Yeah, they do, because it works and because it is the more just option in some instances.
I, for example, am on .cafe allowing my account to be downvoted by rape apologists who are arguing rapists have an absolute right to participate in the community regardless of what they do and the fact that their actions put the community in danger. I oppose rape on principle and think rapists ought to be jailed for life. You think shit Lemmy users are going to listen? No, and the downvotes prove it. But will it affect or change anything? Or change their minds? Absolutely not. Because humanity is inherently evil and violent, and nothing you and I say or do will change that.
You can’t make violent evil people change their minds, and you can never stop violence just as I can never stop enablers from keeping rapists in the community.
Deontological morality like the kind you and I apply to such situations therefore doesn’t work, and we both need to rethink our approach. You want to make the world a better place? Stop focusing on changing the zoo animals and just feed and cage them, where they belong.