AIBU Trollhunting is ruining AIBU

[Trueheart1]

I understand troll hunting if the OP is giving dangerous advice. However, increasingly every single poster is being grilled by troll hunters about every aspect of their post. It makes a thread hard to follow and really boring to read.

I don't understand why the troll hunters do it, there is an easy to use report button. I have read several threads in the last week where the OP was subjected to constant snide comments about the veracity of their post. I think if these troll hunters persist then people won't want to post at all.

Is it not true that some have been banned for reporting too often, then

I don't think it's that simple. I think they are banned if they repeatedly report the same poster and hunt them when they have been repeatedly told by mumsnet it's not a troll. They just won't stop going after the poster.

So on thr face of it, maybe yes, banned for reporting too often, but there is more to it, more like a witch hunt.

I’m glad MN exists so that issues that might usually attract unwanted attention elsewhere online can be discussed in anonymity. Facebook oversharing is of course a whole other matter. I’ve criminal barrister and child protection social worker friends and I take my guidance from them on internet sharing, and take it to the letter

Yes, the overly enthusiastic vigilante spotter if you like

Yup, that's my understanding

I'm talking about people being banned for reporting trolls to MNHQ too often.

Morning folks. We just wanted to pop by as it seemed like a useful moment to clarify our position on all things hairy-handed.

We really do understand how irritating the trolls are and why it's tempting to call them out on it. It's definitely something that is on the increase - not just on Mumsnet but across many forums. Who knows why - maybe telly's got less interesting.

That said, we do look into each one and while, yes, we can never tell with absolute certainty that someone is making up porkies, we do have and use lots of methods that we really think weed out the vast majority. In all honesty, we get a lot of reports where everyone is convinced a poster is a troll and we look and can see that they've been here 15 years, posted 20,000 times and never put a foot wrong and have name-changed to ask about a sensitive situation. We obviously can never say who they are or give too much away, but when we say we think someone is genuine, generally we are happy they are. If we have any real doubts we'll always look into it further, take threads down and reinstate them if new evidence comes to light.

One of the reasons we ask people not to troll hunt is that it does encourage the trolls. The whole thing is self-perpetuating. Someone posts a pile of fiction designed to cause a row and get them maximum attention, posters call troll, they get masses of attention, feel they've made a name for themselves and it makes it worth their while doing it all again as soon as they get the chance. If they're simply reported and banned it's not nearly as enticing a place for them to return to.

But also there are plenty of times when we can see someone is being completely truthful and they are hounded off their own thread, which is always really upsetting. Particularly when it's on a sensitive subject, as we know someone else reading that will then shy away from asking for support themselves, lest they are also not believed. It's in that respect that troll-hunting really does do as much damage as trolling sometimes.

It really is just as quick to hit the report button as to post your suspicions on a thread and there's nothing to be gained and plenty to be lost by openly troll-hunting on the boards.

We know we say all this a lot but thought it just might be informative for anyone who hasn't heard it before. Hope it explains our thinking a bit anyway.

Trolls, goaders and the blasted cheeky fucker threads are ruining AIBU.

The whole troll-hunter-hate thing that is exclusive to MN is bizarre to say the least - it baffles me how people can be more angry at someone trying to make people understand that they're being trolled than they are at the person doing the trolling in the first place.

Problem is than MNHQ have a vested interest in not deleting high traffic threads, which often equate to dubious ones.

It's a hard one. I have three horrible situations going in my life right now and I know full well if I start a thread about them for advice and support I'd probably be labelled a troll as some people just don't like to believe other people's struggles. I'm just muddling through by myself instead.

"I think they are banned if they repeatedly report the same poster and hunt them"

How & why do you think that? You don't even know who I am talking about. Do you have eyes & ears inside MNHQ or are you just guessing?

"when they have been repeatedly told by mumsnet it's not a troll."

We were told by MNHQ for weeks that He-who-can't-be-named was not a troll. Troll hunters were banned, MNers kept paying into his nonexistent "charity". Then truth came out, a zillion threads were deleted all at once, no discussion about them were allowed on here so people set up the Reddit sub.

I would say those who think troll hunters are ruining MN should remember those threads but get the impression that some on this thread weren't around 5-6 months ago when all that was happening.

Just to add - Cote, no, we definitely wouldn't ban someone just for reporting 'too much'. We really do like getting reports - we don't patrol the boards so reports are the only way we are alerted to any funny business that might be going on. It wouldn't be in our interests to dissuade people from reporting.

X-posted with Hebe.

Haven't RTFT but feeling 'duty bound to help'

All the poor souls who want to engage with the funny post, or who choose to give the benefit of the doubt - the poor, poor things, just crying out for help.

Yes, I would think that too, Hebe. However there was at least one person who said she was banned for repeatedly reporting D. during the period I talked about below, when MNHQ thought he was genuine.

Was that person lying?

Troll hunter hunters are worse than the troll hunters but quite as bad as the trolls

Thanks Hebe, very useful info!

far more threads are filled up with tedious repetitive posts from people who HAVEN'T READ THE FULL FECKING THREAD than from trollhunters. Would be nice if ppl could report for that as well!

(I'm on team 'just click and report' btw)

"Ok, calm down ."

If I were any calmer, I'd be sleeping. I asked a few simple questions to show that what you "think" is
mere speculation. Don't confuse that with anger or excitement

"Yes I'm 'guessing' going on the fact I report a fair bit and have never been banned"

So it didn't happen to you so can't happen to anyone else? That's not how life works.

I posted lots of pictures on other websites including Reddit and I was never banned for them here on MN so firmly believe it can't happen to anyone.

Oh wait.

Cote is always calm and as usual spot on with her observations

Hi again Cote. We're can't comment on any individual cases on here - it wouldn't be fair - but we can confidently say we don't ban just for reporting too often. We wouldn't like to accuse anyone of lying about that but perhaps they misunderstood our reasons for banning them. We'd certainly guess there was more to it.

As we said, it's not really fair of us to talk about individual cases here but if you're in contact with that person and they'd like us to look back into it all and let them know what happened, do let them know to drop us a line. We'd be very happy to chat to them.