If they're active members of the community that are regularly quoted then banning them is unlikely to be the best course of action; I prefer to publicly announc

If they're active members of the community that are regularly quoted then banning them is unlikely to be the best course of action; I prefer to publicly announce that I'm ignoring someone, and perhaps why, before I do. Banning active and valuable community members should, at least, be public and transparent, lest the community react negatively. SMTP tarpits are more likely to involve a perpetrator who is operating a bot, and less likely a perpetrator who is personally engaged in the conversation and community.