In the 90s, MIT's Athena system devised a system to handle online harrassment. One feature of the system was that the notice of reported abusive behaviour sent to the accused user began with the phrase "Someone using your account…". Users were advised to re-password their accounts, as they may have been hacked. Password resets by UYA recipients were taken in good faith by staff, but the most astonishing thing was that the offending behaviour nearly always stopped there.
https://www.metafilter.com/173881/UYA-notices-and-face-saving-in-moderation-systems#inline-7389802
I need to remember this technique in the event of anyone doing stuff that merits a warning.
@anthracite This and the MeFi discussion are interesting, but a lot of people seem to be treating MIT's stopit as if it were the only tool in the moderator's kit when stopit makes more sense as a gentle nudge for first offenders or people who are ordinarily well-behaved but might be having a bad day and lashing out online rather than taking it out on family and friends at home.
@starbreaker I'm definitely seeing this as a useful strategy for first offenses rather than an only tool. It's a mid-sized mallet to hang on the same wall as my +16 Flaming Banhammer, not the Banhammer's replacement.