The best thing to do I think is to just ignore them completely and eventually they'll move.
Lots of people also make them angry (by hitting them with the bug net and planting pitfalls) though I'm not really sure if that works.
I think abusing your neighbors works. I have been trying to get Hippeux of out my town. If you send them mean letters, push them around, and smack them with your net repeatedly they'll move. Ignoring them also works, but I personally think being mean is more fun
It's all random. Hitting/ignoring them will not increase your chances of getting them to move. However, I do recommend ignoring the villagers that you want out of your town. Sometimes they will approach you and tell you that they are planning on moving, and if you talk to them there is a chance that you might convince them to stay even if you tell them to go.
It just requires a lot of patience though...
Take me, for example. I TT and I talk to all of the villagers that I like every single day. There is only one villager that I dislike: Bree. So far, every villager has asked to move except for Bree. Even though I always run tasks for the other villagers and completely ignore Bree.
Hey everyone! I have a villager called Cranston who has said he will move out twice and then promptly tells me he's staying when I tell him to have a nice life. Will he end up accepting that I want him move out or does it look I'm stuck with him for all eternity? Has anyone had similar issues with a villager? I'm going to start ignoring him when he acts surprised around me in the hope he'll still move out.
Hit them with the net, send them "blehblehbleh eye hate ya" letters, ignore them, try to pitfall them, TT (but I don't recommend this), bury pitfalls around their houses.
And when they ask you if you want them to move, tell them that YUSH, until they do.
This is my understanding, too. It's random. The villagers you love the most or hate the most may tell you they're leaving on any given day. Correlation does not necessarily equal causation. Just because you pushed your villager around and they tell you a few days later that they're leaving, it doesn't mean that the pushing around caused them to leave. The game randomly chose that villager to announce his or her departure when the day reset at six AM that morning. It could just as randomly have been your best villager that made the announcement.
I think the only thing that pushing around accomplishes is that it makes it much less likely that to get that villagers picture when they finally do leave.
It's random. I have no idea where people pull this "hit them with net, send them mean letters, report them" thing from because it isn't true at all. Let's not spread false information around because then others start to believe that and it spreads even more.
Yes, totally random. Abusing them does nothing.
Time traveling is the best way to get someone to leave fast.
Otherwise you will have to wait and wait for whoever to ask to leave. From my experience, a villager asks to move out every 3~5 days.
If you feel the need to time travel, do it in small amounts. I time travelled day by day for 7 days, then back those 7 days, day by day. That way your town stays in control AND it's considered 14 days of time passed. I tested this with stores too.
- - - Post Merge - - -
Although many say it's random (and I'll agree with this). I've noticed that the villagers I talk to have never once asked to move away, while the ones I've ignored have. Coincidence? And I've gone through about 20 different villagers I've reset a lot)