Direct action isn’t “force vs. force” in a vacuum it is people-led defence of a community’s survival against those who would prioritise their own interests over the collective well-being.

I can literally quote conservatives saying the exact same shit. The point in this is not to equate anarchism with conservatism, but pointing out that the justification of people-led defence of a community's survival against those who would prioritize their own interests over the collective well-being is nearly universal as a justification for ideologies, including my own, and thus does not serve as much of a justification for anarchism in particular.

By framing enforcement as “individual action,” you ignore the reality of mutual aid and horizontal organisation,

My response was made directly in the context of you asserting that the individual who sees the shitter is incentivized to stop them.

wherein the community itself sets the standards for tolerated behaviour.

... so...

... wherein a group of people make decisions for the lives of individuals.

Removing the state doesn’t leave a vacuum for might makes right it replaces top-down systemic coercion with horizontal accountability; Where a community’s refusal to cooperate with a bad actor is a far more sophisticated, and less violent, regulator than a politician who can be bought to look the other way and use the state apparatus to inflict physical violence on those who oppose.

How is a community's refusal to cooperate with a bad actor more sophisticated? Wouldn't that mandate the community enforcing the refusal on all individuals within the community?