Why would you ever hide the fact you banned someone from them? What good does that actually do? Do you really think they is a fair punishment for breaking rules even, let alone the more regular use of it being a tool abused by mods doing so based purely on personal motivations rather than enforcing site rules?
Stealth banning is stupid as hell. It doesn't show anyone hit but it what rules were broken or what was done wrong, it doesn't show the community what isn't acceptable by having visible consequence, and it actively encourages paranoia in communities and abuse by those with the power to do so.
Not even the idea of using it on trolls or spam programs makes it a worthwhile effort, as anything automated can be adjusted to check that posts are being seen, and anyone trolling wont care and will just jump accounts anyways. At best you slow that down for as long as it takes for them to notice, and then they are both right back to where they started, wiser for the experience.
In the end it solves absolutely nothing and is solely the tool of the lazy and cowardly to try to wrangle the community in without all the effort of actually enforcing bans they'd take shit for enforcing, or without actually confronting people they want banned with the rules they violated.
It is a worthless half-assed solution to a problem and it is no wonder at all why it never works for long. People find out they are shadowbanned and adjust accordingly. Trolls make new sock puppets, programs get an extra line or two of code to check, and regular posters realize they were shadowbanned and drag that out into a massive issue of paranoia, moderator distrust, public spectacle, and political posturing.
Nothing of value comes from shadowbanning.
Stealth banning is stupid as hell. It doesn't show anyone hit but it what rules were broken or what was done wrong, it doesn't show the community what isn't acceptable by having visible consequence, and it actively encourages paranoia in communities and abuse by those with the power to do so.
Not even the idea of using it on trolls or spam programs makes it a worthwhile effort, as anything automated can be adjusted to check that posts are being seen, and anyone trolling wont care and will just jump accounts anyways. At best you slow that down for as long as it takes for them to notice, and then they are both right back to where they started, wiser for the experience.
In the end it solves absolutely nothing and is solely the tool of the lazy and cowardly to try to wrangle the community in without all the effort of actually enforcing bans they'd take shit for enforcing, or without actually confronting people they want banned with the rules they violated.
It is a worthless half-assed solution to a problem and it is no wonder at all why it never works for long. People find out they are shadowbanned and adjust accordingly. Trolls make new sock puppets, programs get an extra line or two of code to check, and regular posters realize they were shadowbanned and drag that out into a massive issue of paranoia, moderator distrust, public spectacle, and political posturing.
Nothing of value comes from shadowbanning.