You might’ve noticed Framework, the laptop manufacturer, embroiled in a controversy as of now. The Discord server is on lockdown because the volunteer moderation team has gone on hiatus, and the Framework forum post about the controversy has been gaining unsightly amounts of steam from people disappointed at actions taken by Framework.
Insted of banning abrasive people from forums, we could flag them and use AI as a filter on everything they say in that forum. In a similar vein of how Overwatch dealt with trolls in their ingame chat. If you say “too easy” your message is replaced with something less abrasive. Take away their power to be assholes for no reason. Make it a little badge “I’m an asshole”.
The problem comes from people responding to them, in communities that are text-first. You can flag a person as a troll… but unless you ban them, then eventually the discussions spill over.
Overwatch doesn’t have that same issue, because text is not at its core; you can mute people, and keep playing the game. Game-disrupting players though, still get banned.