MN is a hive of trolling activity in the middle of the night. So much so that troll hunting is essentially permitted by users having the ability to publicly report threads and posters to the nightwatch. Surely there must be other ways to get round this? E.g.
Make it that no new poster can start a thread for a period of time or e.g. until after they’ve posted on a certain number of threads. E.g. you have to have posted on five threads before you can start posts in your own right. That would limit not only the trolling by night but during the day as well.
Make it so that posters cannot name change say, between the hours of 9 PM and 9 AM. That way existing posters couldn’t name change to troll by night, and new posters joining couldn’t name change constantly as their names were being recognised all over the boards.
Actually I would limit name changes altogether to one name change every 30 days. No other site has the ability to name change so freely, and no other site has the level of trolling that MN does.
Let’s be honest, it’s highly unlikely that MN is the only port of call for a first time poster in the middle of the night. And even if it is, if it’s a general question, then the answers can usually be found within search, and nothing is that urgent that it can’t wait until the next day. If it is then it’s likely it needs to be listened to by professionals e.g. Samaritans etc.
Just some thoughts...