Tighter moderation - 2 suggestions

Consistent, proper rules. None of this "not in the spirit" bollocks. The spirit of mumsnet of late is completely different from the spirit of mumsnet 10 years ago, no matter how much that would be denied.

Automated email : Your comment [content] has been deleted because it breaks rule [no. and summary of rule]
Simple tick box for a moderator to fill when deleting a post.

I would also like to see moderators sign off on emails using their name (or pseudonym as may be used on MN). I think theres often an issue of certain moderators bringing personal thoughts into moderating, and they should be accountable. Many emails are signed off, but some aren't and on occasion where i have asked who I'm speaking to, it's refused or ignored.

Pay your nighttime staff.
Seriously, I don't know how clear that needs to be said. Using free labour as a multi million pound business not only contributes to inconsistent moderation, but it's fucking disgusting morally. Greedy and unethical.

If they email the offender every time they delete a message then it would massively increase the workload for HQ. Everyone would email back and challenge the deletions to defend themselves. I don't disagree with the idea but it would mean hiring more mods.

I also strongly suggest they bulk up the night team. Too much slips through the net in the twilight hours because they're down to a skeleton volunteer crew. Its shocking to me that a site as big as Mumsnet doesn't have consistent coverage at all hours. This is how those awful images were posted and remained up for so long.

That's a 'we have hidden this thread while we're looking into it' message which isn't the same as the brush-off 'we are looking into it' email you get when you report a post that they don't intend to do anything about.

I'm often on very early in the (UK) morning, and I frequently see "we're looking into it" - usually pretty quickly followed by the thread being restored or deleted. Not sure if the "night shift" can display the "looking into it" message when hiding the thread due to reports, or if the regular mods may be setting it on threads hidden overnight once they start work, but either way it seems to function effectively as a legitimate place holder in these situations. I find it less confusing than the thread just disappearing - and then maybe reappearing. If there are cases where "looking into it" remains out there longer-term, perhaps there could be a way for mods to do a periodic electronic "sweep" to make sure nothing has been left hidden/taken down temporarily for review for more than x hours?

Agree that there will be equal misuse of the report button because of the Bean Soup effect. Named after an incident where a blogger posted a recipe for bean soup and got a massive backlash of comments saying "what if I don't like beans?"

There are so many threads that attract people who are offended by the topic under discussion. Instead of contributing meaningfully to the conversation, they simply report all comments that personally trigger them. Obvious ones being sexual topics, body image topics, SEN discussions, Harry & Meghan etc.

Another very unfair rule is in regards to troll-hunting. There was a thread a while back about a mother who was upset about being left out of trick or treating. She kept talking about a 5 year old daughter who clearly doesn't exist. A few posters found her previous comments where she only mentioned having 2 sons much younger in age. However all comments alerting readers that the OP was entirely fabricating the story were deleted, and the thread with well-meant replies to a fake story left to stand.

Deleting or banning accounts that correctly point out fake news is basically censorship. The trolls get far more protection than real users.

Are the night mods allowed to delete posts or do they stack up for the day crew to deal with?

I'd like some acknowledgment that we're adults.

We can discuss sex.

And body parts.

I cannot believe some of the comments that have been deleted from myself and other users.

The comments were absolutely fine, but some MNers are such prudes they have to report posts about tummies and erections and sex lives.

MNHQ energies going into the wrong area imo.

Ok that’s good to know. I can’t recall why that came up now.

It doesn't. I remember one of the mods saying that wouldn't happen.

One thing that puts me off reporting is I heard that reporting too much can result in a ban? I mean logic says no that’s not possible but..

If you regularly get comments deleted, might you not be sensible to have a think about why that is?

Yes agree the holding message “we are looking into this” means we are not doing anything.

I’ve reported a few times and it’s usually to do with racist posts and. I’ve been told to challenge robustly. No thanks. As I’ve been on the receiving end of racism I don’t want to be doing that when im reading mn.

Yeah, I get that, but there might be ways of minimising the time that it would take. For example, the mods could select from a list of reasons to choose from when making their decision not to delete.

It basically boils down to whether MNHQ actually want to invest in resourcing the moderation process adequately or not.

Good idea but far too time consuming sadly.

I think that's a workload issue, tbh. There aren't enough moderators as it is.

Whilst I remember, when a post is deleted, the note says ‘Here’s a link to the Talk Guidelines’… well that link hasn’t worked for at least a year.

Excellent suggestions, OP.

I would also like to see a clear reason being provided when people report posts and the moderators choose not to delete them. Rather than the standard code message "thanks, we'll take a look at that now", which generally means that they're going to leave the reported post to stand. I appreciate that this would be time consuming, but if the moderators had to at least explain their decisions, they might think about those decisions a little harder, and people might have a bit more faith in the moderation process.

If they want to make things better they are going to need to make either the website usable again, or the app have some of the same functionality so you can get messages, notifications etc

Yes a copy of the post would be helpful because sometimes they're not reported/deleted until the next day.

And I can barely remember what I ate for dinner the day before 😳

I think it would help us all to moderate our own behaviour too because sometimes moderation can be a bit on the sporadic side.