It got closed but I implore everyone who is interested to read the victim’s statement. It is a work of art.
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There’s a different issue there; the topic was closed, which is reasonable, but I want new users like that who are so clearly, so obviously participating in bad faith to get shut down and blocked by flags sooner.
I feel it’s unfair to auto-close the discussion when what’s needed is to auto-block that particular new user. The example in this case is so damn egregious.
Right now I am thinking flags by TL3 users are weighted heavily against new users, if they happen fast enough, e.g.
new user X has Y flags outstanding by Z different TL3 users, time to auto-block them
(We already do a form of this, but it’s specific to spam flags which tend to be very black and white, and does not take TL into account at all.)
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I support this idea.
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He was rightly stopped.
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I concur with @codinghorror; it makes no sense to keep closing entire threads due to a few troublesome individuals.
3-5 flags by TL3 members and they should get the boot, especially if it’s obviously an account started just to troll.
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If so few TL3 flags can shut someone down, there probably should be some better discussion among TL3 members as to when they/we should use this superpower.
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Don’t we discuss amongst ourselves enough already? 
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It was not “few” flags in this case. Far from it. Note the variables in the statement above:
new user X has Y flags outstanding by Z different TL3 users, time to auto-block them
Reluctance to cast flags is epidemic along all the Discourse sites I know of, and has been for a long time. Users simply don’t flag unless it’s severe. And of all the users who do cast flags, I’d trust TL3 users the most.
Anyway, staff can unblock users any time, so it’s not like the block is permanent. Bear in mind too, this would only work against new users.
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What’s considered new? Based on tenure or posts? We’ve seen plenty of old and dormant accounts that suddenly go live and start trolling. I fear that tenure alone won’t be sufficient.
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{{citation needed}}
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This is a frequent point of discussion in the drinking thread. I’m on mobile right now so I can’t be bothered to find specific examples. I’m sure someone else can jump in and back me up though (lights up Bat Signal).
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I think that’s a rare enough instance to not be considered here. It happens, but not as often. In the cases where the user has been around awhile, the thread gets a timeout, as it does now.
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Well yeah. He hasn’t been back though, I think it makes logical sense to not have a hair trigger on the older accounts. There’s no magic bullet, but the idea of a certain number of TL3 flags locking out new user accounts is sensible. Those other cases are still going to get moderator attention.
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Good idea. Was just thinking of suggesting it. Maybe a system could act harshly when there’s no mod activity in the last 10m
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That makes sense though @Melizmatic shared the theory about sleeper accounts created just for GG or racist mischief.
Given the small number of posts and their content, that suspicion seems reasonable. And those are only the posts that weren’t nuked and excluding the Twitter post picked up by WaPo.
I’m guessing @codinghorror can see those. Yikes!
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I don’t doubt it happens, but the question I would ask is: “does it get handled in a reasonable amount of time once an account like that becomes active?” You can never prevent everything that is bad from happening, and I think this blog does a rather exceptional job of handling moderation.
Hold on a second. (Digs out consulting hat.) “What is the problem you are trying to solve here?”
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@ficuswhisperer asked if new accounts should be defined more by time or posts. I agree the number of posts should be weighted because some accounts are likely created as alarms for when a Twitter account is mentioned.
That’s what appeared to happen with the anti-semite who has an account here and who bragged openly about taking part in coordinated digital attacks on Jewish people.
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Out of likes so 
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