to STILL be angry about that troll from the other day?

[retrocutie]

MNHQ, I hope it's OK to post this. Please feel free to delete if not.

The thread has been deleted now, but it was started by a woman who said she found some incriminating emails between her husband and an ex-colleague of his. They were very graphic. She also said that he was saying very spiteful things about her (the OP). She talked about having 2 small children and was worried about what she was going to do. She went into great detail.

It all turned out to be bullshit.

The thing that upsets me, is that MN'ers were so helpful and took time out of their day to post and offer support. Some people even offered to go to her house! It makes me want to cry when I think about how caring everyone was, how generous of spirit, towards someone they don't know.

I don't believe the OP was mentally ill, I guess she was just bored and felt like doing something nasty. Like a child making a prank call.

It has upset me very much and it was days ago. Does anybody else feel the same?

[CMon]

I thought it was a troll thread straight away as the OP mentioned anal sex in the OP, because the OPs DH had kept all the emails and because of the 'feel' of the OP. It just didn't seem believable.

However, I have seen other threads with a similar feel which have been left to stand even though they have seemed very troll like to me.

Any thread with a 'shocking' update screams troll to me.

[ArseForElbow]

Yanbu OP, I was completely taken in by it too, don't let one arse stop you from posting.

[teatrailer]

retro I think that you have been on MN for some time. Most trolls just join to post once.

Post about your problem anyway, you will still get lots of advice, some useful, some not.

[retrocutie]

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe, not at all, I just feel bad for those that gave good advice.

[LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726]

cross-posted with you, OP.

Post it, post honestly and without embellishment and you'll get good advice. Post on relationships if it's a relationship issue, not AIBU necessarily.

[LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726]

OP... stop it. You know you're being a bit wet, don't you? People in life will disappoint you sometimes, even on a forum.

Instead of lamenting about a troll thread which, let's face it, everybody and his wife was hanging on with baited breath to see what exciting, squeal-inducing, faux-horror comment would come out next, focus on the good.

1. MNHQ didn't let it stand.
2. People gave good advice based on what the OP said. If there are parallels in anybody else's life, that good advice may yet be beneficial.

I think you're being a bit self-indulgent and/or wanting to prolong the discussion. I'd like to think it's just a bit of self-indulgence, we all do that from time to time.

[retrocutie]

It is damaging in other ways, too. As many people here have said, they end up not believing anything. I have an awful problem right now, for instance. I could really do with some MN help, but I daren't post for fear that people won't believe me, they'll think I'm a troll.

[nowttodowithme]

I read that thread and felt terrible for her. Why people write crap like that is beyond me

[applejacksauntie]

I agree undoubtedly. When she said that he had called whilst having sex with the OW I did think it seemed far fetched.

[undoubtedly]

Just to clarify, I didn't call troll on the thread.

At the point at which he was balls deep in ow and getting off on speaking to the OP on the phone, it just began to read more like a book than a real life situation.

[teatrailer]

HQ are not always able to prove that a poster is a troll so a healthy dose of common sense has to be used by the reader.

If you are not sure about a thread, don't post, just report. It could be genuine, some shocking ones are and it's horrible to see a genuine poster being badgered by troll hunters.

There are several threads running at the moment that I expect HQ are keeping an eye on, there always are. Just be aware.

[ShowOfHands]

You know for sure it was a troll because MNHQ confirm it. You strongly suspect it because it is ticks every single troll box in existence. Even precise, well written, shocking threads can be real btw. It takes a long time to post a detailed précis of Troll 101 and there's little point. You either see it or you don't. The more time you spend here, the more you see it. I actually think I'd prefer to be less suspicious but the op of that thread was enough to suggest trollery. You could have written the timeline before it unfolded exactly as expected. I probably miss as many as I spot but sometimes you do just know. If that happens, you report to MNHQ, close the thread and move on.



The thread in question was reported from the very beginning, hence it only surviving a couple of days. It's lucky that MNHQ could confirm and delete pretty quickly. Sometimes they go on for months on end with people giving more and more of themselves and ending up quite vulnerable and MNHQ don't have the evidence to intervene either way. These threads are running almost all the time.

You do just have to guard your own investment on an anonymous forum.

[LoxleyBarrett]

It's not just the shockingness of it CatOfTheGreenGables - it is the way it is wrote. The OP feeds the followers with carefully timed posts and they lap it up.

If it reads like a novel (and not like someone in true distress), then it probably is.

[Becauseicannes]

I don't get why you are still upset? If person was a fake then they must be quite sad to make up stuff to post on the Internet. And in desperate need of a life. Feel sorry for him/her.

[CatOfTheGreenGlades]

Give yer head a wobble. If it's that much worse than the usual type of posts, it's not true.

I don't agree with this. People do appalling things in relationships – going as far as brutality, rape, mental torture, physical torture and, quite regularly, murder. Cruel, heartless infidelity is the least of it, and all of the above are far from unheard of. And the majority of people who do most of those things (though I know not all) are men.

I will never, and have never, troll call because no matter how unbelievable it seems, it could be true (just as it could be untrue). And imagine being that women with the "unbelievable" true story, getting derided and abused for lying. There's enough of that in the world as it is.

[LoxleyBarrett]

Too precise, well written, shocking - written to grab the readers attention - it was just bollocks!

[Becauseicannes]

How do you know for sure they were a troll?

[undoubtedly]

Same here Loxley.

The minute someone replies with "OMG I have NEVER heard anything so terrible!" I think "Exactly!"

Give yer head a wobble. If it's that much worse than the usual type of posts, it's not true.

[baaaabaaaaabaaaa]

YES this posses me off big time too. I was stupidly sucked right in.

Going through a shit time relationship wise myself it made quite an impact on me due to some similarities.

Thankfully I didn't open up emotionally or share too much on that thread although I nearly did.

Stupid fucking idiot!

[LoxleyBarrett]

Sadly Munmsnet encourages tolls with the over-eager and quite nauseating grovelling of Mumsnetter on threads. The more absurd the OP - the greater the reaction. People need to ask themselves "would this really happen?" And not post if there is reasonable doubt. I didn't beleive a word of the first post and watched with horror at the speed it progressed.

[bruffin]

I dont think you should ever take anything as face value. On forums you are only ever getting one side of the story and as someone once wrote There is my truth and there is your truth and then there is the real truth.

[TommySlimfigure]

"I'm sure I've been trolled many times and taken things at face value, but I'm not ashamed."

Same here. I a bit sorry for the trolls, that they haven't identified their needs correctly. They need something, self=esteem? and they're looking for the wrong thing, attention to inflate their ego.

I've posted a few threads here over the years and somebody always accuses me of being a troll which is hurtful. I find that worse. Not upset about having been unwittingly and inevitably trolled at some point.

[IsItStupid]

I usually have a sort of "double thought" attitude to online forums- I take everything at face value but I am not shocked if something turns out to be lies. Does that make sense?