to think MNers can be better than this

[IceBeing]

OPs may be ignorant, they maybe obtuse, they may be in the wrong and they may be trolls...

but how can dozens upon dozens of swearing riddled instructions to carry out intimate acts be considered a reasonable response?

For some people MN is the first forum they frequent. It is perfectly possible to post something that is innocently ignorant yet massively outrageous to MNers. Then suddenly you are being called all the names under the sun and told to fuck yourself preferably until dead? really?

Believe me it can be a massive shock that people say things on the internet they would never say in real life. It is possible to feel very very frightened and threatened by such an onslaught.

AIBU to think if the last 5 posters have covered the 'fuck off to the far side of fuck' angle then maybe you don't need to stick the boot in too?

The best case scenario is that the person on the other end is indeed a troll....in which case why are you giving them what they want?

I've never been troll hunted.

The minute posters start getting abusive and going down the "fuck off" route they have lost all credibility. There are sometimes wonderfully crafted exchanges of different view points on here that are very effective in challenging opposing points of view. When things go down hill I just imagine some irate red faced person in the street shouting abuse and there is little difference. Huge historic figures such as Mandella and Ghandi changed the world through quiet dignity, an anonyous sweary person on MN just sounds a bit silly.

Have been troll hunted when I namechanged to ask about an upsetting situation. And have never trolled.

I've been troll hunted and I hadn't even name changed.

I agree with you op

It reflexs badly on the poster that throws abuse not the thread or the topic or the troll.

If you post abuse on a thread I think you need to look at yourself and work out why you are so angey at just words on a screan, why you like the drama and what this says about you to other people.

I have stoped posting on MN alot now as the tone has gone down hill alot in the last two years.

As a naive newbie to MN I was attacked and accused of being a sock puppet when I tried to explain what I thought an OP was really trying to say as everyone seemed to be misunderstanding and getting arsy with her. that was before the days when I realised some people would deliberately misunderstand in order to get arsy when they didn't have a good argument ....

Yes I only recently found out what a sockpuppet is, you do seem to be expected to know everything from the get go and God forbid you post about something that has been talked about before!

Have totally been hunted and never deliberately trolled.

ChocolateWombat
I am on that Daily Mail thread and just don't recognise it from what you have posted here. So I went back to have another look and read about the first third of it. One poster was rude (and had a reply deleted) but 95% of the responses on that thread were people answering the question the op had posted. I thought it was remarkably restrained and patient, actually, considering it is a question which comes up frequently on Mn and had indeed been discussed on a long thread only three weeks before. Quite a lot of bad feeling on the thread came from defenders of the DM dismissing anyone who objects to it as "hard line lefty" "sneering" and "snobbish" - which, if you think about it, is not a very nice way to speak about your fellow posters.

I think we all have different levels of rudeness/directness/snippiness/call it what you will that we can tolerate. All of us have bad days when we can be a bit short but if a Mnetter points unfairness out on a thread then very often that person will come back and apologise.

What makes Mumsnet a little bit pony for me atm is there is no humour here. And it is filled to capacity with people re-hashing the same old complaints over and over again.

It's not rehashing to people that havent been on for long though is it

I meant rehashing the same old complaints about Mumsnet.

As I said, people were patient on the "What's wrong with the Daily Mail?" thread.

Minty, I asked about the Daily Mail thread, because I am new here. I was asking if that thread was an example of what is bei g talked about here. I can see you don't think it is, although someone upthread, said they did think it was.
As you say, we have differing ideas of rudeness and often pick up a sense of the tone and direction a thread is moving in, from perhaps just a few posts. You are quite right that there were lots of people speaking in an unpleasant tone to each other, from different points of view.
Apologies if the example I gave did not fit what this thread is about. I was asking if it was the kind of example meant by the thread. I guess I have never seen a troll post yet.

I haven't looked at the DM threads but surely it is happening to people (especially newish people) and they feel the need to speak out about it?

I believe op has been here for a few years?

I dont think mn is funny or lighthearted anymore cos there are loads of posters that are just aresy about everything, it just turns in to a bun fight or it sucks the fun out of the thread

The last thread I laught about was the creepy house thread which seems a long time ago! I so want a deamon statue for my MIL

I even remeber some troll threads that turned into fun threads and had a really good vibe about them at the end before they got deleted. Thats the mn I like! No abuse just fun togetherness.

So it isn't 'people' rehasing the same old thing, it's just this OP then?? I like a laugh and have been the first to tell someone off if they say a thread is boring etc but it's the snide 'ho ho, we havent had one of these in a while' if a thread is duplicated, if you are on a forum for several years then the same thing is going to come up

yup about 2.5 years...I got totally shat on when I first joined though....

I started this thread because I think MNHQ need a new approach to dealing with troll hunting and mass abuse issues. I don't think the one-sided take down messages are helping the cause.

I don't think that this is particularly relevant to the fun levels on MN...if anything I think MNHQ could be more relaxed about trolling in general if people weren't so likely to swing into vigilante lynchings...

Oh I'm not sure I can be bothered.

What was it for Ice?

Oh argument won then mintyy.

'never deliberately trolled'

It's not possible to accidentally troll is it?
I've never trolled. I've never been pursued as a troll.
I have been insulted ever such a lot for being a recognisable regular.

It's a lot to do with ones own experience, isn't it.

Yes, well done. I wasn't aware we were having an argument, but am happy to concede .

yy pag

tho I have also been accused of trolling even when known because I dared to express a non-mainstream view