Is something being "malicious" against the model of this forum?
This isn't "society as a whole"- it is a microcosm for sociopaths and those who are interested in them, so your argument is invalid. The only "laws" that should be instituted here are those that are mutually agreed upon by the collective, of which there are likely to be very few, knowing this group! Impose objective guidelines for the pinata, er, "intendant", and obtain informed consent from users to protect yourselves legally.
Pink is right, Michael. Circumventing bans is easy. I know; I've danced around them on several occasions. :D Doxing has always occurred on these forums. The best you can do is delete personal info on request, hope to discourage the practice, and make sure you protect yourselves from a legal standpoint. This means informing people that it is a potential risk, which should also serve as a warning for posters to be careful. They can then choose for themselves whether or not they wish to participate.
The delete on request option seems reasonable enough to me. And I've outed people after they outed others.
I've also had bullshit threads made about me. I wouldn't call them "outing" bc I don't share info that can hurt me or my family IRL.
I think that what tk suggested was reasonable, tho. If a person announces publicly that s/he intends to temporarily or permanently leave the forum, people shouldn't start trying to out them in their absence.
The question is, what's fair as far as deleting threads and/ or posts made while the person is away? Tc could spend a lot of time doing keyword searches for the weeks or months that the absent members request.
Or not? How many people are likely to leave in such a way? And how many of them would care?
How many of them would announce that they're leaving so they can come back with a sock puppet, but put absurdly ridiculous deletion requirements on tc in their pretend 'absence' for a sick joke?