Trollhunters: The bane of MumsNet

[TaiShanShe]

Several regular users seem to make it their life's work to troll hunt on MN, even when posts are quite plausibly genuine. It's becoming a regular occurrence for posts to be taken down just simply because of the sheer amount of reports a post gets, rather than for genuine cause. But what is this doing to MN? How can we expect people to be open with their expressions/feelings/ life stories if they are questioned for being trolls and reported if there is even the hint of disagreement etc. (Thoughts here are from observing the Parishioner and the Hat thread, but are also based on many other threads I've followed here)

Have you been here long OP? This is not me trying to make an ‘us and them’ division, simply that there are a few things that have happened in recent years which have made a cross-section of MNers much more wary and it’s conpletely understandable that people are. I think it’s better to warn people before they get too invested that a thread might not be legit than to let them get trolled, personally. The MN mods can’t always get to threads in time and are human so don’t always make the right call, and there can be unpleasant consequences to trolling that have been seen on here in the past few years.

YANBU, OP.

They need to report and then fuck off. It's so annoying to see someone in distress being cross-examined by the self-appointed MN police. Smug gits.

Trolls are the problem on MN. I'm yet to come across another forum where people pointing out that something probably isn't true are more frowned upon than the numpties who post stupid, made-up shit.

And not only that but some of the stupid, made-up shit is promoted on social media which is just baffling.

There is nothing wrong with anyone pointing out that a poster is sat wanking over stories about young children's underwear or pissing or shitting or any of the other myriad of wank fodder seeking trolls and this ridiculousness about trollhunting really needs to stop.

So many trigger-happy do-gooders, overflowing with sharp moral rectitude here...
'I shall report you/this thread' is their battle-cry. Napoleon-complex in disguise, a little person with little power but overwhelming sense of self importance.
On the other hand, there are multitudes of posters whose scribblings scream ' I'm the hairy one', then again, they could be just very dim.
Difficult one, this.

Ime few of the posters troll hunting are doing it to stop people being taken advantage of.

Most are trying to show how clever they are, posting “welcome to MN” or 2/10 isn't helpful it's just irritating. Press the report button if you think it's a troll, there aren't any prizes for trying to show how clever you think you are.

YANBU. The troll hunters have even got their own sad little Reddit sub-forum.

Real life can be far more bizarre than fiction. Often when people call "troll", the OP is talking about a funny/sad/peculiar/mundane occurrence in their life and there's no need to bellow "goady fucker" - just press the hide button.

What fucking hide button?

I wouldn't characterise that Reddit as 'sad'

It has a high strike rate and is pretty accurate.

I had very little idea of how extensive the trolling problem is on MN until there was a handy-to-find record of deleted threads.

Trolls are the problem. If that was dealt with, there would be no need to warn that a poster might not be all that they seem. But that's pie in the sky on an open site.

GreatDuck

I report threads that I think are untrue or dodgy. Out of the last 6 I've reported, 5 went immediately!

I report them because to me, it's really obvious that they are untrue. Really obvious. But they are posted because they know it's a subject that will attract a ton of replies and the troll is rarely disappointed so it's unlikely to stop.

@GreatDuckCookery

Just under the blue bar at the top.

I wish there was a 'hide comments from user' button but I guess that could somehow be 'outing'

YABVU - trolls are the problem not the hunters.

Have you ever visited the Reddit Troll Hunter page - it's like a bunch of spiteful teenage girls, less trollhunting & more having a pop at people they don't like.

These are the same bunch that go round reporting posts of people they don't like. A bunch of malignant Miss Marples wannabe's.......

I thought you were talking about a hide the poster button

Wow, im getting you are not keen on reddit illustrious, why not just not look if you find ot that mean?

Less than half of MN posts are “true” it is just entertainment.

I got trollhunted a few weeks ago under a different username. (I change usernames frequently because I post about some personal stuff sometimes.)

It was nasty, to be honest. I was genuinely looking for advice. It has put me off seeking advice again.

Trolls are the issue - not troll hunters. After a while you can spot them quickly, it’s no great mystery.
I can’t be arsed pandering to some pervert or weirdo for their specific kink...but you who seem to think they don’t need to be pointed out...crack on !

@Ginza - it would be shit if you get troll hunted and your not but I imagine this would be rare, curious to know why but I expect you don’t want to tell.

Sorry, Gardai - no, I would rather not be more specific (I was 'outed' once irl and it has made me very cautious).

But there was actually nothing hugely outlandish about the thread I started. My life is not that remarkable! I was pretty horrified by the trollhunting. It really was excessively trigger-happy.

So from my point of view, then yes, there is a problem.

It's the trolls that do the damage and not just the out and out weird/pervy/attention seeking ones but also the 'embellishment' ones. Ie the threads that start out as vaguely genuine but get ridiculous very quickly as the OP gets spurred on by gullible posters desperate for updates. These are often the cheeky fucker threads. It's pathetic. They are what ruins MN for me.

I don't troll hunt but I do report threads - MNHQ have access to a lot more info than I do so they are clearly the ones who should deal with it. I think MN need to delete more threads personally. They also need more staff members to deal with the usual barrage of troll threads on Fri and Sat evenings.

I sometimes find troll hunters useful but I agree that they shouldn't troll hunt. I don't accept that they all troll hunt for 'girl gang' or self righteous reasons. Sometimes it's just because it's so frustrating to see an obvious troll thread getting attention.

I don't think troll hunting is excessive. Also am happy to tolerate a bit of troll hunting as it is at least some deterrent to trolls.

I also hate it when I see posters opening up and supporting another poster who has clearly made the whole thing up. I tend to hide those threads rather than post anything to question the veracity of OP

Someone questioned whether I was presenting a made up scenario recently - meh, I just ignored her. I suppose I might have been frustrated if others poster had followed suit ...

I actually think the little hints are even more annoying, or those that think they are so clever pointing out some discrepancy that may just be a typo or the fact that the OP is not in the UK.

There was one thread the other day and someone was derailing but questioning the timings of events and that is just tiresome! turns out OP was not in the UK and the timings were right.

I think it's about context. If someone is posting threads that encourage people to share very personal stories, yes report and warn posters (it should be acceptable to admin staff to do this). If it is funny stories like the cake one, it really doesn't matter if it's true or not. If people are getting emotionally invested in a thread about cake or parking, that's a different issue that troll hunting won't solve.

Before publicly calling posters out on made up stories, think about whether it actually matters. Encouraging people to share stories of abuse- yes. Encouraging people to write poorly scanned funny poems about weddings- no.

"Less than half of MN posts are “true” it is just entertainment"

Perhaps that statement says more about you Ivebeenaroundtheblock than Mn in general. Personally I have never posted a fictitious scenario (what's the point?), and I think that is true of the majority of regular posters