop someone who dislikes you from casually downvoting one of your comments they come across at random because they can't be bothered switching accounts just for one downvote but it won't stop a determined abuser who will switch accounts and then dv everything you said for days.

Yes I have thought about this a lot, for many years, far longer than voat has existed, and I still can't find a solution other than the classic "block ipaddr and inform relevant abuse-desk" one. Anything else that anyone comes up with always has a flaw somewhere, is trivially circumvented, is absurdly processor intensive, slows the trolls but enables the spammers, impacts the users more than the trolls, etc etc. I do live in hope of someone finding some solution everyone else has missed which is why I keep joining conversations like this one.

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[–] WhiteRonin [S] ago 

I just realized we have scope issues.

So, a majority where my opinion differs from yours should be that I agree since IP block is one the same level as a firewall. In reality, it's the easiest and possibly only way.

I was talking until now in the scope of "voat" which ... would makes a ban a little more difficult since each sub is independent from the others. Thus, my idea of just blocking.

Yet, like we both agree, alt generation is a constant whack-a-mole problem and my preference towards a socially engineered solution.

I'm gonna come back later to go through your post in more detaol since my coffee break is ending.