Troll hunting, why it's not a good idea and why we deleted the Rarebird thread

Yep lots more accusations of trolling these days; as a veritable oldie I changed my name and was shocked to see accusations a plenty flooding in.

A taste of what it's like for the newbies who can't just go 'oh but I used to be ....'

TBH it's not a supportive forum any more and the nice MN bits are ebbing away. Why? It's sad.

If you see a thread that you feel is dodgy back off, tell MN and don't post.

Don't ever offer mroe support than you can cope with if it all goes tits up.

After that there shouldn't be any problems should there?

I ahve flounced / walked off upset twice in the past eyar and never in the nine years before that. Has to be something in that.

i still wondered if people were shouting troll behide my back at time. Its not good that even geinue posters get worried.

Agree with those who say that if people don't know you then they are too quick to pile in with accusations of trolling. Once any well known poster has made her mind up everyone else seems to join in.
I posted a few times that I believed rarebird and so did others and they were shouted down.
Now I don't care whether you agree with me but if I was emotionally vulnerable it would be crushing to see some of the things being posted.
Its not just this thread, there seems to be a lot of bullying at the moment (or maybe I'm just reading the wrong threads).
I know everyone is free to post whatever they want but I wonder what good people think they do by being aggressive.

I only posted on the thread to point out that whatever the truth of the matter, the whole thread ought to be deleted pronto. And yes, it was totally car crash stuff. I sort of wish I hadn't bothered as it didn't seem to help and everyone just carried on. And I feel a bit ashamed of googling

FWIW, I think the poster who phoned the hospital honestly wasn't doing it out of any base motives, from what she said. She just got caught up in the mystery of it all and thought 'well, I'll sort this out for everyone right now'. I think she said she was a relatively new MNer, so is probably feeling a bit got at now. She seemed like a nice sort.

getorf - I agree. I didn't post on the thread because I hate the car-crash mentality of watching someone in trouble (for whatever reason) being poked and gawped at.

However having stumbled on it I did report it, and I am bloody glad it was deleted.

Most playground bullies have more integrity and humanity.

Come on then what was it all about? I've guessed so far someone with a baby in SCBU what the rest?

God knows what that was all about.

I was incredibly nonplussed at it all - posted in a rather confused fashion and pissed about trying to defuse nonsense by rambling on.

I wish I hadn't posted at all to be honest and just stayed well away - I got drawn in to the drama shamefully.

I have absolutely no idea if she was a troll or not and couldn't give a shit anyway. I certainly wasn't going to google the woman. I thought the nadir was reached when the MNer telephoned the hospital.

I thought we all behaved like shrieking harpies. Has put me off mumsnet rather, and I am nota hysteric flouncer type. But my god I would rather ask the cat for advice than come on here if I had a problem.

sorry - x-posted with TinaSparkles who said what I was trying to, but much more succinctly.

I don't know if I missed lots of stuff but it didn't sound particularly far-fetched to me, any of it, apart from maybe the royal prince. But hey, someone has to go out with them, I suppose!

I'm really glad the thread was deleted as it was getting increasingly unpleasant, but I do wish you had done it earlier, MNHQ, though I appreciate you are busy. Whatever the truth of the situation (and I don't suppose any of us posters will ever know what that was), it didn't seem to be at all a good idea to leave it all there where anyone could read it. I know individual posts were being deleted, but there was still enough information there to make it very easy to find out who (IRL) was possibly being talked about without much difficulty. Yes, I googled, and I'm not particularly proud of myself for it but I am nosy and I sort of couldn't not do it. Stupid, but there you are. Whether the OP is or isn't the person who was being suggested, it wasn't okay for the potentially damaging stuff to stand.

I really hope the OP is all right and getting some help with the things that are troubling her.

Oh for goodness sake - stop slanging the poor woman! Justine has said they don't know for sure either way - so please let's leave it.

Or do you want this thread to go the way of the other one?

The justification for troll hunting is always "oh, we must protect the poor innocents who might be sucked in by the story".

Well fine - there can't be a single person on mumsnet now who doesn't know that there were doubts about this thread. Job done. Can we just leave her alone now?

Give it a rest SGB. That's party's well and truly over.

I'm glad it was deleted as it was getting increasingly hysterical.

I posted on it, and then wished I hadn't.

Maybe these kind of threads should be deleted more promptly? I know they keep popping up, but perhaps MNHQ should be more prepared to delete them more quickly.

I'm still about the story, but don't think anything has been achieved today. If it's true, then I really feel for RareBird, as her story is horribly tragic.

Thanks Justine.

The whole thing smacks of the Salem witch hunts. Someone sounds different from the 'norm', sounds distressed, the story sounds extreme ...let's burn her at the stake. Whether it's true or not can't people tell she's hurting and needs support?

Perhaps troll hunters could be sent a personal email reminding them of the policy when needed?

Why am I still on Mumsnet?

but scaredof, we can't have it both ways. I always name change when I post about personal problems as I wouldn't want people thinking it might be me and linking back to other threads.

I also often change small details so friends won't recognise my situation (DS becomes DD etc, ages change etc).

But I'm still a genuine mnetter asking for help, not the bloody FBI.

Thanks for deleting them.
tbh I thought she was real and said as much on the initial thread. I feel a bit ashamed for not being more vocal in defending her, became a car crash watcher

The more I think about it, the more convinced I am it's real. My former boss was a high flying, successful mum/career woman. She was always frantically rushing about and this is just the sort of thing that would happen to her. I can just see her sitting in hospital with her lap top...I could tell you a story or 2 about mad things that happened to her which if I hadn't been there no way I would believe....so actually, yes, I can believe this story.

Wishing RB the best and I'm sorry that we were so ungracious and cruel.

People are believed if their name is known, that is all it boils down to. If you are known, you can post anything - whether real or not

I don't see the problem if the story is a delicate one and is made up (though I don't think this one is) If you choose to share, only share what you can afford to, whether its been there anecdotes, a kind word or money. I have reported posts in the past but wouldn't dream of mentioning it on a thread. Have only reported where I think the op is about to be given money/gifts and the story is suspect. I think all troll hunting should be left to HQ

The problem with troll hunters is one person will do a hmm face, someone else will agree, then next person will say 'oh is this a troll' and then it's 'oh it's a proven troll' Always a bad case of chinese whispers

Today has left a bitter taste in my mouth with all this amateur Miss Marpling, nasty nasty behaviour

BuzyMissIzzy don't take it to heart - you were trying to help and got caught up in the frenzy of that thread.

misdee, your story was totally different. i cant explain it but there was an air of total conviction to your posts. didnt even occur to me to doubt it. Im sure that people will have ed at a lot of my posts. couldnt care less, i know they are real and im the one who has to live through it the problem is, mn has been pretty badly burnt in the last year or so by trolls and it has changed our perception and made us less trusting.

if rarebird is reading this, i am one of the doubters and if you are real (and i hope that you are not, because what an awful situation to be in) I am sincerely sorry for adding to your pain.

Thank you Justine. There was a shockingly brutal reaction to that thread- I hope the OP is OK...

I reckon that all mners should remember MNHQs advice here... If you suspect trolling, report it and hide thread. Commenting is pointless.