Sorry, Punki, with all due respect I must disagree (and I hope you'll forgive the editing I did to the quotation of your post to keep the emphasis).

You're absolutely right that this works for some people - indeed, for most. It is, after all, the main way we socialze (civilize) children. But - it does not work on everyone, e.g., sociopaths and certain others.

If you had a nice home, and a stranger came in and defecated on the rug, you might ignore it. You might even try to explain to the stranger that such behavior is simply unacceptable, and that while you love him personally you hope that he can see fit to conform his behavior to civilized norms.

If the stranger continued to defecate on the rug (notwithstanding his promises of reform), there would probably come a time at which you would either ban him from returning, or if you were an extreme pacifist you might even simply leave the house to him.

In the first instance, if he continued returning and continued his unacceptable behavior and you called the sheriff for assistance, but the sheriff did nothing to stop the behavior, you might indeed abandon the house as simply unlivable. Or you might resort to self-help. In this particular case, self-help appears not (yet) to be available.

Sorry to be so graphic; however, to many of us what has been going on since June of last year (not exactly what I would call "of late"), despite our attempts to be civilized about it and to explain, urge, cajole, sweet-talk, etc. the offender, is the fuctional equivalent of what I described. In this case, we don't own the house, so our options (individually and collectively) for corrective action are limited.

Yes, Punki, there are still a lot of nice people on the board, but the number is diminishing at an alarming rate.

And I'm sorry to see it, but I fully understand.