Adelaide man Richard Paul Warner, 43, set up a YouTube channel and posted videos of confrontations with men he had lured while posing as an underage boy.

Magistrate Paul Foley said on Thursday Warner had been "reckless as to the risks associated", despite his actions having led to the conviction of a sex offender.

On that occasion, Warner had posed as a 14-year-old and messaged the man online.

It was agreed the pair would meet at the man's house to have sex, but Warner arrived with a video camera and taped the subsequent confrontation.

He alerted police and uploaded identification details of the man, including his address, images of his home and car registration details.

"What followed was people, having viewed your YouTube channel, damaging the other person's property and behaving offensively including defecating in his letterbox," Mr Foley said.

"The court should be seen to discourage conduct such as yours which provokes a vigilante response by others,"

Warner, a former church minister, was initially charged with assault but brokered a deal and pleaded guilty only to using the internet to harass another person.

Outside court, he said it would be "for the public to decide" whether his actions were justified.

"Every citizen can be a normal citizen, or they can be a good citizen - the difference is someone who acts on their conscience or by the law," he said.

"When the law is wrong, I think the right thing is to do by their conscience.

"I believe acting by your conscience is being a good citizen."

Mr Foley recorded a conviction but spared Warner jail, instead placing him on a 12-month, $200 good behaviour bond.

Australian Associated Press