"Enemies vs Malefactors" by Nate Soares

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/zidQmfFhMgwFzcHhs/enemies-vs-malefactors

Status: some mix of common wisdom (that bears repeating in our particular context), and another deeper point that I mostly failed to communicate.

Short version

Harmful people often lack explicit malicious intent. It’s worth deploying your social or community defenses against them anyway. I recommend focusing less on intent and more on patterns of harm.

(Credit to my explicit articulation of this idea goes in large part to Aella, and also in part to Oliver Habryka.)