Should Mumsnet Follow X By Revealing Basic Information About Posters?

[EsmaCannonball]

I was thinking about posting this in Site Stuff but thought it would gain more responses here.

In the last few days X has introduced a feature where users can see more information about posters, namely country/region where the account was created, date of creation, type of device the account was created on, number of name changes made by account and whether the account is using a VPN. It's early days but already suspicious or bot accounts have panicked and shut down, accounts claiming to be right-wing Americans have been found to be coming from eastern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, journalists purporting to be Palestinians reporting from inside Gaza have accounts based in places as far away as Poland, Indonesia and Pakistan, and I am sure there are more trends being revealed.

Of course, for most of Mumsnet this would be a redundant move - we don't need to know if someone is posting from Russia or Iran on threads about Sudocrem, MasterChef or parking wars - but on those threads that do get politically charged or the forums that do attract trolls it could introduce a level of transparency while retaining the fundamentally important anonymity of posters. However, I realise it is always possible there are unintended consequences that I haven't thought through. Would it be a good move or a bad move?

But date joined could be pretty identifying. Eg it would be an easy thing to use to check if two names are actually the same poster?
Anything other than rough area of the world would potentially be an issue. That’s the only one I could see not minding (although posting when on holiday could again be a thing)…

You must be joking op. Considering the amount of data breaches this site has had already with loads of users personal email addresses being compromised it’s a very big accident waiting to happen.

Also you can’t delete your own content on here so there’s no safety net.

Absolutely terrible idea.

Date joined isn't about rights, but date joined and country of origin could indicate if someone has joined to influence thought on a particular issue, e.g. a UK election.

No thanks, just let posts stand as they are

And if they haven't, they'll be accused of it, won't they?

How many times you’ve changed user name is not an indicator of anything either. I do it regularly so there’s not too much personal information under the one name that could make me identifiable, not for any nefarious reason.

Also, how many people on this thread have faith in posters to actually bother to click on the name and read this stuff, given how many can't even read a short OP? 😁

But this would be data Mumsnet already holds so would be compromised in any data breach anyway.

Tbh it’s not that bad an idea. We’re no longer in the good old days of MN. We’re overrun with troll and bot posts now and it’ll eventually destroy MN if something doesn’t change. Perhaps it could be introduced on the more contentious topics?

So you want to give them MORE information to doxx yourself with? Jog on.

If you’ve only recently joined and choose to use your first few MN posts to spout Reform influenced bile, perhaps you should be accused of it….

The only reason I’ve ever changed names was mean pms I gotten . No I don’t want people knowing how many times I’ve name changed!

Without a profile, or followers etc, does it matter if they have?

I suppose date joined would be helpful if number of name changes is going to be given - one would probably have a different view of someone name changing 10 times over 10 years, than if they had changed 10 times over a week.

Not that I’m saying either should be published.

That sounds like it would be rather open to manipulation and misuse. Whoever is in control of it could make it look like certain posters are real and others are not at their whim, depending on what they want people to read and believe.

But date joined could be pretty identifying. Eg it would be an easy thing to use to check if two names are actually the same poster?

Yes, good point.

People accuse others of being trolls and bots all the time. Even mnhq have said this is a greater problem.

I do wonder if Mumsnet has the information that a recently created account is based in, say, Russia or Iran or the US and joined just before a UK election and is posting almost entirely on political topics then is some kind of flag raised. The stuff being revealed on X right now because of this move is eye-watering.

Their “moderation” is terrible and totally arbitrary. They seem to think pointing out a poster is a troll is worse than BEING a troll.

Not at all. If you think someone is a troll let mnhq know and they’ll assess. You just get posters calling anyone a troll or bot for not being politically the same (usually Labour)

Mnhq can already see all this information, I don’t see how it helps anyone else to see it all too and that I’m on a VPN or poster575 is in France. It will just cause more of the tedious on thread accusations. The system works fine as is, if people are suspicious report via the button.

Yes at all, did you not get my point about the moderation being arbitrary? MNHQ are useless.

No, I think this is straying into very dangerous territory.

People are allowed to post about which political party they choose, as long as they stay within talk guidelines.

And that freedom should continue whether other people like that party and its policies or not.

I think what would bother me most is whether there is increased likelihood of computer failures and information leaks. If the map is there in code to keep and show country of origin by default, does it make it more likely that town of origin could be revealed, either through user confusion or IT attacks? A lot of women on here post for advice on leaving toxic relationships, and general misogyny is always a problem to be reckoned with. Men are always a threat to women unfortunately.

Otherwise I can see definite benefits to knowing if posters have links to unfriendly regimes on the internet.

Think about the women posting about abusive relationships and how revealing that information might affect them?