Extremely thought-provoking.
After having lived in and studied many different types of voluntary communities, I discovered that the only ones that remained healthy after a significant amount of time were the ones that had clearly marked guidelines for social behavior. The most successful community has a grace period for all new members: they get to live in the community for six months as a trial. In those six months, the true nature of the newcomer is revealed. If the newcomer was abusive to others and generally created a lot of havoc for the community, the newcomer would generally reject himself/herself and move on. Also, the members, could decide if the new member would fit in with the group. If the members all decided that the new member would not be a good addition, they would not be allowed to live there. In this way, the health of the group is maintained.
On the flipside, communities that do not have any kind of guidelines regarding truly abusive individuals tend to dissolve rapidly, usually a psychopath enters such a community and rips it apart. I've experienced this several times in real-life communities, and it is an endless repeating cycle of humanity. Without clear guidelines on how to deal with real abuse, the communities dissolve. If a member does more harm than good to a community, then it is in the community's best interest to not associate with them, outcasting is necessary to keep the health alive. This is very basic, fundamental stuff.
When a community of trusting individuals who are mostly sheep allow a wolf to rest among them, they will soon find themselves without a body. This happened in my community when a pedophile moved in. He was the boy scout leader and he had married a woman in the community. He regularly took the boys, both his own and others' on camping trips in the woods. It took people a long time to figure out that he was sexually molesting the boys, but my mother used to say when she saw him taking the boys for rides on the lawnmower, "That man is having way too much fun." We didn't know this man, but others who did know him were probably given many clues to indicate his abusive nature, but it is my belief that people were too scared to confront the issue. Fear is a killer of building a healthy community.
Very constructive and informative comment.
thanks.