Could LFGSS still work with a "no asshole" rule?

2 things:

i) We'd be better off implementing a 'no arsehole rule'.

ii) A lot of bullying/arsehole types are skilled manipulators and deceivers (often unconsciously/habitually) and people on the receiving end of their poison take a while (anywhere between hours and months, or even years) to realise they've been made to feel oppressed etc. Therefore the rule would be most effective against less subtle oppressors, which I suppose is a good place to start, although they're not the ones who cause the deepest wounds.

Piont 2 encapsulates all of my concerns. It's the thing that I think rots the community (note the really cool people who by and large don't participate any more because of a lot of that crap).

I really really do not want to go around banning people, and in fact I think it will be the downfall of the forum. Fair enough for spammers, trolls, etc... but we don't actually have rules against bullies and I'm not sure whether we want to or in what form they'd take.

What bothers me in DJ's post about everyone having the right to contribute, is that only those who can survive or aren't subject to the more subtle assholes are the ones that do. The right of the remainder is removed by the few assholes, and yet those assholes get to survive. That seems wrong. How to resolve it isn't clear, neither is whether the community at large wants to.