to think we should have a "date joined" shown against our user names

[ssd]

so that those posters who clearly have joined in order to promote their political views only, are shown for what they are?

no matter what party you vote for, when you try to discuss something here, there are posters who are determined to close you down or present facts when they aren't true

I think the older posters here and the newbies too I guess, would appreciate knowing how recently some of these posters joined....or not as the case may be.

I dont mind getting into a heated debate with genuine MN posters, we cant all be on the same side, that would be very boring, but when someone suddenly joins a few weeks before the general election and is all over political threads saying the same thing over and over, it dampens debate and is shit, frankly

LadyinCement it's really annoying when it's a newbie, isn't it!

When I first joined MN about two weeks in I got a PM asking me who I used to be.

Pah. Those pesky newbies The sad thing is I'm still chuntering about it!

I'm the absolute worst troll spotter/hunter. But occasionally even I wonder why people are getting so involved in a story which is so tall it can look down on the Shard. There's one running at the moment. People are getting outraged on the OP's behalf. Of course it may be true but it's funny how every so often the OP slinks in a bit more juicy content.

I think a large chunk of people on here would have the same or v similar join date. Loads of people rejoined after the hack.

I agree OP.

I also agree with the new members being called 'user **' until such time as they're established (1 month, 3 months).

yes agree... simple date like 5/15 as suggested by someone earlier... and subtle e.g. in brackets and similar to date of post (5/15) so NOT the first thing you notice about someone but there easily if you want to see...

I agree that the user names should go as you can't recognise them when they post again.
But you can have any view on here as long as it stays within the guidelines and newbies can join in political debate too.

Plus, if you nc for any reason you appear to be new when you could have been a member for years.
My profile would say a few months, but I've been on here for about 5 years now, if not more.

Astroturfing galore on mn over elections. So yeah show us when the shills n trolls joined.

Social media is the prime political battleground these days and propagandising is rife with numerous posters clearly paid propagandists.

How many dates of people joining MN do you know LexieLulu?

Jumping in here, but personally I don't even know my own. But you know what would make me know lots of posters joining dates pretty quickly? Displaying them. Sooner or later, people would start to be recognisable by their user dates. Especially the more prolific posters.

As an example, I couldn't tell you know who joined on 12/07/09 or whatever. But if we start displaying, and I notice Poster X did because we're on a few of the same threads, I might well notice that when she becomes Poster Y, she still has the same joining date. And if I don't, someone will. Jeffrey-gate aside, there are unlikely to be many individual dates where enough regulars joined that it wouldn't be able to function as a way of tracking people for those so inclined.

One poster upthread mentioned having something like a function to show that Poster X joined more than 1 year ago and has made more than 500 posts. Or similar. It would have to be something as broad as that to avoid impacting on the anonymity that is so essential for this site. Granted, that would still leave plenty of room for people to develop superiority complexes over newbies.

I have belonged to many forums over the years (which have a date joined or post number next to your user name) and the same thing happens on all of them:

1. a hierarchy is obvious- if you've only posted a few times then your comments are generally ignored, the long time posters have a posse of clingers on/bum lickers around them who agree with everything they say regardless of how right or wrong they are, long term posters think their opinions are more valid because they've been there longer. The whole forum becomes intensely clique-y.

2. if a controversial post appears from a brand new poster or someone who has only posted a few times previously then instead of getting the advice they are looking for you get ten pages of people all shouting "troll" and over analysing everything the poster has put in an attempt to catch them out.

3. there is often a strong bullying atmosphere on these particular forums as it's all based on popularity related to how often you post or how long you've been a member.

I like Mumsnet because it's so anonymous, and whilst people can be harsh, it doesn't feel like bullying or being at high school all over again.

People do make assumptions. I posted a while ago about my daughter hiding upstairs when a new bf came over and the replies! It was obviously assumed that I was a Karen Matthews type. Even though I'd clarified in my OP that it was the first man she'd ever been introduced to and she had not 'woken up'' to him in the house, a succession of posters raced to dress me down. There is simply no way that the advice would have been so useless, so insulting and so judgmental if for example ssd had put up that post. And I apologise for using you as an example ssd, it's just that you're the perfect example of a poster who keeps a low profile but who has a very familiar name and reputation for being a sensible intelligent poster.

So, sorry, but if you think that older posters who stick to the same user name aren't treated more respectfully that's just hilarious. I know it and I still choose anonymity every time.

Well, I just got accused of being exactly what the OP complains about despite being on MN since 2005! Because I regularly namechange (ever since the hack) and have no intention of either stopping namechanging - especially if posting on a controversial topic - or avoiding posting political threads if that is what I want to do.

You are free to ignore them.

YABVU.

People that don't namechange get just as much grief for it as those that do IMO.

NavyandWhite -

"How is anyone supposed to know you've been here since 2005 if you NC all the time?"

Er...they can't. But why should they need to know how long I've been here, or any poster has been here?

Should we only take posters seriously if they've been here for yonks? Bit hard on new mums or new joiners generally.

I expect people to respond to WHAT I post, not waste posts trying to troll spot.

long time posters have a posse of clingers on/bum lickers around them

Bit like going to a party when you are new in town and compare yourself to someone who lived there all her life, done a fair bit of volunteering, brought up some children at the same time as others, supported lots of other party guests at hard times... someone like that will have what you would call clingers on or bumlickers. I call them friends. It's nicer that way.

.

thanks for the compliment MsSlocombe!

I know what you mean about posters getting more respect, but I'm glad we've moved away from those annoying "who is your favourite mner" threads that were so prevalent a while ago, I hated those mainly as I was never mentioned

sb, I don't remember that website you mentioned?

I NC if I'm going to be revealing anything that will contribute to a rather unique set of information that outs me to anyone who accidentally sees it and thinks 'hmm, I know someone who xxx, there can't be many of them out there'. I don't share all my opinions and beliefs and aspects of my life with people I only vaguely know IRL, and I have no interest in that becoming the case by way of a too-specific join date or number of posts following me on NCs.

Agree, RainbowChasing.

I don't go on any other forums (fora?) but the one dh frequents is rife with toadying. It is a "man" site and the one obvious woman is feted as if she is Helen of Troy. Actually, do you remember the days when there were a few obvious men here? Gosh, the flirting . Very embarrassing.

Anyway, I need to buy a piano and as can only afford second hand I was looking for some advice online and looked at a big piano site. Across the top there was a plea for people to be respectful as insults had been thrown. Last week I also looked at a trainspotter site because I wanted to know when The Flying Scotsman was passing through here. Again, the talk had been suspended due to arguing. And on a dog walk a woman told me that the Yoga Wheel or whatever it's called had had its forum closed down because of libellous posts.

Gosh, everyone is so mean underneath!