Deleting whole threads

What Vintage said.

I shouldn't have gone on the thread in OTBT last night but I am really really hurting that I was taken for a complete mug. I gave of myself to support someone who I thought was vulnerable, in a bad situation. Emotionally I supported someone and I went above and beyond to advise and help and seek out places for support. I needed and still need somewhere to vent - and why shouldn't I vent here?

That person rounded on me and others and their acolytes and supporters rounded on me and others. There was an absolute wealth of information on those threads and all that has happened is that I have learnt a lesson and I won't be supportive again like that - I will be sticking to one or two posts per thread, not getting invested and basically not caring.

I do, however, think that the threads should have been locked, not deleted. Even if only to protect those in future who may be as much of a mug as I was and try to help. Because what will happen now is that with the history gone and deleted there will be a whole new set of mugs to provide support and validation for that poster. And that makes me angry and sad.

Of course threads with outright bullying should be deleted.

So should threads where it's blatantly obvious an OP is on a wind-up, or goading, or after money.

I think the sad thing about the last few days' goings-on is that posters took time, energy, and effort to help. They opened their hearts and gave far more of themselves than they probably should have. They are obviously kind-hearted, if naive people who simply didn't, at the time, know the way certain threads go. There was also a wealth of information on those threads for vulnerable women in situations similar to those described. All that information has now gone. And those posters who took all that time, only to be shouted and bawled at by the OP, won't bother next time. That's the real sadness about it all. Another poster will come along, in a vulnerable long-term situation, and ask for help (because a mainly women/mother demographic forum is exactly where they are going to turn) and they aren't going to get anywhere near as much help as was given this week.

I think the threads where outright bullying takes place should be deleted, it isn't clever to bully it just shows what kind of person you are

What about when you report and hq come back and ask for more info as to why you're saying what you're saying? It is really unsettling to then provide personal information as to why you know something and either receive no response or a very generic one.

I gave of myself to provide hq info and to get no response or a standard one line answer seems uncaring or dismissive or something. It doesn't feel right.

Is there a way an auto-reply system could be set up, even if individual responses aren't sent any more? Or would that be too hard?

I find the thread deletions very frustrating because I can't spend all day reading Mumsnet. Could they lock threads instead?

Yep, clicking on it just refreshes the thread. Weird!!

Me too, Worra

I noticed that too.

That's weird.

It says at the top of this thread, that MNHQ have commented but I can't see it?

Because threads are deleted at the drop of a hat now for all sorts of spurious and ridiculous reasons it makes me think twice about even bothering to post on them.

Especially the ones where people are asking you to share your experiences and give advice.

The majority of deleted threads are due to the OP not liking the replies from what I have seen.

Dunham, I know that I wouldn't have any issue with that kind of thread being pulled for privacy, and I doubt the others here would either. That isn't the kind of "privacy issues" thread we are complaining about - that is an actual privacy issues issue :)

I've had a few threads deleted.

The last one turned into a fucking witch hunt where I'd posted for some support about a very sensitive subject. One poster became quite agressive and I had a namechange fail. She went as far as searching my other username and posting details of other threads, completely outing me, laughing at me and doubting how genuine I was and encouraging other posters to search for me and do the same before I had the chance to get HQ to correct the name on my current thread.

She is a long-standing MNer who in my opinion should have known better than to purposely "out" someone who needed support.

I had to have more than one thread pulled to protect my privacy because of that.

I do think it happens more often now, and with journalists trawling the boards to find stories, its not surprising.

It is annoying to invest time and energy helping another poster just to have the thread taken down again but I don't think HQ just pull them willy nilly.

What is wrong with asking for a thread to be deleted though?

Maybe the poster posted in haste and regrets posting. I can't see much wrong with having a bit of control over your own posts on MN.

Bore 👍

If you email HQ as opposed to just hitting 'report thread' you get a response though - at least, from experiences I've had.

I agree, MrsDV.

In addition, not only do MNHQ no longer respond to reports, they seem to no longer respond to threads in Site Stuff unless the thread is reported to them.

So, I'm going to report this one to ask for a response to why so many threads are being deleted at posters' requests for no discernible reason other than the poster not liking the way the thread has gone.

That's how I feel Uni. You just have to assume if the thread/post is still there it's been deemed ok.

I hate reporting and not knowing if anything is being done. I report but it's like it just goes off into the ether and that is dispiriting. It seems pointless.

I would be interested to know if there has been a drop in reports since MNHQ stopped replying. I don't report nearly as much because I will never know if they have taken a look.

This thread is not about one poster.
Of course they are part of why this thread was started but its unfair to insist they are the only reason.

Threads have been going pfft at a rate never seen before for reasons that would not have been enough before.

I agree MrsM.

This thread is now being used for the same purposes as the OTBT one, though.