I remember Usenet, in fact I still use it to this very day.

If people want to engage with the “bad actor” then that’s their right.

You know what also makes new people not stick around? Over zealous moderation, especially when it’s clearly biased towards maintaining an echo chamber. More and more people are waking up to the fact that censorship is getting out of control, especially on social media sites, and they don’t like it.

Given self moderation and overarching and overbearing moderation are both the kiss of death, the one where a few people control the whole thing and direct the echo chamber is the more destructive imo.