I think that new members should be prevented from posting on the forums for 7 days

[wannaBeWhateverIWannaBe]

IMO it would prevent a lot of the nastyness that exists, and a lot of trolling.

I personally think that someone who signs up purely to cause trouble, is generally just borde. If they weren?t allowed to post straight away they would forget about posting here and would go somewhere else. As for people who need urgent advice, if they?re genuine, signing up here would give them a chance to look through posts and probably find the answer to their question without having to post it for the hundredth time. And if the advice they need is that urgent,then it?s probably professional help they need anyway and not mn help iyswim.

[Tutter]

i see your point

but would hate to think someone with an urgent question couldn't post

i know a lot of mners arrive with a question related to pregnancy or newborns, and to have to wait 7 days would put them off, and may even stop them getting urgent advice. i can think of at least one instance where a newbie got important medical info here which led directly to them seeking professional help

[lulumama]

nice idea, but wrong for the reasons tutter has said!

[tubismybub]

I think a lot of trolls are namechangers anyway TBH who just feel like stirring things up

[fryalot]

I joined another parenting forum and they had this policy.

I've never been back

[Boco]

Looks like it's a recent thing with an influx of newbies who only post on the madeleine mccann threads - most newbies are not frakes and trolls.

[WanderingTrolley]

I lurked for a while before I posted - I think a lot of people do that anyway.

[Tortington]

balls - if you need advice you want it now.

[ArtichokeTagine]

I think this would be a very sad reform. After I had DD I stumbled on this site while googling in desperation about a BF problem. I posted and immediatley got brilliant advice. I was an exhausted and confused new mum and at that point would not have had the energy or patience to use the search facility to see if anyone else had asked for similar advice before. Also it felt so good to think people were responding to me as an indiviudal.

Surely that kind of support is the real point of this site?

[Tortington]

i have a fag shes called welshjellybelly. say hello to her or i'll duff you over

[charlottelouise]

hello, whats a troll??? when i fisrt joined mumsnet i didnt actually talk for ages, because i didnt want to but in on conversations! thats when my friend told me that was what you were supposed to do! still havent figured out how to start my own thead yet though

[lilolilmanchester]

I think you'd lose people who genuinely are looking for advice and support and a week might make all the difference.
I'm fairly new to MN, and (hopefully!) haven't ever posted an offensive post. And from what I can see, many of the unpleasant posts come from people who've been around longer than 7 days. It's a shame that so much nastiness exists that you felt the need to post this, as I think the positive posts make it a very useful site and I'm glad I didn't have to wait a week to join in. Perhaps everyone just has to agree to completely ignore upleasant posts , and take the thread back to its original purpose? Or invent a new acronym (if one doesn't exist) so show that the unpleasant post is being ignored?

[Twiglett]

No disagree

its parenting not gambling

[charlottelouise]

Maybe you should have some threads that you have to be invited to join?? maybe people could look at your profile etc to see how long youve been a member or something

[charlottelouise]

twiglet- just looked at pictures on your profile page, v.funny!!

[charlottelouise]

i thought it said when you looked at the profile

[wannaBeWhateverIWannaBe]

fair enough.

was just an idea

charlotte you couldn't have threads that people were invited to join that would appear to exclusive and people would get more of a feeling that mn was cliquey.

[earlgrey]

wannabe I can see your point but see many more reasons for it not to work. Urgency (for whatever reason) is the first one that springs to mind.

[manamana]

Please don't do this, or have 'invite only' sections. Surely that is against the whole point of mumsnet. I know its sometimes annoying to see a thread that is the same question we've seen a million times but can't you just ignore it if you feel like that. Artichoke is right, lots of people come here in desperation and don't have knowledge/enegry to 'search' for an answer and it just seems crazy to stop them posting just because a few people are joining for more dubious reasons. And 'invite only sections'.... surely if you're that picky about who chats on your threads you shouldn't be using a public online forum. I've been a member of mumsnet for about 2 years but am not a regular poster, all this talk about newbies seems a bit of a shame really. I love mumsnet as it is, the trolls are an inevitable part of free speech/open forums although I appreciate that sometimes they can be very hurtful/provoke nasty debate. oh dear, far too many ////// - obviously indecisive today [hmmm]

[minorityrules]

Just because you are new to posting or not someone others remember doesn't make you a newbie

I personally had been around for a while and felt strongly so added my views

I'd say more often than not, it's the older members that are rude and want to stir up trouble

And why is having a different view trolling or stirring up trouble or is free thought and speech now banned too

[charlottelouise]

i get everyones point, it was just an idea. plus, if that happened, i prob wouldnt be invited on anyones!

maybe we should ignore people that write things purposely to get peoples backs up, if they dont get a reaction they they wont do it

[madamez]

No, bad idea. FFS people need to get over the fact that not everyone agrees with them. It won't kill you to have someone say your opinion is stupid or boring. Freedom of speech, remember, DOES include the right to be offensive, because it has to.

[ScottishMummy]

wannaBeWhateverIWannaBe - is the point on MN not open acess to post/read/surf

dont agree with restrictions.imo the headbangers usually become evident quickly, we all get to know who they are ..what they are likely to post etc

i can think of a few prolific posters who are frankly bampots i see em on a thread i run other direction

i posted on MN whe i first joined shortly after birth when starting to BF, so a waiting in lieu would have not calmed my new mum nerves