IMHO "Dealing" with toxic personalities has various implications:
First and foremost it is hard to define objectively most of the toxic behaviors. It is as old as humanity itself and still not completely explored by psychology and literature. Individuality and rhetoric plays such a preponderant role in the definition of "toxic" that it might be impossible to reach a wide consensus for each case that could be brought up, leading to dangerous semplifications. Essentially what someone calls toxic is exclusively the partial perception of a behavior warped by personal preconceptions and peer pressure. IMHO then there is never any toxicity in any community but instead a paradigm change in the way personalities react to each other and the external forces, leading to a shift in the language modules, the interaction processes and eventually the creation of a new epistemology that correctly reflect the actual state of affairs.
I'll use myself as a guinea pig to show what I mean.
Some people here like me and might be curious of me, some people instead see me as an arrogant know-it-all just dropped in this establishment, acting without the honors that others did earn in the years. Essentially some people think I am an usurper that should hold his tongue more, Toxic to a degree. Timezone differences mean I played only with an handful of the forum goers, sometimes well, sometimes bad, mostly with mediocrity. My association with Byron as [TB] also plays a big part on the way an observer could interpret my actions and words, leading to a transfer from him to me of old attrition of which I have absolute no control, neither has Byron and neither has the third party involved.
Now the problem with this mindset applied to my person is that it is right but not true. Whatever is the perception of another personality here, it must be considered false since the medium itself lacks the fundamental elements with which a functioning human defines another human according to his/her own scale of values. Essentially this forum is a peeping hole in a dim room for what it concerns personalities, behavior and general morality. Yet we rapidly adapt to the medium, acquiring more information from it than it would be efficient in the presence of another concurring medium, leading to an accurate perception of a false value. In synthesis, to whomever I appear to be an arrogant know-it-all, mildly toxic, i can say that they are right but only in the minuscule confines of their own value and ethical structure applied to this forum, essentially solipsistic.
The second problem with addressing the Toxic Elements is the spreading of consensus through straw man proclamation, rhetoric and cycle jerking. Exactly what happens here. By saying "The community is getting toxic", like minded individuals and vocal close knit minorities can push an involuntary ethical agenda, changing the consensus on a previously nonexistent problem. Once the argument is brought forward, the initial concept can evolve in the most dangerous ways. It has been already wrote about banning in a very nonchalant tone, especially ironic for the community of a game that refuses kicking or banning no matter how vocally is requested. It is very dangerous of talking about evil without a practical solution, because then the lesser evil can gain momentum and the tools developed initially for a good cause can be easily bent for individual purposes.
What I suggest is engaging in private communication when a toxic behavior is spotted (pun intended), excluding the community from the discourse so that problems can be dealt on a one-on-one basis. A truly toxic behavior will then lead to an increasing amount of personal messages, eventually leading to shift in behavioral pattern without the public shaming and antagonism that could instead lead the target in the opposite direction.
bests,
[Know-it-all]MagKel :-P
