Thread derailment

I don’t think any poster should be shut down automatically because their views or ideology may not strictly align with yours.

No-one's talking about that - we all disagree on many things.

It's about people who are here solely to sealion and not engaging in good faith. You learn to see it, after many years on here!

A common one, for example, is insisting that it's wrong to say that woman = female, but refusing to say what it does mean to that poster, or what differentiation they are making when they specify women, as opposed to men, or vice-versa. Clearly no-one can tell what they mean if they say 'women are more likely to do xyz' if we don't know whether they mean female people, people who wish they were female, people who are feminine, people who are left-handed, etc.

If someone was interested in communicating their point of view then they would have a stab at trying to get across what they mean.

I'm always interested to talk to someone who disagrees and see where exactly we agree and where our views start to diverge.

Re: derailment, I don’t really find this. Most threads have their own natural genesis. I don’t think any poster should be shut down automatically because their views or ideology may not strictly align with yours.

I didn’t answer a question on another thread recently as I knew it would lead to a derail (and said so). Meaning, I would be interrogated by 10 people at the same time, dragging the thread away from the topic at hand. Even this was seen as wrong.

It's nothing new. It's what 'trolling' used to mean before that encompassed making up stories or just being outright abusive.

There may be dedicated "community disruptors" who don't post in good faith but post repeatedly about some minor issue or squabble with another poster.... as seen all over MN!

The best way to deal with keeping the thread on topic is to go back to the last relevant post and respond to that. Make your own posts be what the thread is about and there is no harm making a separate thread if someone really wants to discuss a tangential point in good faith.

Also if you want to address a point without engaging them or replying directly, we can say that "although some might think xyz, that would be incorrect because.... "

Sometimes people plop just to see what sticks and other times people derail by being focused on one aspect which isn't really the main point of the thread - they're entitled to but I try and consider what part of the discussion is worth my energy. Otherwise all threads end up having the same argument.

And as always, report and explain if they are breaking Talk guidelines.

Worth a read here - check out the date!

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/3691023-Bunburys-guide-to-community-disruptors-part-4

Hmm thread about derailers attracts derailers.

Do you think the reason FWR is seen as right-wing could be because so many posters complain about Labour, Starmer, the Democrats, or ‘Lefties’ in general and blame them for near about everything?

I must admit I find FWR to be like some wing of the Reform Party or a Tommy Robinson fan club and that is just over the last couple of years. Nearly everyone seems to hate 1.8 billion Muslims

Report and explain it's the posting pattern, rather than an individual post. I've found MNHQ very willing to investigate such posters.

No you’re not alone - as I've commented on this on a few threads. It seems deliberate derailment. It degenerates into "it's all about meeeee!!" in familiar tra style. 🙄

In a way I would be happier is it were bots.

But for some reason individuals who are very fixated on some concept try and swing every thread round to be able to relentlessly go on about their obsession.

Its one thing having threads on FWR that are only tangentially a feminist issue, but enough on the board are interested in discussing it (from a feminist view point?).

I thought at one time it was maybe because the slur about "terfs" all being right wing extremists had attracted right wingers to come and promote their doom laden western democracy is under attack on a forum meant to be about Feminism and Women's Rights.

But wasn't aware it was happening else where on mumsnet.

It definitely feels that at best this is therapy to say stuff they would never say out loud.

It started a while ago but now its seems dominant.

I remember from when I used to just be a reader of FWR, some years ago, and if anything there were so many interesting and informative threads on a range of issues that impact on women, it was hard to keep up.

Now it seems either a thread never takes off, or if it does get lots of posts it will be sort of ground hog day, endless bringing back the thread to making an assertion over and over again.

Thanks OP for starting this thread. I wanted to start something similar but could think how to express it. Or rather I did think it was that FWR is now seen as a forum for right wing views.

But whatever, with so many issues that do impact of women, not just the TRAs, its strange so few crop up.

Or maybe it is the twitterisation of mumsnet.

I have a feeling it's bots. I've been guilty of engaging in the past but honestly we all should just ignore them. Regardless if bots or just robot-brained there's really no point to engage.

It's all over MN. I cant tell if comprehension is getting worse, people have fully embraced the internet culture of pretending the people you're talking to aren't actual human beings, it's mostly bots, or mostly trolls, or some mix of all of them. It's made it a very shitty place.