Deleted threads

Ahem - TMI chickens

That would be funny! He'd be shooting hisself in the foot somewhat, since Dittany has converted so many to the cause ... Troll like that, we could use

I'm not Jamez either. AuntieMonica can vouch for my lack of penis.

Ahem. SGM? It's HRHChickensHaveNoEyebrows, if you don't mind. One must keep a level of formality Oh, and just in case anyone missed it, I AM NOT A TROLL

I get them all muddled up, they blur into one another - but on one of the sites they scurry back to, it might not be W. Michigan's finest it might be James actually, one of them was really proud of his 'deep cover' here. I don't seriously think for one minute that they could come up with such a cunning disguise as dittany or Sakura though.

Tyr, I am one of the posters who distressed Dittany and Sakura. That was on Mumsnet threads a couple of months ago and I also felt like quitting. I hope we've reached an uneasy truce now, but this post is to acknowledge that the aggro didn't all happen off-site. Most of it was on Mumsnet.

What on earth is this deep cover referred to by MitchiestInge at 17:55?

Are we in the 1955 Cold War??!

Was this anything to do with that wanky site? (there was a thread about it a while ago)
Some tosspot was reproducing posts from MN with hilariously illiterate derogatory comments. Probably not so hilarious if you were on the receiving end. If I remember correctly, Dittany and Sakura were the main targets.
Is that what caused them to leave? I only ever scroll through "Active Topics" here as I'm extremely busy so I miss a lot of threads.
No matter how much I disagree with a view, I won't have it silenced without saying something.
If there are threads or other sites that have been responsible for this, can someone point me in their direction? A pm is fine.
Also, did someone say that one of them had been named in the DM? I don't read newspapers so WTF was that about?

Who the fuck are bob and edd and what the fuck are they doing here.

What Catitainahatita said. And NarkyPuffin.

Dittany and sakura - you have both changed my life and I thank you for that. I am sorry that MNHQ have not protected you both from all the shit that's gone on. Shame on them,

not much time to post on MN at the moment but have been lurking and am

very

not sure exactly what's been going on but I have the gist I think

Someone (can't remember a name) came up with a great response that I liked. They linked to stats and articles about violence and discrimination against women rather than engaging with the poster.

Non-engagement has to be the way to go given MN's stance. Don't engage, carry on with the thread, and report them every time they break the rules. When they are using multiple names it is pretty difficult for MN to bar them - they come back with a new name and IP address. They can spew bile one night and be playing the faux concern card the next morning.

If you want to educate/challenge address the lurkers. Trolls are inadequate people who thrive on attention. Starve them.

Dittany and Sakura, if you are reading this

I've been mostly lurking here, so you don't know me, but I just wanted to say that I've learnt so much from you by reading the discussions here. Sometimes you've shocked me, sometimes I've disagreed with you totally, but you've always made me think, and I really, truly appreciate that. I'm sad that you feel the need to leave, but I understand that you have to protect yourself. I hope you feel that some of it was worth it when you see all the people who will miss you. Thanks.

LRD I have so much love for you for all your posts on this thread

Crikey this is long. V sorry to hear of Dittany's decision and wondered why I hadn't seen posts by Sakura in a while. Sad, but understand the reasons. Have seen this sort of stuff before and it's draining as hell.

I just skimmed above, but wanted to give a shout out to the post by HereBeBolloX Thu 15-Sep-11 13:13:28 - absolutely excellent summary of what I called, "looking for an excuse to get off the feminist bus" the other week. I've bookmarked that for future reference.

do you think dittany and Sakura were the 'deep cover' boasted about by these 'resident trolls'? That would be quite a good twist. Can hardly wait to see what happens next.

It wasn't me

I think -how to put this politely- the reason why a lot of trolling is hard to ignore on here is because the posters come out with opinions that the feminists who post on here feel should be challenged.
In particular it is hard to ignore jokes about domestic violence (at least one thread this week so far); rape jokes, rape apologies and being told that feminist hate men (once a day at the moment. This thread being today's). This is why these are the favourite source of inspiration for the resident trolls. Because as I said, the aim appears to be that of "rile the feminist"; not "discuss politely what you think is wrong with feminism". A secondary aim is then to criticise, belittle etc one or other poster directly all the while adopting a more "reasonable" tone with others. I have seen this done to Dittany and Herbex in the last months. This secondary aim is often then continued on other sites away from MN and I think could be classified as stalking.
It's unpleasant and nasty. And for the life of me I can't understand why anyone would thus employ their time. But they do.
As a result, a genuine person wanting to engage and talk about feminism is often put off from posting. Other who do run the gaunlet of being mistaken for a troll, when in fact they are simply curious about the subject.
For all these reasons MN need to review its guidelines imho.

Thanks for explaining sgm/auntiem

Am off now to explore other threads in response to mooncup's excellent suggestion as we don't appear to be getting any further with this thread, let's hope we get an update from MN soon :)

you're absolutely right Mooncup :) I'm guilty of clicking on AC and using that as my guide as to what's happening but that's a rubbish way of engaging

That is also an excellent point mooncup

chickens wasn't listed as the OP, the (troll) OP name was still up, the title was still visible, but the 1st post was blank, but had chicken's name visible with no text

hth

It's a real shame that dittany and sakura have left, and I hope they come back at some point (possibly name-changed).

But there are still loads of interesting threads on this section and I can't help noticing they get many fewer posts than ones like this which are focused on drama about individual posters and arguing about the feminist section as a whole. If everyone makes an effort to post on the interesting threads about feminism and ignore the trolls/drama then I think the feminist section will continue to thrive.