The failures of old mailing lists and Usenet were why social mediums universally abandoned killfiles and similar filtering mechanisms:

Evidence? Aren't such filters still available in Usenet readers? My theory is that such code was just never implemented in the shiny new web.

And with collaborative filtering, everyone doesn't need to make every adjustment themselves. That's the point. You delegate ratings to others, or combinations of others.

But is plopping someone in an ignore file supposed to be so difficult? Should be easier than ever. Have a plonk button on every post to add the guy to your kill file. "Hmmm, this guy is a dick. Plonk." Couldn't be easier. Just as easy as clicking a point of karma.

To give an Extropian-list-specific example: determined harassment was why Nick Szabo stopped posting there. The filters didn't help there.

What was the nature of the harassment, and how would it be prevented in the current list software?