fake threads/trolls

[ghostspirit]

just seen 2 threads removed. so must happen often, Are there really lots of fake threads/trolls.

is there such a thing as a harmless troll?

i was reading one of them threads to! never mind

[SetPhasersTaeMalkie]

No you didn't explain it at all in your OP iwasworried. Not at all.

If you had you wouldn't have been reported. I didn't report but did wonder.

[Iwasworried]

Yes Set I know that now. But thanks for reiterating, makes me feel so much better, so kind of you.

I won't be posting here anymore btw, I just wanted to set the record straight from my perspective since MNHQ hasn't done so publicly despite the kind words they emailed to me last night. This probably sounds pompous but I feel my integrity was called into question - not by posters reporting me, to be clear, but by MNHQ deleting my entire account within about five minutes without even contacting me or giving me enough time to type a post to clarify.

[Iwasworried]

And - one last thing - please visit Paris everyone. I will do. It's a wonderful place and this weekend's events won't change that.

[ghostspirit]

worried thats really horrible i guess at least the sorted it in the end. would have thought they could check though with out completely wiping you out.

[SetPhasersTaeMalkie]

I was actually just agreeing with you iwasworried and trying to explain why I thought you had been reported and deleted so quickly. Sometimes tone doesn't come across well in posts. Just like mine I guess.

I'm sorry I upset you. It was not my intent.

[Iwasworried]

Sorry for being rude, Set. I'm really surprised at how upset this has made me. I guess I felt MN was a comfortable place, more than I'd realised. I'm really hurt - that's what it comes down to - it sounds a bit pathetic.

[SetPhasersTaeMalkie]

It must have been horrible iwasworried. I'm genuinely sorry this has happened.

FWIW I would be feeling the same. Definitely not pathetic. Understandably upset.

[Iwasworried]

I was just totally taken aback - I cried tbh - it was just a shock. I only meant to post a nice thread saying let's all support Paris, and not be put off going there to visit again. That's still all I really want to say tbh, Sorry everyone.

[ToadsJustFellFromTheSky]

Sorry to hear that worried .

I've had a thread deleted before that was taken the wrong way. I don't want to say what it was about but I started a thread on a subject that I thought would be an interesting topic to discuss. It was partly inspired by things I was going through in real life but my thread was taken completely the wrong way and posters all piled in, accusing me of being a troll and a goady fucker.

My thread was deleted and I was banned for a while until I got in touch with MNHQ and they reinstated my account.

It has seriously made me think about what I say and how it could be taken.

[paulapompom]

I would have been upset too iwas

I suppose that is another bi-product of trolls - innocent posters get deleted/accused. I didn't see the thread but maybe if you posted in a rush it didn't sound like you, seems a bit heavy handed to delete your account though.

[ForChina]

I spent quite a bit of time recently talking to a poster on her thread about IVF. Turns out there was a HUGE chunk of vitally important information that she had kept out of the story in order to deceive and twist responses, until someone twigged who she was. It was a bit of a wakeup call for me about not wasting time going into too much depth on here as you never really know who you are speaking to. I just join in with the light chitchat now. :(

[PurpleDaisies]

I remember that thread too forchina. It was really depressing and I felt exactly the same as you did when the truth came out.

[ToadsJustFellFromTheSky]

I like to keep in mind that Mumsnet is a big place. Of course there are lots of members and people posting however there are also lots of non-members who browse.

So when I give advice and support to someone who turns out to be a troll then I find it helps if I tell myself that the advice given could have helped someone else who may have been reading the thread. Even if it wasn't the person you originally intended to help.

[Runningoutofnamesagain]

forchina and purpledaisies

That was me. Iam not a troll and the thread was not fake as I did not lie

I did however, like you say, withold information about my dcs etc. that was wrong of me and looking back I can see that
On the day I was upset about one particular issue and the mistake I made was trying to just post about one thing rather than give a full history which would have affected responses, it wasn't to be deliberately misleading or malicious it was just a misguided attempt to get some advice about just the one issue I was struggling with.

I did in fact read all the responses and took it all on board. I apologise for making you feel bad. I did not mean to

Sometimes I just want to be 'just' me, not the person with x,y,z going on and to deal with one problem at a time but obviously that day, in a bit of a state I made the wrong call and should have been upfront from the start

[ForChina]

Thanks, Runningoutofnamesagain - brave post. I'm glad it wasn't wasted energy and whatever you decided I hope you have thought really seriously about what the overwhelming majority of posters were saying even before they knew the full story. I also hope you are feeling more 'together' now and that you are currently coping with your many challenges.

[Runningoutofnamesagain]

I have, I promise and I am very sorry for any offence and/or upset I caused

[binders1]

I had just started my third thread on the same subject and due to my crappy life was off-line for a while and when I came back there was an apology from mnhq saying they had to delete the thread due to spectacular derailment and bunfight. Another fake thread, where the op had been confirmed as a troll and had been deleted for some reason posters jumped on my thread and it appears there was a load of troll hunting comments going on. The only saving grace was that I never saw any of it.

I was upset that there may have been people who thought I might be and especially if they had supported me. Those threads helped me so much. So although I was not identified as a troll or had my thread deleted because it was fake, it got deleted it appears because of the whole subject of trolls and fake threads and that was upsetting. Also because there may always be that question in some people's minds of 'so was she fake?' just because a DELETED thread is ALSO associated with trolls. On some threads it also appears that the mnhq message of 'we are in awe of the support but don't give more support than you are able' also can be a trigger. MNHQ will then try to rectify it by saying 'we have no reason to believe the op isn't genuine' but sometimes it's too late.. MNHQ have also warned many times that for every thread reported that turns out to be fake, there is another one reported that is genuine. So I think it's important to take a second before reporting someone because there is a 50/50 chance they are not unless they are the weirder ones some of you have referred to or if you know all the name changes etc although again that seems commonplace understandably if someone fears of being outed. I wouldn't know a fake from real but then again not been on MN long enough and have that experience of how it all works. However I will never forget all those people that helped me.

[Enjolrass]

There has been a lot of obvious sock puppeting, from established posters lately.

I reported two the other day and mn confirmed it and said they would have a word with the poster.

I assume if you have been here a while they will give a warning? Maybe?

[Enjolrass]

dixie so did I

[SparklyTinselTits]

I'm sometimes a bit about some threads in AIBU, purely because it's the topic that gets a lot of traffic...some of them just seem way to "out there" to be real IMO. or maybe I just have a very tame RL??

[ghostspirit]

whats sock puppeting?

[PurpleDaisies]

Hi runningoutofnamesagain. It's good to hear you're doing ok. People on your thread didn't think you were a troll-they just recognised that your situation was vastly different to how you were presenting things. I don't think anyone was offended, more worried that you were going to use the views of a select few posters who agreed with you as justification to go ahead with a very unwise course of action (even though they didn't have an accurate picture of what was really going on).

I'm really glad you've taken on board what the huge majority of people were saying and I hope you're getting some help with your ptsd. Wishing you all the best.

[PurpleDaisies]

Sock puppetry is where a poster changes their username and posts on the same thread, usually to support their own point of view ghost.