Anti-Religious Trolling On Mumsnet

I'd like to see the link.

I'm not sure I understand this derailment angle. I posted something probably when this thread had moved on somewhat which would probably be classed as a derailment? But then I feel I am entitled to post my feelings/experience regardless of where the thread is? Or where someone else thinks the thread is and how it should continue from x point? After all, my post can be ignored as such and the thread brought "back on course" or whatever?

Taking a step back from the issue of Trolls specifically on the P&R threads and our fairly circular discussion.

I do feel in recent months there has been considerably more Trollery going on throughout the site. There are some discussions elsewhere on Site Stuff for the need for faster responses, particularly in the evenings and overnight. I wonder whether for those who frequent the P&R boards they are not aware that these sort of problems are happening elsewhere. Certainly the issues about being shouted down or derailment are quite mild in comparison with some of the horrors I have observed elsewhere.

IMHO MNHQ are pretty good at managing Trolls (speed of response aside) but the site has become a victim of its own success and reflects the way the Internet can often be.

thegreenheart I think you've got most of the typical derailments covered.

What do you think the best course of action is bar moderation & reporting?

Overtly point out the digression and steer the conversation back? Ignoring completely just gives someone a platform for saying exactly what they like, unchallenged and often someone will eventually 'bite' (often myself), with varying success. Sometimes the challenge silences them but sometimes it derails the thread further, which is what some will want.

I didn't particularly have you in mind Silver, I would have to look at your specific posts again to see if I thought it was a derailment of the thread.

I don't expect a special sort of respect regarding religious beliefs as opposed to any other world views - I have mainly been talking about thread derailment as a tactic to put forward a poster's own agenda (being unrelated to the OP) without challenge and shut down any other discussion.

Indeed, muslins are essential for new mothers, but rarely seem privileged.

The derailing is typical of the way religion threads go thus people tend not to post on them. So the sharing of experience and giving of support around issues of faith has been shut down. How mumsnethq can deal with it is tricky as anti theists have made it clear on this thread that they won't respect people of faith so the normal netiquette that people sign up to on discussion boards doesn't apply. Maybe those of us who do post on that board need to be alert to derailments be maybe we have a handy list to refer to.

1 OT derailment
2 Historical derailment - crusades, Spanish Inquisition etc.
3 Bible should be taken literally derailment
4 All Christians are stupid derailment
5 I want the link between church and state broken - bishops in the house of lords etc
6 No collective worship in schools derailment
7 Fairer admissions.
8 People of faith can't be respected derailment

Anymore common ones?

www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/14/anglican-church-sanctions-against-liberal-us-church-same-sex-marriage

Now the link above is a real derailment. (smile)

Until the CofE separates itself from the abhorrent views of the Anglican Church in both parts of the U.S. and Africa I will have no truck with respecting their faith. It seems to me that faith and belief is less important than political expediency.

I also wondered why Muslim threads are not similarly targeted.

capsium it sounds like you are referring to my responses to the discussion about showing religious beliefs respect.

I don't agree that my argument, about many followers of religious faith not demonstrating respect to others, was a derailment. It was pertinent to why I feel there is no precedent for religious beliefs to deserve a special sort of respect.

Do as you would be done by, comes to mind.

I'm sorry that you feel uncomfortable posting about your religious beliefs here, but I've got to point out that mumsnet is an online forum, so you're going to get some tactless responses regardless of what you post. Mumsnet can't censor everything, because where does it end? There'd be barely any posts to respond to. You should be free to speak your mind, and if it insults someone else, they are free to call you out on it.

Religion is hotly debated all over the internet, and you may find that your religious posts are equally insulting to non-religious people.
ie: for someone who doesn't believe in God/s, reading a religious response to something they want taken seriously can be infuriating, because although it might be dead serious to you and an important part of your life, to them it's a tiresome fairytale concocted years back by tribal humans who feared the unknown and they simply don't want to hear about it again - hence the flippant and sometimes downright inappropriate responses.

Saying this, I do think that there should be a measure of respect for the threads which are specifically allocated for the religious community using mumsnet. If you have such a massive problem with the religious community, why would you bother to read through the posts and throw your weight around a like a small child? Seems like a waste of time and energy.

BigD it is derailment because it is off topic, in relation to the OP. Just because people mentioned they do not like name calling (inc name calling of the particular deity they believe in), which can also derail and is a personal attack, does not mean defending the name calling is not a derailment.

I'm not referring to the validity of the point, I'm questioning the appropriateness of it? As has been stated numerous times this is a thread about trolling on a religious thread not the argument between atheism and religious belief. I have no quarrel with neither Christians nor Athesists but I think the derailing exhibited here has been quite ridiculous

BigD using the term 'Sky Fairy' on threads where the OP is seeking to discuss specific aspects of faith or managing worship is derailment. The thread is not there to defend or challenge religious belief, it is there to discuss aspects of it. For the reasons I laid out above derailment can have the effect of shutting down discussion.

In defence of this term, on MN, you quoted someone who criticised current day Christian believers in terms of atrocities other members of the Church have committed, even though those crimes may bear no relation to posters on here or their beliefs other than the people who committed those crimes identified as Christian. If I identify as feminist, am I accountable to all the complaints against feminists, as men haters, as laid out by a chauvinist? Doing this on a thread, again, is further derailment - an attempt to shut down discussion.

I thought it was a good point.