Does mumsnet ever ban or sanction persistent troll hunters

[Chocywockydodahhhhhh]

Just that really
I have noticed on some threads even when HQ comes in and says they have checked out the person and they are not a troll posters on here still pile in with troll accusations.
The procedure is to report and then let HQ decide, I have been accused of being a troll a few times and it can really hurt so I dread to think how someone who has really got up the courage the post about things.
Why can’t people just report if they have suspicions and leave it to HQ rather then have a go at the Op who is more then likely genuine.

They claimed fragments were true and used those to conduct the search. No, it doesn't compute, it would seem like stupidity to try but that's what happened. Also they don't know for certain the person is a fantasist - important point.

Sorry if my OP was tedious. I posted due to another thread where people were having a go at the Op dispite HQ saying they were not a troll. Surely posters should back off then at least.
It is horrible to be accused of trolling on a thread, I once had one of my threads taken up by the daily fail and I had people troll hunting me on that and then the lovely comments in the fail that followed including one saying I was not fit to have kids and be married. Ok I know not all threads are picked up by the fail and I really did not expect the one I posted to be but having the two combined was awful.

We have a weekly trolls, troll hunters, troll hunter hunters thread at the moment, OP, that's all. They are usually delightful and half of them are deleted for bunfighting.

So it can't have happened on Reddit because it's banned across Reddit
Troll hunting is banned here and people still do it so...

Are you rather stupid Cornetto

Rather be stupid than an obnoxiously rude keyboard warrior.

I've been on forums well over a decade which is long enough to know most trolls are boring af fantasists, journalists angling for a story or bored wind up merchants.

Anyone with iota of common sense can see that I was clearly not referring to pervs and con artists. Those are the ones that need reporting although frankly I'm surprised people aren't savvy enough to know not to get dragged into it.

I've seen far too many posters here have to get defended by mnhq for posting when a load of twats have all piled in hysterically desperate to catch someone out for mythical internet points.

Report and ignore. It's not hard. There's zero requirement to tell everyone about it.

But something like 70% of posts are made up, so a little troll like digging can be fun.
Online public forums are not for the faint of heart.
Personally I just report, my digging only goes as far as advanced search options.

There are definitely some unpleasant people around. The whole notion of ‘troll hunting’ reminds me of a ghastly vigilante group who stalked and attacked a paediatrician in Portsmouth a few years back. They failed to tell the difference between two words.
Self appointed guardians who hide behind the anonymity of the internet and who put two and two together to make seventeen.

The problem is, MNHQ aren't able to say that anyone isn't a troll. They check previous posting and probably IP address. That doesn't mean the person isn't a troll.

Oliversarmy and SurreyTimes went on for aaaaaggggeeesss being repeatedly reported and 'checked out' by MNHQ. Loads of others have too.

MN is regularly targeted by scammers who make a financial profit from MNetters also. And those threads are reported and MNHQ just do the 'not everyone on the internet is who they say they are, don't give more than you can afford' post.

Nobody stalked and attached a paediatrician. It’s been discussed on this board recently and it’s a wildly exaggerated story.

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/uk/2000/aug/30/childprotection.society

Well this particular paediatrician wasn't physically attacked but had her house daubed with graffiti saying "paedo" by vigilantes who the police believe confused the two titles. The poor woman felt she had to move away, was scared in her own home.

While it's not the same thing, it's still a case of people believing that they are responsible for 'justice' when the really, really aren't.

I don't think people think you're a troll, you're just not very well liked.

Lallypopstick that simply isn’t true. People are really so stupid they can’t understand the difference between a doctor and a sex offender.
In Gwent (2000) -
www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/aug/30/childprotection.society
The Portsmouth incident was in Paulsgrove and involved a baying mob patrolling the streets.

Fair point harvey and I can think of a few examples of long term fantasists that have come to light over the years on various forums.

There needs to be a healthy dose of personal responsibility when using forums imho. It's anonymous conversation not a social club and no one should be getting so entangled in it that it becomes detrimental to them.

MN is a bit of an anomaly as far as forums go from what I can tell. Etiquette here is in direct contradiction to 'standard' rules e.g bumping old/zombie threads rather than start a new one.

There's a definite army of self appointed MN Stasi who seem to be unable to grasp that they aren't valiantly saving the world from pervs and con artists one keystroke at a time. They're typing words on the internet. On a parenting website.

MNHQ can we have a ban in troll hunting hunters if you can’t troll hunt?

This goes around in circles every Saturday. Who’s turn is it next week to start the thread?

I have been accused of being a troll a few times and it can really hurt

OP, if you have been "accused" of being a troll, are you honestly surprised by that? Do you really not have a clue as to what comments or threads you're posting that might lead someone to say you are a troll?

We all have to take personal accountability for what we post on here or anywhere else on tinternet, you know. So maybe it's time to be honest with yourself and change your posting style if you do care and really don't intend to cause offence.

The reason people keep starting threads about it is, I believe, sheer frustration. Because despite mnhq repeatedly stating that troll hunting is Not Allowed, people continually, repeatedly blatantly flaunt the rule, (oftentimes the same posters over and over and over) and it would appear that there are no (or few and far between) consequences for doing so. And the troll hunters can be pretty damn smug about that, along with their defence that they are in actual fact doing people a service.

Until sanctions are regularly actioned people will continue to feel frustrated and start threads.

@Dippingmytoesin, that's not true. It's not always a Saturday .

As far as I'm concerned resurrecting 10yo zombie threads is definitely a form of trolling, especially if the zombie-bumper has no intention of engaging with posters after they've done the deed. They just want to cause hassle and frustration, which is mean. I wish HQ would lock old threads - I have requested this loads of times on Site Stuff

I don't understand the confusion over what happened on the spin off forum last weekend. But to clarify ...

A poster proudly announced (on R) that she had worked out the real life identity of a well known poster on Mumsnet. This poster obviously exists (or else where would all the typing come from?) but is thought to be a troll at worst a fantasist at best.

The op of the thread on the other forum concluded that she was a fantasist rather than entirely fictional. She posted in great detail about the real facts of this persons life and pointed out where this differed from the embellished version that has been documented on Mumsnet over the past few years.

There followed a lot of on thread speculation and clues/guessing about who this real life fantasist is and when it looked like it was getting close to a doxxing situation the mods stepped in and deleted the thread as no doxxing is supposedly the only rule over there.

My theory is that the whole thing was only posted on that particular evening to take attention away from the flouncing, infighting, and accusations of trolling amongst their own members which had been dominating the weekend up until that point.

The R solution to trolling appears to be ignore it and hopefully it will all go away. Anyone who does any troll hunting on there gets down voted so that their posts disappear.

As for Mumsnet, I really don't think that troll hunting is a bigger problem than trolling and doubt I ever will - no matter how many of these threads get started.

Ignore people like mermaid. It's a psychological excuse by saying the internet, because a real human being isn't stood in-front of them they think they can do or say what they please.

There’s a definite army of self-appointed MN Stasi who seem to be unable to grasp that they aren’t valiantly saving the world from pervs and con artists one keystroke at a time

This!

I think someone said above these people also act like they think they are the 4th emergency service. It is so delusional to take on this self-appointed, over-seeing role on threads. So instead of just using the site like every one else and seeing whether they want to reply to a thread, if it interests them or not - they are actively going around the boards with their emoticons and “good first thread OP” catchphrases. It is so, so pathetic. I can only imagine they don’t feel very important in real life and think it’s some kind of niche skill they have. Or harbour secret fantasies that MN should employ them as a consultant or something.