# Shadowbans are bad for discourse, and here's why

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/shadowbans-are-bad-for-discourse-and-heres-why/248903
**Category:** Community Building
**Tags:** moderation
**Created:** [December 14, 2022, 11:07am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/shadowbans-are-bad-for-discourse-and-heres-why/248903 "2022-12-14T11:07:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 10

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### Author: ![simon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/simon/32/339122_2.png) [@simon](https://meta.discourse.org/u/simon)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2022, 8:36pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/shadowbans-are-bad-for-discourse-and-heres-why/248903/10 "2022-12-15T20:36:44Z")

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> [@rhaksw](#):
>
> context is very important. Do you have any specific examples?

That’s a tricky one. I’m not in a position to give examples, but the subheading on the Discourse Shadowban topic sums it up pretty well: “The last resort for dealing with trolls that just won’t go away.” Also this:

> [@rahim123](#):
>
> It usually involves a specific person that the entire forum knows as a blatant troll, and the person has been banned on multiple occasions and keeps coming back under different usernames, and that sort of troublemaker invariably uses the TOR network.

My approach to the situation would be to add a note to the user’s account with [Discourse User Notes](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-user-notes/41026) to give other mods on the site a warning about the user and make sure they are quickly banned for any new infractions. I’ve never come across a situation where the user didn’t eventually go away.

> [@rhaksw](#):
>
> Left unchecked, shadow moderation grows isolated tribal groups who are unprepared for real-world conversations where such protections are not available.

I think we should be doing our bit to try and make the world a better place. The type of issue I’m describing here is dealing with users who seem (from my point of view) to be dealing with mental health issues. I’d like to know how to help them be better citizens of both the internet and the real world.

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_[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/shadowbans-are-bad-for-discourse-and-heres-why/248903)._