WikiQueer:Shunning

We all know not to feed the trolls. Even a person who is not a "troll" may be difficult to work with for many reasons. Certainly we should make reasonable efforts to collaborate with others, but if someone seems more interested in fighting than collaborating, it may well be time to simply shake the dust from our feet.

The advantages of simply shunning such an editor are real. It can be done individually. If you ignore someone, they are no longer able to bother you — you do not have to wait for community consensus for a ban, for example. When enough editors do this, the shunned editor is removed from the community without sound and fury.

Publicly announcing such a position may actually cause more drama. It may be courteous to inform other editors of your intention to shun. This can be done by a polite note left on a user talk page. Responding to comments related to the shun announcement may dilute the impact of the shunning.

This is more a form of "dispute avoidance" than it is a form of dispute resolution. Like nearly any technique, it's not always applicable — actively disruptive behavior may not always be ignorable, but noticeboard discussions are then often effective.