Part of running a community means enforcing community norms. This can be an awkward and uncomfortable task. I recently saw a Tweet that suggests it might be easier than you thought:

This is amazing: in an online community, simply telling misbehaving members that their account may have been compromised, asking for a password change made them stop the behavior — giving them the opportunity to save face instead of openly berating them https://t.co/XGuji2ZUeJ pic.twitter.com/TeFm150K0G

— Flo Crivello (@Altimor) April 30, 2018

It’s nice because it’s subtle and gives people a chance to self-correct. On the other hand, there’s some value in letting community members (and potential community members) see enforcement actions. Not as a punitive measure, but as a signal that you take your code of conduct seriously.

This won’t work for every case, but I do like the idea as a response to the first violation, so long as it’s a minor violation. Repeated or flagrant violation of the community’s code of conduct will have to be dealt with more strongly.