It's just an ant.
Or: why you should actively discourage undesired people in online communities.
There’s an ant in your kitchen.
What’s the harm? It’s just a single ant. Do you have some burning hate against ants, “yikes”? You don’t, so you leave the “poor ant” alone. It grabs exactly one breadcrumb from the floor, from a corner of your kitchen that was really hard to clean. Then the ant goes back to its nest.
Next day, the ant is back, alongside a half dozen new ants. Because that’s what ants do; if they find food they leave a track of pheromones telling other ants “FREE FOOD HERE”. It’s just a handful of ants, why bother? They’ll probably clean that corner for you, “lmao”.
Third day. There are way more ants than before. Mostly on the floor, except one that found its way onto the table. (Two, actually - there’s another ant hidden in the pantry, but you didn’t notice it.) “It’s just an ant”, you say, focusing on the ant on the table, ignoring all ants on the floor. You leave it alone, “lol”, because someone who does something because of a single ant should seek treatment.
On the fourth day, the ants already found their way into the sugar dispenser on the table and the pot of honey in the pantry. Now you’re kind of disgusted at the situation, and you decide that you should do something. You brush the ants off the honey and the sugar, you move some stuff around, and you call it a day.
Fifth day. There are so many ants in your kitchen that you’re led to believe that they’ve been always there. And as you open that Pandora’s box called “sugar dispenser”, a thousand brown and leggy curses are released. Perhaps there’s some grainy and white hope inside it? You throw the sugar and the honey away.
Sixth day. Ants, ants everywhere in your kitchen. Since there’s no sugar or honey they’re attacking the cookies that you brought from grandma’s. And the leftover polenta inside the oven. Enough is enough - now you decide to act, by cleaning the kitchen thoroughly and setting up some ant baits.
The ants still pop up in your kitchen for one or two weeks, but progressively less than before. You feel relieved. Throw the baits away, you won the war! No, you didn’t, as soon as the baits are gone the ants rush in arms (six each) to raid it again. Because they already know that they can get tasty food in your kitchen, and no matter how much you’ve cleaned it up those pheromones are still there, saying “free lunch”.
But it’s just an ant, right.
Call the undesirables “morons” or “neonazi” or “commies” or “degenerates” or “witches” or “witch hunters” or “noobs” or anything else. The thing is: if you have an undesired demography in a community, no matter how small, you should be showing them the door.