Mitigating circumstances… the context of Idiots good faith endeavors, clearly shows Ben was trolling, and not just Idiot, but everyone who replied to one of his traps.
What Ben has done is laid multiple Sadistic traps for people on this forum. Its something unexpected and akin to Munchausen Syndrome, but in reverse… he is falsely soliciting for help, luring unsuspecting posters in, and is then hurting them with deep verbal abuse so as to make them feel weaker, and him stronger. His reporting this only goes to feed this dark, sadistic phenomena… just like in Munchausen… he is seen as the victim, and everyone here comes out and supports him, while falsely banishing the real victim, Idiot.
He will do this, again and again and again, milking everyone here for pity.
My solution is simple. Recognize Ben for what he is, and warn Idiot to keep away for a while. Idiot tried the responsible thing in reaching out. He got hurt. Both have reasons to be off balanced. Neither should be banned, if anything, both should apply themselves to philosophy in more earnest.
By supporting Ben, you only feed his psychological disorder. We should instead, if we do anything, give him firm parameters and help him out of it, but NOT give into his games. His is a case where we all have to be grown up, or mature in the use of rhetoric at least. This will not be tolerated, certainly not to this degree. Ben has carried it so far he wants to get another forum member into legal trouble for his emotional cravings. This is scary and disturbing, and itself is illegal in both countries, as its filing a false police report. Your trolling is systematic and underlines the nature of your compulsion. You can feel good and confident about yourself through other ways, you don’t have to torment and twist others. This is in line with your self admitted history of animal abuse… torture is the word you used.
This is philosophy Ben… we gain merit and standing from our udeas, not from some Slave-Master pecking order. That shits for chickens, its too primitive of a impulse for a rational man to long dwell on or need.