Mumsnet Talk

"Troll cries make MNers look silly. If you think the person is not real, you don't have to post - nobody has a gun at your head! If you suspect the person is false and trying to hurt, or get money, tell MNHQ! How terrible if genuine people - people in trouble, people at the end of their tether - come here as their last hope for some help and advice, are savaged and go off again, feeling terrible and that they don't have anywhere left to turn to?"

www.mumsnet.com/info/netiquette

There is a very real problem on Mumsnet that there are a small group of posters who wilfully ignore this "rule" as and when it suits them. I think the problem is now institutionalised in MN as being the norm and acceptable.

These people just make stuff up about people they've never met. Once they do this other people pile in believing the bullshit, and then acting on it. The troll-hunters also don't seem to stop and think how their assumptions might affect - or even damage the rest of the site. Lets summarise their position: " I am OUTRAGED and APPALLED by something that may or may not have happened but can't be proved, because although I say it did, I won't provide any evidence"

Sometimes this place is more like a bear pit rather than a community of support and OBJECTIVE thinking and response.

They have their bit of fun and when their target gives up - off course they do having been hounded unmercifully - the Hunter claim that proves they were a troll. Disagree with the unters and sooner rather than later they will accuse you of being a man (their ultimate insult) or a troll. A suggestion that you should leave the site usually follows.

The "silent majority" don't put up with this. They just leave...

It depends IMO

Sometimes you do get a bit
you said abc at the start of the thread....

now you say xyz seemingly after being told you are UR.

I don't think it's unreasonable to point stuff like that out but I rarely actually shout 'troll'

I'm more of a 'well that was a big drip feed' or a 'that's not what you just said a moment ago' kind of poster and let others draw their own conclusions...

Are you being unreasonable about what? not quite sure I follow you.

If you are saying that posting suspicions about trolls is against the rules on Mumsnet then yes that is quite right. Unfortunately you can't stop people from breaking the rules occasionally. Their messages are usually deleted pretty swiftly by hq anyway.

Personally I think Mumsnet is at times ruined by trolls and would always be grateful for a headsup from someone who might know better than me. That's just my pov of course.

Who are the small group of posters? Are you going to name names?

I pretty much ignore a lot of threads because they are obviously troll threads , I don't mind if people shout troll tbh some people need reminding that not every thing on the internet is real

some Mnetter make an absolute profession out of being trollhunters

i think mn is a bear pit tbh, if i change name to post advice all i get is a kicking. and tbh if your feeling fragile, it can really tip you over the edge

It is bad now though I agree , I would never post on MN for advice

Penandink Wed 08-Feb-12 08:55:25
Surely any net-savvy reader would know that the percentage of genuine messages in most of the site sections is close to zero. Where does the assumption come from that Mumsnet is exempt from the problem of trolls and the like that’s endemic elsewhere.

The local writers group of which I am a mere humble functionary introduced members to Mumsnet to encourage flash fiction entries in the annual competition. It was some time before I even realised that the messages I was reading were supposed to be genuine.

Add message | Report | Message poster Penandink Thu 09-Feb-12 08:47:17
Are you the librarian? I want to complain. These books are full of things that are not true! It's a disgrace, what a load of emotional vampires!

Madam - this is the fiction section of the library.

It is just the same on Mumsnet. I have to ask you again why do you expect Mumsnet to be any different from the rest of cyberspace? Or different from the real world? Do you believe everything said to you by family and friends or every article you read in the newspapers?

If you wonder into the fiction section of Mumsnet don't act all suprised when you read fiction!

I can see that some of you get really upset or cross with what other people post. "... I suppose it could be a warped creative writing exercise from some narcissist with no ethics. LeBOF, its not a matter of ethics. If you read posting after posting that reads like an entry to "first steps in creative writing" what has happened was a sure fire certainty.

"if i change name to post advice all i get is a kicking"

So Custardo are you saying that you get a kicking if posters don't "know" you, and agreed with if posters know you're a MN regular?

indeed i am cup - i am saying exactly that

yy, that has happened to me too.

I get very different replies if I namechange.

Surely that proves the whole "MN Royalty" theory?

Do I have to stop saying poo troll patrol?

Bugger that always makes me laugh.

YY when I namechanged to ask for some help, I got treated like shit. And told I wasn't part of the gang - by people who have only been here for five minutes. Was quite eye-opening. Back when I joined in the dark ages, people were far friendlier, otherwise I wouldn't have stuck around.

It's not Royalty.

But some of us are here a lot because we are sad bastards with no lives and people respond differntly to people they feel they know, for better or worse.

no, it just proves that people are fed up of posting replies to people they believe are genuine, but who turn out not to be. All new posters are then treated with a certain scepticism, which is not the best way. People feel they need to protect themselves.

The thread that just disappeared about the person who wanted to push her DP into leaving her was a case in point today.

It was quickly established that it was total fiction by reference to a parallel thread. Why should that not be pointed out? No-one actually shouted troll. No reference to bridges ...

But that's the worst part of MN for me, the posters who start a thread with "AIBU to hate MNers who XYZ"

Then a whole bunch of regulars post about how THEY like XYZ and the OP is posting "oh no YOU dahling, you're ALLOWED to XYZ" then they have a huge snogathon.

Its pathetic

Is this aimed at some people in particular?

Quattrocento, then you report to MN, who remove the thread.

Simples!

Most of those end up as complete piss takes, anyway.

So the worst thing for you about this forum is that people become friends?

Wow.