Update from MNHQ addressing the recent images posted on the site

I would like to know how they are assessing 'bad actors'.

I'm sorry you got banned for expressing an opinion!

First time I'm commenting on this.

I want to add to the questions re the 'nightwatch'. No assurances have been given that this is going to be updated and made fit for purpose. I had no idea that the report function does work overnight, as many others have stated. This is not good enough. Use the wealth of the site to pay for moderation 24/7.

Thanks for the update.
Best wishes to all involved in this horrible situation.
Would be good to see something outside of Site Stuff regarding nighttime communication once a plan has been made.

For me, the issue that needs addressed is moderation, and that message doesn't address the lack of moderation at night or the lack of transparency as to how to report issues at night or even what hours there is no paid moderators working.

You won't find a bigger critic than me of how this has been handled, but we have to be reasonable. How could they possibly have advertised, interviewed, hired, trained and started night shift moderators in less than 48 hours?

That needs to be done ASAP, obviously. My most pressing question at the moment is what help is being extended to the volunteers who had to deal with the incident.

This isn't necessarily correct.

I have been provided with support from my employer following an incident at my place of work which didn't amount to an admittance of liability.

It's also pretty clear from what we can see behind the scenes that there is an ongoing, coordinated effort from trolls to further inflame these discussions, and cause as much disruption as possible.

I thought this too, just from reading and with no behind the scenes information. I don’t like the tone of, “Will you confirm that you will be taking X action as of three weeks ago?” or “Do you agree until MNHQ have removed all despicable images from the internet, MN should be closed down indefinitely?”.

Another voice adding support to this post.

There have been issues with both moderation and the IT infrastructure for years. I admit to being very sceptical that any material change will come out of this, I would very much like to be wrong about that.

Thank you for the update MNHQ🙏🏻

Yes, could you not send out a message to all users about these issues? Not everyone will see these threads and know how to seek assistance should the need arise.

Adding my voice to those who are commenting on out of hours moderation.

You have NEVER made it clear to users what the appropriate actions to take are outside of office hours. We are continually told to use the report function to raise any concerns, but you are not at all transparent with users that this is not monitored during certain hours.
Are there set hours? Is there always a NW volunteer online, like a schedule, or is it just if a NW happens to be using the site at the time?

Maybe you could signpost towards support for those who inadvertently viewed the illegal and disturbing material that was hosted on your website? This can include users, unpaid moderators and paid staff, many of whom will have been forced into viewing it in order to escalate the issue.

What is the escalation process for reports of this nature? Do the NW have the means to contact a paid member of staff with more administrative powers at any point 24/7?

I completely agree with this post by @SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius; it couldn't have been expressed more clearly or rationally. I can't see there can be any possible counter-argument to what she has said so eloquently.

I reported a post unbelievably playing down csa images, and I expect many others did too, and yet it's still up. 🤷‍♀️

I wasn't on the site when the attack happened, but it sounds horrendous. I'm so glad I didn't see the images. Sending hugs to those who did. 💐

To provide any such support would amount to admittance of responsibility / liability to their users for the incident. They will have been advised against this for now by their legal team.

What have the police said?

I really hope arrangements are being made for appropriate trauma counselling for the NW volunteers who were left to deal with the situation over a five hour period.

Thanks for the update Justine.

Do you think it would be helpful to provide some links to support for those affected by the images? I'm sure you're arranging it for nightwatch volunteers, but many regular MNers were impacted too.

Thank you. I appreciate this response. I hope my thread doesn't mean I'm a bad faith actor. I genuinely wanted some clarity and communication on the situation. This post has addressed this for me. Thank you.

Just adding my voice of concern about the apparent under-reaction.

Your MW volunteers were presumably acting in good faith when they asked users reporting the images to share the URLs on which they appeared, not realising that they were encouraging the "making" and "distributing" of images of CSA.

Your response, above, does not go anywhere near far enough.

Thank you for the update.
It was a dreadful night. I reported and it was over ten minutes that the images were up. I had to see them to be able to hit report. Then I remembered that it had to be posted on NightWatch. It was over 15 minutes.

Poor NightWatch were so upset. And then they had to deal with it all night.

Ironic that they are doing a better job of shutting down discussion about this attack than actually shutting down the attack in the first place.

I'd like to be reassured that more resources are going into protecting their users than into stopping us from discussing this. Or indeed, into supporting those users who saw the images.

I didn't see any of the images, thankfully. I've never seen csa images on any site, ever. I once saw a really nasty image on twitter (maybe 10 years ago) that upsets me to this day. I consider the fact that these images were all over MN for HOURS and so many people saw them to be shocking and disturbing and the way MN are trying to underplay and minimise is really upsetting.

Please stop banning threads and posters talking about this. People have a right to know and understand what's happened.

@JustineMumsnet

Please can you confirm that you have now appointed paid moderators with full access to reports to work overnight?

It is unacceptable for a site of this size and traffic to be in the hands of volunteers with no access to reports and limited powers to remove posts/threads/posters and no professional back up or out of hours access to MNHQ staff.

It seems clear that the Night Watch system does not work.

The NW don't see when a thread is reported, only when someone tells them on the NW thread - so when people were hitting Report on these images, no-one was seeing that immediately.

The NW are unpaid volunteers, and should not be faced with dealing with images like that, or the fallout from them over several hours, without back up. I am guessing that the NW don't have any way to alert paid MNHQ staff immediately, if there is a serious issue like this one, so they were left to deal with this alone.

I appreciate that you are dealing with a difficult issue, @JustineMumsnet, but would like to add my voice to the many others who have said that you need to rethink the NW system, and make sure there are paid mods available overnight, so reports are seen and dealt with immediately.

Could you also please reassure us that MNHQ are putting in place measures to help and support the posters and the NW staff who saw these images. I can only imagine how traumatic it was for them.

That's a lot of assumptions. I'd like to hear it stated clearly - maybe news will come in a few days.