Any chance MN HQ could ban posters who consistently speculate regarding trolls...

Two points

1. I want to know what a " groll" is, I suspect I may be one

("By wannaBe Mon 14-Jun-10 11:59:16
if people didn't engage though then there would be little impact to shouting "groll". )

2. I like Custardo'c Unbelievable topic rather a lot, and I think it has mileage.

I love in the north, people are gruff up here
"by eck lass put em away"

SPB - I did post on a similar tirade that I had had to endure on a tube train - perhaps that's why I found no difficulty in accepting it.

tw, in my case it was the length of the conversation - I can imagine a muttered "That's disgusting" but it seems the charming lady had a 5 minute go at her and attecked every aspect of her life and parenting.
I suppose in the back of my mind there was also the bus aspect of it, which brought to mind the Bristol incident.
Anyway, that's what made me but I was aware that the OP was a genuine poster so didn't troll call.

I don't honestly know why people got so aerated about SirBoob's bus thread - it wasn't that hard to believe! Was it really just because it had happened to her more than once? Well, that's not that hard to believe either.

Typical response of the "it's never happened to me therefore it can't possibly happen to anyone else" group of people.

i think there should be a section titled 'unbelievable'

where people can put their unbelievable stories. they may be real - they may not.

but it would at least give me a heads up when searching for the previous weeks gossip.

• this set up would help me enormously

Was that definitely DM wannabe? Thought it was someone else?

Sprogger, of course it proves nothing, but neither is it right to assume that a troll will want to stick around once outed.

That was what I was trying to say. My issue was with the wording of the policy.

lots of pulled threads and more bans in a few months than i've seen in 6 years.

and people are calling for more? more moderation?

sad.

tortoise, so do you think that shiny should have been banned for suggesting that dizzymare was a troll? or flame for suggesting it of cvq? or whoever it was that questioned ethanchristopher to the point she admitted to being a troll? Or whoever it was that outed judge flounce (he/she was before my time but is imfamous).

In fact, have mn hq ever identified a regular poster supposedly going through a hard time as being a troll and banned said poster without anyone realizing? Or have all the prolific trolls been outed on the boards by posters rather than by hq?

What I mean is that trolls don't want that kind of attention

they want to be believed. They don't thrive on being questioned.

'As we say in our Talk Guidelines, we'd rather you didn't trollhunt because "if you're wrong, you could cause untold hurt; if you're right, you'll merely be giving a troll just the kind of attention they're after'

But that's not necessarily the case, with all due respect.

Often when confronted like DM was on that thread, the troll disappears. And posters who were heavily involved often thank the person who told them to watch out.

I never say anything any more though, only if it's patently a load of crap and no one will get hurt.

"It's unfair to suggest someone should be banned from mn simply for disbelieving a story"

But DSM, nobody's suggesting that, are they? The most that's been suggested is that people who continually call 'troll' are reported and banned.

As you said yourself, there's a difference between calling troll and saying that you think part of a story is embellished. The latter isn't against MN guidelines. The former is.

And that's the issue here. All the people here who are saying they will continue trollhunting (which has been said on many threads of this nature) are saying explicitly that they have no intention of following MN rules.

I realise this is a very loosely moderated forum. But really, if anyone can tell me why explicitly and repeatedly ignoring forum guidelines shouldn't be a banning offence, I'd love to hear why.

If you disagree with the guidelines, argue the case. But until your convincing arguments sway MNHQ into changing their guidelines, stick to the damn guidelines.

stealth dizzymare was outed on another forum iirc when someone spotted that the pictures of her twins had been lifted from the internet.

I do agree though re if a poster were just quietly banned then rl meetups would potentially go ahead, and more to the point, there would be frantic threads wanting to know where she was/if she was ok/if she had harmed herself (she had threatened to do so hadn't she?)

And as it was, while mn hq might have been looking into it, it was said at the time that they had to give the benefit as there really was no way of knowing one way or the other, and all the threads were deleted, so not only did we have no idea but we weren't allowed to discuss it, while all the dizzymare threads had been left.

why comne on here and still have a pop at the op of the other thread.
although I know meeting someone in rl does not mean they arn't a troll. the op of that thread is not a troll........
end of.

I am now of the opinion that if people want to be taken for a ride by trolls then thats up to them. Leave em be to waste their own time and emotional energy. I don't even bother reporting any more as I feel there is very little that mnhq can do.

oh dear BB, hope you're feeling better
part of the problem is that opinion's divided - some would argue it's someone who is living out an entire new persona in order to stir up trouble, others would say it;s anyone who ever posts a trouble-stirring thread, others would say it's anyone who has ever lied.

Well at least I now know what a troll is. Been trying to work that one out for months. Never occurred to me to check the netiquette. I just thought they lived under bridges and frightened the billy goats gruff.......

Nearly asked once in talk but some of you out there really scare me!!!! Been coming to mumsnet since I was PG but it's taken to DS being nearly four months before I plucked up the courage to join. Had to get past the crying everyday stage first because I figured that if anyone said anything nasty it'd be the last straw. Now I only cry once a week so I thought I'd give it a go.