Any one on two wheels is a friend

Probably.

In fact, I think the key to self-moderation is to hit people hard.

I'm far too forgiving.

But as I'm becoming increasingly intolerant of the "It wasn't me", "He started it" and "It just a joke, can no-one take a joke" I'm also going to let go of my tendancy to be forgiving.

I really think it's smarter of me to just ban people for good and for everyone else to see that and act accordingly.

So there's the fair warning to everyone. Attack a newbie without what the vast majority would consider to be fair cause, and I'm going to kick you hard. If you've already been kicked in the past, then I'm going to ban permanently.

And within that simple statement, perhaps people will try and help newbies rather than tear them new asssholes.

As at the moment you seem to treat people equally. Yes I know its your forum, but isn't claiming to be impartial and then seemigly not acting that way

It's not an idea. It's a statement. That's how it now is.

If anyone pounces on a newbie without fair cause, then someone can report it and I ban swiftly and without stopping to hear the pleas for mercy.

That's not to say that no newbie can ever be called out on, it's to say that for the vast majority of newbie baiting that has existed, that just won't now be tolerated. But when we do have the case of, say, a dumb bike thief trying to sell something or an obvious troll... then fair game, go for it.

The line will be, what the forum reasonably thinks is OK. Which will mostly be me listening to BDW on that, or the consensus of people who aren't inclined to report stuff.

Is there a definitive forum definition for a troll, as there seem to be confusion. Will it include tagging?

I was hoping that those involved wouldn't read it and I could just ban them.

Well you can do that anyway or just make it difficult for them to log in/post with the infamous forum hack.