- Zealot Tony
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- Intrepid Heroic Member
"We live in a special time; the only time where we can observationally verify that we live in a very special time" - Lawrence Krauss.
I was a finalist :P
There is no way to "deal with the Flood". Pushing for harsher incentives - like bans - isn't the solution; as it not only takes time to adjust, but rather pushes newer members away from the community because they are too afraid to post.
Even with stricter bans, it's not too difficult to create new accounts to circumvent them; you said it yourself in your post. This is because there's no real positive incentive to not play up; other than to achieve a title which has no real value in itself, which negates the whole idea. For some it's incentive enough, but it might not be at it's highest level of potential.
If you were to make restrictions like being unable to make a thread for X amount of time, ect; you face the aforementioned problem of drawing new users away. Not to mention that a truly ambitious person has nothing to stop them from making several accounts at one time, and patiently waiting out whatever restriction they have on the new account(s).
Basically, you shouldn't focus on negative reinforcements, as psychology tells us the positive side is far more effective. Adding a positive to get a response doesn't only work better, but allows both parties to focus on the positive aspects of a situation.