Bloggers Specials this week

Well quite Aye, that's what I"m saying.

It's not a mistake that could be made by anyone who knows anything about the issues surrounding rape, DV, Stockholm Syndrome etc. The alarm bells on that site would be deafening to anyone who has even a basic knowledge of these issues. At MN however, it didn't even elicit a little peep apparently.

But I suppose it's churlish to expect MNHQ to have a culture where those issues are something people are broadly aware of. After all, other organisations don't and MNHQ as the most intelligent parenting site on the net, can't be held to higher standards than others I suppose.

Bit puzzled by the MNHQ responses to this. This isn't a "oops, I put the decimal point in the wrong place" kind of cock-up. This is a "Shit, that didn't even cross my mind" kind of cock-up.

Luckily, MN posters have provided lots of material on the boards to facilitate any additional training needs.

I think what you are saying makes a lot of sense, Justine, and I agree with BOF that it takes guts to apologize for an error like that.

I would say, I'm a bit concerned that the initial reaction to the thread, and the subsequent reactions some hours later, from HQ, were not to pull the blog immediately. So clearly the decision to promote it wasn't something that everyone could see was obviously wrong, and that did surprise me TBH. I am sure it would not happen twice, though, and it's been really good to be on a thread that didn't end up kicking off, despite the subject being so sensitive.

I really hope jently is ok too, and I hope she knows this is not about her.

Whoever took the decision to promote the blog does need to educate themselves about rape and its treatment in the criminal justice system in this country (most rapists get away with their crimes). They also need to understand how rapists will lie, lie and lie again about their crimes, against all evidence, so protestations of innocence are highly unlikely to be truthful.

I also hope Jently is OK, and not put off posting at Mumsnet, similarly anybody else who was affected by this. It's a very difficult subject.

I'm impressed by the apology- it takes guts to hold your hands up and admit a mistake has been made.

But it's completely against the MN ethos. I think that's why there was so much shock and such a grovelling apology from Justine (sorry Justine but tbf you did need to grovel a bit).

Sorry Isla but I think the ethos thing hasn't been dealt with and needs to be. It's not just about procedures, it's ethos too. I just wanted to flag it up, because it hadn't been acknowledged. But as I've flagged it, I'll shut up now, I promise.

I too, hope that the blogger gets the support she needs. That's where MN is invaluable and I hope she name changes and continues to post and get support here.

Well, if the biscuit-munchers on the Bloggers' Network team are encouraged to THINK before they accept and promote blogs, some good will have been done.

I feel sorry for the blogger, and I hope that she eventually finds the support she needs, which mumsnet is so good at providing, to actually get out of this awful situation and start to come to terms with reality.

There'll be one poor, mortified MNHQer who made a mistake. I trust MNHQ to deal with it properly. They don't get it wrong often and yes this was a clanger but I think we should stop raking over it now. No good can come of it.

How can this have got through? Did no one look at it and think "hmm, perhaps this needs a second look"?

I don't think it's just a procedure issue tbh. I think it's an ethos one. Even without knowing the details of the rape case, I think the very fact that it's a blog by someone insisting her DH is innocent of rape, when only 6% of reported rapists get a guilty conviction, really ought to have rang alarm bells in anyone who works at Mumsnet. The fact that it rang no bells at all and no one thought it was worthy of further probing just to check out that it was a good idea to run it, speaks volumes.

Sorry. I know htat's negative and I do acknowledge Justine's positive response, but I've been sitting on my hands all evening about this one. I am so sad that this slipped through.

I agree that the thread should not be pulled.

I have refrained from posting before but would like to say thanks to everyone on here who has posted so eloquently and thoughtfully on this extremely distressing subject.

Special nod to AmoryCohetes.

And thank you to Justine as well.

I hope you're OK jentlydoesit if you're still reading this. I realise this thread must've been difficult for you and hope you can understand why people have made the objections they have.

not

Agree with TBE.

And thanks for breaking into your evening Justine to deal with this.

Please keep the thread

We all need to see how MNHQ can respond to their members, when it really matters

Individual posts may be better gone, but no the thread