Exposing troll email addresses: evil, just punishment, or bad idea?

So a couple of days ago a troll registered on my forum with a racist name, and proceeded to do what racist trolls do. Normally I just ban trolls instead of deleting them so I can refer to their IP address easily and look for patterns in their behavior, but I couldn't let the name stink up the member list. Having no imagination and little time that night, I simply changed the name to the email address he registered with.

It occurred to me this might act as something of a deterrent as well, if someone searches for their email address and discovers their attempted activities. At the very least it would bring a little spam into their inbox (assuming they re-use the email address). But I've had stupid college kids troll with their .edu addresses, and sometimes those email addresses get re-used over the years. Is it really fair of me to expose online indiscretions when it may have an effect on their future ability to get hired, get top secret clearance, etc.? Does the punishment fit the crime?

And by leaving all those emails in the member list, would I be attracting more spiders? I currently advise new members not to register with their email address as their username, but I don't force them to change their username if they do.

Any other caveats you can think of?

 

hmmmmmm im not sure whether i would do that......i would write down their ip somewhere, to remember it, then delete the account...or rename it to troll or something

 

Sign up at the Stop Forum Spam website, and report him as a spammer.

Stop Forum Spam

If the person is posting unwanted content, they are a spammer. Whether its links to unwanted sites, hate talk, raciest talk,,,, or unwanted content - they are still a spammer.