To think that today's news offers a glimmer of hope

[boringnickname]

here that Madeleine could still be alive. I have always thought the worse but this being bought up again now seems to be quite out of the blue and i can't help but hope.

I know its bad form, but i just wanted to share the glimmer

Oh yes, I see they have deleted my posts too. Anything which doesn't fit the approved story. Says it all really!

But MNHQ are allowed to decide what goes on their site.

Just because Sky News has something on their site doesn't mean MN should.

Hello.

We have no wish to censor discussions - as you know, that's not what Mumsnet's about.

But, as with other McCann threads in the past, we will delete any posts that potentially libel the McCanns by suggesting or implying that they may have anything to do with Madeleine's abduction.

We will also delete any comments about the McCanns that we consider to be 'beyond the pale' and not in keeping with our Talk Philosophy.

No thats true but it doesn't break guidelines.

no one was deleting or suing people for accusations of Robert Murat.

bloody well should have done though

No one was sued when the landlord of Joanna Yeates was dragged through the public gallery and deemed guilty based entirely on the fact that he looked a little odd!

Actually, there were two contempt of court trials against newspapers for coverage thst broke the law, and the landlord is or was suing, but the cases may well have been settled quietly (because clearly no one accusing him of murder had a leg to stand on).

"Just because Sky News has something on their site doesn't mean MN should"

For my mind MNHQ are being disingenuous - none of us have broken the talk guidelines that I can see, we are being very careful and being accused of being cryptic. Recall that the McCanns have expensive libel lawyers acting for them. We are based in the UK so MNHQ need to be mindful of this.

Why do people with a missing child have libel lawyers acting for them and not experts in finding missing people?

Sorry Eldritch should have clarified what I meant: I remember very clearly during that time of Joanna Yeates, no one posting content onto forums or websites where they were posting horrible things about the landlord were held to account or had their content deleted. The newspapers might have done, but not regular people?

I expect the McCanns have libel lawyers because people have been libelling them right left and centre, and if they let that go and people started to accept it, then people would stop helping them to keep looking for her (no need if you believe the parents have done away with her).

Eldritch, yes he did successfully sue several newspapers and was awarded "substantial" damages.

But bettybat, that just means those sites failed to stop a witchhunt. It is more an example of why MNHQ is right to act as they are over the MM story than an illustration of why they are wrong.

So if someone accused you of doing something which wasn't true LaVolcan you wouldn't mind? If lies were printed and posted all over the world, you would just leave them and let people continue to tell lies?

Or would you get some lawyers to deal with it?

I think it is important that Scotland Yard tread carefully and use what they consider their superior force to exonerate the McCanns .Once they prove they had nothing to do with it then maybe portugal will act. But after all these millions if they haven't found anything it seems futile. If there are leads why don't they investigate them and present the evidence.

But where have I witch hunted? I have said repeatedly - I have no idea, I am not making accusations, I had things I wondered about but I felt so many so called theories were implausible. But overall my main stance has been - I have no opinion. Yet my posts have been deleted.

I do not see any witch hunting going on here - as has been said, it's been the opposite - people complaining posts have been too cryptic FFS. This has been a very adult discussion with a complete lack of accusatory nature.

Either way it's scary, and I really don't care that much to continue having my non-inflammatory content deleted.

^So if someone accused you of doing something which wasn't true LaVolcan you wouldn't mind? If lies were printed and posted all over the world, you would just leave them and let people continue to tell lies?

Or would you get some lawyers to deal with it?^

Would I take action against outright lies - yes, if I could afford to. If you are referring to this thread, I, and a few others too, have only been pointing out facts. Why does anyone need a lawyer for that?

Wow, this is a touchy subject. Just joined today and already had a post deleted. I didn't say anything contraversial or negative, simply stated a fact about Jerry's myspace blog. The plot thickens!

Much of our discussion has related to free speech, and we haven't been accusing anyone of anything. It's a sad day when some perfectly innocuous posts get deleted. Dikkertejap had some sensible comments up thread, but dared to express a personal opinion at the end. Whoosh goes her comment. North Korea here we come!

No I am not referring to this thread LaVolcan, I am referring to your post... "Why do people with a missing child have libel lawyers acting for them and not experts in finding missing people?"

SOme of the detectives have been odd choices although the current ones said that Madeleine was within a mile radius of where she went missing yet still they haven't located her.

I would be grateful if Mumsnet HQ could explain how I broke their talk guidelines.

Pointing out facts...oh, c'mon, the insinuations are pretty bloody obvious. I mean, point the finger all you like, but please don't be so queasily disingenuous about it.

Oh you mean we shouldn't point out fact and/or question?

Well QuickLookBusy may I pose another question to you? Ben Needham and a little girl called Katrice also went missing - apparently vanishing into thin air. I have never heard of their parents retaining expensive lawyers. Why not? I have heard of them spending time and money trying to find out what happened to their children. What made this case different? Other than that the other two went missing 20-30 years ago before the internet was so ubiquitous? Is that just it?

I can't help noticing that some innocuous posts have been pulled. Why?