Missing in Action

It seems to me that MN needs to have some kind of standard on how the mods behave, because there appears to be a huge discrepancy in how some mods deal with a post versus how others would.

I'm surprised there isn't more consistency. That's really bad practice.

I wonder how many people per week get banned? Is there really no process to ensure that the grounds on which posters get banned/ suspended, are consistent irrespective of who is doing the moderating that day?

That just seems a bit amateurish at this stage of MN's life?

Following Penny Mordant's comment that the govt consutation on gender self-id started with 'transwomen are women' OP Pratchet wrote June 3rd 2018:
" A woman is an adult female human
Of the sex whose reproductive role is to gestate and bear young.

Let's just say this while we still can. Because it's true, and however many people try to make us lie about it, or remain silent, it will always be true.

In times of universal deceit, speaking the truth is a revolutionary act.

It hurts MY feelings to see 'transwomen are women'. It damages MY mental health to see that, it makes ME feel erased and MY identity feel destroyed. I have a voice and I deserve that voice. WE deserve it.

I am Spartacus. A woman is an adult female human. Sex is binary, immutable and defined by reproductive role.

If you report me, or get me banned you shoot the messenger. Because this is true and will always be true. And this day, this day of a lie, I WILL say it."
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3295603-A-woman-is-an-adult-female-human

Justine Roberts' responded:

"Hi all,

I’ve had lots of contact about about yesterday’s thread which has now maxed out so thought I’d put a response here.

First of all our guidelines absolutely do allow people to discuss biology and science. And we absolutely see why some of Penny Mordaunt’s words yesterday would raise concerns amongst those with a gender critical POV - so maybe it wasn’t, in retrospect, the best moment to make a point. Nonetheless we do believe that as a rule Spartacus-type threads are not conducive to a constructive debate and that trans people would be likely to feel attacked and/or excluded by them.

To state the obvious and as I’ve said before, this is an extremely polarised debate in which even the most basic terms are disputed, so if we’re going to have it here we’re in danger of being attacked from all sides (which we are in actual fact). Nonetheless, we think it’s important, so we’ll keep at it and we’ll keep trying to moderate it to make it as open and civil as we possibly can.

You should also know that I’m due to meet soon with Penny Mordaunt to discuss “any ideas you may have on the women and equalities agenda’' and I will of course reflect the strong opinion of many Mumsnetters wrt to this issue and ask her to do a webchat too.

Thanks, as ever, for your input."
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/site_stuff/3297067-Mumsnet-moderation-response-to-yesterdays-feedback

Maybe it didn’t work out for Emma at CAMRA...

The thing about the bannings from that particular thread is that that was not the result of reports from outsiders.

I am stunned to read that the bewilderness has been banned. What on earth for? Are there other, hidden banning criteria, apart from those included in "Mumsnet statement on moderation of trans rights and gender critical issues"? Now I'm really worried that there must be, because the bewilderness was so careful to follow all the new rules and yet it seems she has been banned? That is really dark and scary.

Who else has been banned? How can we tell, if women are just shut off from posting without having a chance to say goodbye? We can't even find out what they did wrong to avoid doing it ourselves.

I've experienced abuse before, and this feeling is nauseatingly familiar. Walking on eggshells, erasing yourself to appease, unable to predict what will trigger the next blow, and with no way of influencing the ever changing rules. Am I just being paranoid, or are the gender critical wise women being picked off one by one?

And Maryz?! Good god, MN, have a word with yourselves.

Can someone who knows list the still banned posters?

We need to challenge this

Is bewilderness not back?

Was that a permanent ban?
Dammit MNHQ, you go too far.

Cannot believe thebewilderness got a ban. Shame on MN. I wonder if there’s oversight of the moderation because, perhaps naively, I can’t see JR approving of that decision.

I can only echo that posters like her will be a huge loss to the radicalisation portal and implore them to get back to it if they possibly can.

But that time she was doing a book signing near me a few days later, so I just asked her in person instead

They can ignore us on MN, empress but we can still ask in RL. Especially when they have books to hock!

Maryz's ban is ridiculous and outrageous and completely without justification. It needs to be reversed.

Particularly as we all saw the deletions and gaslighting with our own eyes...

The mods are NOT all the same.
There are several who are brilliant and I suspect horrified at the censorship.
But also there is at least one in particular who does the "I'm banning you for your own good" thing.

Maryz's ban is ridiculous and outrageous and completely without justification.
It needs to be reversed.

See us in real life Maryz - there's plenty of feminist groups on FB now and lots of feminist action going on.

Still we persist.

It's really strange that MN are doing this.

They are undermining their own credibility.

Instead of being a beacon of free speech, as they claim to be, the behaviour of the mods is showing them to be just another business which exists to make money from women but doesn't really represent their interests except when it coincides with their own.

It's a sad departure from the days when MN would refuse advertising like Lovehoney and formula milk companies and stand up to MRA's like F4J because they wanted to stand for something different than just another business.

Oh well. All good things come to an end.

This thread will be deleted, and the account banned later. I don't intend to make another, so all the best, keep fighting.

Maybe I'll see you all on Gransnet in 20 years or so (if they lift the swearing ban).

I wasn't much of a feminist - I came late to this board, but have learned so much from you all - so my knowledge won't be missed at all. I'm just an example of how individual posters are entirely dispensable.

My sin was objecting to posts being deleted, reinstated, and the mod on duty denying that they had been deleted. I said it was gaslighting - which it was.

But apparently (according to the eventual reply I got), it wasn't my posts on that thread that got me banned, it was because I'm obviously unhappy here and it will be better for me if I don't post any more [baffled].

I queried this, but haven't heard back. That was a week ago.

I suspect the malicious reporters target the articulate regular posters who are seen as having too much influence.

The same is true for Twitter as Mumsnet.

I got a deletion on the avocado thread for talking about avocados... does that count as a "strike"?

It may do, it may not.

If you post at a later date defending women for the right to have concerns about women and girls, they may well add it to the hidden strike pile and tell you to 'go well'.

I suspect the malicious reporters target the articulate regular posters who are seen as having too much influence. TheBewilderness is a huge loss to this board as are the others listed but TheBewildreness' length of experience as a feminist gave her additional insight.
I'm nervous of the activists doxing me so NC every so often but a secondary reason for me to NC regularly is to try and keep under the radar of the activists who report.
It's a shame though, the posters who maintain the same name help give this group it's sense of community

Thanks Empress

I think they tell you if it's a strike, Chilli.

Maryz expelled and Empress suspended for asking an MP questions?? Fucking hell.

That rings a bell actually, Somerville. I think the only time I was suspended before this was for asking Jess Phillips questions. But that time she was doing a book signing near me a few days later, so I just asked her in person instead .

Can I just quickly ask here... I got a deletion on the avocado thread for talking about avocados... does that count as a "strike"?

Maryz expelled and Empress suspended for asking an MP questions?? Fucking hell.

Been here a decade.

There's loads of concerned women being told to shut the fuck up about concerns they have with the safety of women and girls. Many of them have been here for a long time.

10 years!

"My sin was saying that women posting with concerns about the safety of girls wasn't 'spamming'.
That's it. They refuse to respond to asking how that broke talk guidelines."