I used to be in non-main-stream politics, and we had the same problem - people coming into the group who were toxic and made our lives hell. It took me far too long to realize the following:
Freedom of speech does not mean that individuals and private groups have to tolerate asshats. It's a fallacy that many, many, far too many, progressive groups and movements fall into: this feeling that we "owe" people to hear them out. And that we "owe" people to let them sit at the same table with us.
You are not the government or a hegemonic group/platform. You don't owe toxic people anything. Ban them, without remorse. Have a rule for it - obviously - but for the most toxic behaviors don't even give them a warning. What do you have to lose - a few asshats out of hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands of users?
And no, it's not censorship. Not everything is censorship. Telling idiots and asshats to STFU or GTFO isn't censorship. And a lot, and I do mean A LOT of problems that online communities and even real world politics have is connected to just not telling people the simple word of "NO".
I used to be in non-main-stream politics, and we had the same problem - people coming into the group who were toxic and made our lives hell. It took me far too long to realize the following:
Freedom of speech does not mean that individuals and private groups have to tolerate asshats. It's a fallacy that many, many, far too many, progressive groups and movements fall into: this feeling that we "owe" people to hear them out. And that we "owe" people to let them sit at the same table with us.
You are not the government or a hegemonic group/platform. You don't owe toxic people anything. Ban them, without remorse. Have a rule for it - obviously - but for the most toxic behaviors don't even give them a warning. What do you have to lose - a few asshats out of hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands of users?
And no, it's not censorship. Not everything is censorship. Telling idiots and asshats to STFU or GTFO isn't censorship. And a lot, and I do mean A LOT of problems that online communities and even real world politics have is connected to just not telling people the simple word of "NO".