I've read so many threads in the past couple of weeks that have been absolutely drowned out by troll hunting. Someone mentioned that they thought troll hunters were ruining Mumsnet and I couldn't help but agree.
I've been here for years, and this comes up fairly regularly, and every single time mnhq come back with the same response - troll hunting is NOT allowed. Report, and move on. It's not hard to understand, and what's even more fucking irritating at times, as it's often (not always) the same old names doing it over and over, like they think they're above the rules.
@MNHQ, are there actually any sanctions for people who continually do this? I know posts get deleted but it doesn't seem to be any deterrent, and even sometimes ends up in the whole thread being zapped, even in cases where HQ have stated that the OP is legit but the troll hunters with their smart assed, 'I'm so clever with my trolldar' comments have made it unsustainable. How is this fair?
I've been on the receiving end of mild troll hunting, and it's really fucking hurtful, particularly when the reason I've posted is because I'm upset to start with, and looking for advice or support.
So why do people seem to think that the rules don't apply to them? Arrogance? A need to be 'right' or not (god forbid), 'gullible'? Should there be a 'three strikes and you're out' type approach? I honestly don't know myself, but I just think it's horrible to see OP's with what could easily be a real, fucking horrible life situation, be shredded, when it's so easy to report and scroll by.
And before people come along to defend their right to troll hunt to 'save' vulnerable posters from giving too much of themselves - aren't we all adults, who can choose how much of our lives we wish to divulge without the need for knights in shining forum armour coming to our aid? (That's ignoring the fact that MNHQ's job, which they carry out regularly, is to remind us of exactly that).
