Self-defence

[Ned Batchelder]

On Sunday, November 17, 2013 12:09:44 PM UTC-5, Zero Piraeus wrote:
> Note: I drafted a version of this post earlier today. I had been waiting
> to see whether Nikos succeeded in baiting the list into yet another
> round of unpleasantness before sending it, because I didn't want to
> worsen the situation, but at this point things are completely out of
> hand, and even what looks like a consensus attempt to ignore Nikos out
> of existence is
> 
> a) failing: I count eighteen emails so far today.
> 
> b) going to lead casual visitors to assume either that we ignore
> requests for help or that the list is Nikos' personal echo chamber.
> 
> At this point I consider Nikos' actions a conscious attack on the list.
> There is simply no way, after the many times he's been told not to
> repost, that this is anything other than a direct and deliberate attempt
> to annoy as many people as he can.
> 
> That being the case, I'd like to know whether there are technical
> measures that can be taken to prevent him from posting here.
> 
> I understand that the mail/news gateway might complicate that, and that
> any measures taken could be bypassed by someone with sufficient skill. I
> suspect that in this particular case the latter issue is less relevant
> than it might otherwise be.
> 
> I don't believe that killfiles are a sufficient response in this
> situation.
> 
> I can, of course, stop Nikos' posts reaching me, and without too much
> hassle also stop replies to his posts reaching me. He would, however,
> continue to pollute the list in public, and his posts, whether replied
> to or not at the volume he's now sending them, would continue to damage
> the reputation of the list and, ultimately, I think possibly kill it.
> 
> This is a last-ditch request, and not one I particularly expect to
> succeed, but I honestly can't stand to watch this happen to python-list
> for very much longer, and am very close to unsubscribing after six years
> as an admittedly not very active member.
> 
>  -[]z.

Nikos's behavior has been escalating, and is particularly bad today.  But I'd like to point out that everyone else's has been better than ever: the latest threads have been ignored.  We have not been descending into anger and vitriol.

I can't say what will happen in the future, but I would expect an exasperated help vampire to behave precisely this way as the counter-measures (ignoring) because more effective.

--Ned.