@BobbyCNorris This is an important issue. It's been a contention on every forum since the beginning. Can I caution against suggesting banning by IP addresses? It doesn't work for 3 reasons: sharing, moving, masking.
There are other things we can do. But in detail:
1/ https://twitter.com/HoCpetitions/status/1265329852783230976

1: Sharing. IP addresses can be shared by a household, company, organisation, location (eg, library). Banning an IP address punishes everyone using that IP regardless of culpability.

2/

2/ Moving. You can get a new IP address. If you restart your router, you're likely to get a new IP address. The old IP address is now in the pool of addresses that will be given out to ISP customers. So an IP address ban will ban innocent people while not affecting trolls.

3/

3: Masking. VPNs like NordVPN can be used to mask a user's real IP address and location. Platforms never see the real IP. A lot of media platforms do ban VPNs anyway. But anyone can set up a VPN.

4/

But there are other things we can do. Most trolls are not sophisticated, and will give their real IP. We need to be willing to trace that IP and do legwork to legally investigate the abuse.

Temporary blocks may be useful.

But use IP addresses, don't block them.

5/

And we absolutely need to make platforms sit up and take notice of abuse and patterns of abuse. They should work with law enforcement in serious cases. We need tools and practices to limit exposure on the platforms side.

Education, Responsibility, Action.

6/

I hope you don't mind this thread. It does make me wince when someone suggests technical fixes that don't work, and politicians don't understand these details either, so this is how bad laws come into play, or bad blood if you're seemingly ignored.

7/7