to tell you that MNHQ can call the police if they’re worried about you?

[PurpleDaisies]

This is news to me. The official policy is this...

'...on rare occasions where there appears to be a clear need to safeguard the welfare of a Mumsnetter and/or his/her family, it may be necessary to contact relevant authorities'

I am not referencing a specific thread or this will be deleted but I think posters should be aware that this is the case.

[GucciDay]

'Who compared people on mn to pedophiles? '

You suggested if police can locate mn users then they could find paedophiles. I'm suggesting paedophile rings use more sophisticated methods to communicate so it's a silly comparison.

I repeat, don't pretend to have 'absolute sympathy' for distressed depressed posters then call them 'manipulative arseholes'.

[NoCauseRebel]

No I didn’t. I said that it wasn’t possible to know with absolute certainty where an IP address is because if you’re technically able it’s actually fairly easy to mask your IP address.

And posting how glad you’ll be when your ex is sobbing over your grave is manipulative behaviour. Or next time a poster posts that their ex is threatening suicide because they’ve left shall we tell them that they’re unreasonable for leaving because their ex is clearly depressed? No didn’t think so.

It’s possible to be depressed as well as manipulative, the two are not mutually exclusive. I’m sure that family annihilators are depressed, they still kill themselves and their kids as punishments towards their ex’s though.

[PregnantSea]

People commuting very serious offences like downloading and sharing child pornography are presumably going to have a VPN, download TOR and use LPG keys to communicate with each other. Tracing someone through all of that is very difficult, if not impossible. I highly doubt that people using Mumsnet are taking all of those precautions to remain anonymous, and if they are I would want to give them a cuddle as they sound hopelessly paranoid lol.

[PregnantSea]

*committing, not commuting!

[sailorsdelight]

Yes and it’s as it should be isn’t it?? If someone clearly needs help or is going to do something to harm themselves or others?

[PregnantSea]

And *PGP key, not LPG key! Autocorrect infuriates me sometimes ...

[GucciDay]

'It’s possible to be depressed as well as manipulative, the two are not mutually exclusive'

Of course depressed people can be manipulative. It was the manipulative arsehole bit that didn't fit with your 'I've absolute sympathy' comment.

[ny20005]

Standard practice for most things now. If you phone a call centre & say something concerning they will phone the police

Everyone has a duty of care now

[Slapdasherie]

Surely the fact that there are ways to mask your IP address to remain untraceable means that without these things your IP address is traceable. Otherwise why bother?

[GucciDay]

'highly doubt that people using Mumsnet are taking all of those precautions to remain anonymous, and if they are I would want to give them a cuddle as they sound hopelessly paranoid lol.'

[runandbehappy50]

Well there must be a way

Anyone remember hedgewitch?

SS rocked up, caused massive issues with her and her partner.

[backmassageplease]

I've seen trolls post some outrageously horrific posts before, all for a 'laugh' no doubt, and at someone's expense.

Can't MNHQ track them down, then? And put a stop to their vile behaviour. I haven't seen any threads of that nature by trolls recently but it always happened not too long ago.

I'm sure trolling is actually a criminal offence now.

[NoCauseRebel]

Well, quite aside from the fact that this is potentially going to remove mn as people’s source of support for e.g. domestically abusive relationships etc, do people really think that the authorities have nothing better to do than to sift through police reports of words on a screen from some username alleging whatever deems as safeguarding risk these days?

The police as well as social services are massively, massively under-funded and resourced. They don’t have the time to respond to the genuine reports that are brought to them first hand at the moment, let alone those from the various internet sites which could or could not be real.

Mental health resources are massively under-funded right now, even if you go to them in person it’s almost impossible to get help, and now we’re adding posts from usernames on random Internet forums into that mix?

Of course there are going to be instances where the authorities will know where something is being posted from. But all mn have to go on is an IP address really. Names and email addresses are always going to be hit and miss because so many people sign up with false names and/or email addresses which don’t relate to their actual name. Plus if you give the authorities an IP address there is still no knowing how many people live at that address and who has been the one posting. They could easily rock up to an address only to be told that no-one posted anything of the sort from there. Suicide isn’t a criminal offence and domestic violence is impossible to prove without evidence/witnesses, so if everyone denies there is absolutely nothing the authorities can do. Equally there seemingly was nothing the authorities could do in yesterday’s situation as the individual kept posting after he claimed they’d shown up at his workplace and started asking for pm’s off board. Assuming they actually did show up which we have no way of knowing.

[NoCauseRebel]

Can't MNHQ track them down, then? And put a stop to their vile behaviour. I haven't seen any threads of that nature by trolls recently but it always happened not too long ago. no they can’t. This is why so many trolls come back over and over and over again. Change their IP (which is easily done on any network) set up a new email address and they can post again. This is why so many of the trolls keep coming back time after time after time, even the likes of the pooh troll who is just annoying rather than damaging really.

But there are plenty of threads which are dubious but which mn have no way of knowing whether they’re real or not. But posts are deleted here on a daily basis on the basis that they’re a previously banned poster.

Also, with regard to the criminal aspect, there are two types of trolling. The one which is prosecutable is the one where people e.g set up an account on social media in order to post hate speech at/towards other individuals. Making up a persona online isn’t a criminal offence afaik.

[goodfornothinggnome]

Honestly, I think it's amazing, and I completely agree with MN being able to alert relevant authorities

[smurfy2015]

I'm an admin on a fb page which all members are dealing with severe mental illness inc myself, I totally agree with MN on this.

My v first day with a shift one of the members posted to say goodbye and thanks for the support he had been given recently. I could see she was in ongoing crisis reading the admin chat and over the next 11 hours kept her engaged while I found help to trace her in the background, short version she was found beside railway tracks still intent and sectioned for her safely, 10 days later when more lucid she logged in again and sent the loveliest thank you message to the admins, she was disassociated although could interact with the messages just about, we talked about all sorts that day till I could try work out where she was and when she associated back to reality was piecing together what had happened, since then her life has gone from strength to strength and thankfully hasn't been in that hell hole again.

it took one chatting and 4 other admins working on this in the background with someone else holding over the group as needed. It takes teamwork and police were very helpful when contacted and let me know when they found her (nothing more was hoped for)

[QueenOfTheTofuTree]

So exactly how suicidal do you have to be before MN will intervene? Are there any specific threats or things they look for which will trigger them to contact the police?

[Dutch1e]

smurfy2015 and
You and your team deserve a ton of both