You don't have to pull with pebbles. There's Chakrams ~.~ Although personally I'd prefer someone else pull unless really needed.
Anyway, you don't HAVE to catch his bait. You can put him on ignore. Him posting isn't a flamebait in itself. The reason you consider it a flamebait, is because you dislike him and find it annoying when he post. Posting in itself isn't a flamebait. When he something you don't disagree with, that's not flamebaiting either. You can still argue WITHOUT swearing and calling him a moron, idiot, retard etc. Its only flamebaiting if he do the same to you first.
Really, what's the point with the rep system if you're going to ban people that get 3+ red dots anyway? To show how many dots you have? Might as well remove it if it holds no purpose when everyone need to have green dots to not be banned.