Why aren't trolls allowed?

[Moneysavvymam]

I bloody hate reading a thread and then half way through, when its just getting juicy, it turns out its been deleted for being a troll. Honestly the trolls are better than real life and I'm here for the drama anyway. Aibu? Lighthearted!

@JesusInTheCabbageVan

I suppose we could have a creative thread writing board, where everyone is in on it. We could even have a scoring system like the AIBU voting options, where you get to mark people on number of buttons pushed etc.

Absolutely this. ^

I don't get the hysteria over trolls either - they can be bloody entertaining and they put the effort in, so give them a platform to do their thing on.

Troll hunters are another side of the same coin in my opinion.

Asking ''are you very young?'' when the op hasn't said anything to suggest that she is ''very'' young. I think it just makes the person asking the question feel superior. Like they have all this wisdom and would never find themselves wondering whether or not to dump an asshole boyfriend. That is a question that a woman any age can find herself asking.

@JesusInTheCabbageVan I think that does happen

I sometimes see 2/10 or 3/10 as the only comment in a post

@JesusInTheCabbageVan

I suppose we could have a creative thread writing board, where everyone is in on it. We could even have a scoring system like the AIBU voting options, where you get to mark people on number of buttons pushed etc.

I'd love this! I love a well-done troll post - nothing too emotive of course, but something that pushes people's buttons subtly and doesn't jump the shark too soon... it's an art haha.

Of course troll posts have to be deleted. I don't want to give some horrible little Herbert his kicks, or see other people painfully relive their own tragedies when sickos post fake bereavement or abuse threads - do you?

I remember the twins - both born prematurely, both with lots of medical issues. The poster had so much support, help and advice - whether any of it was carried over into real life, I don't know.

I also remember the student mum claiming to have postnatal depression, unable to bond with her newborn son, she also got lots of support, help and advice.

Both posters (maybe even the same one?) were fabricating their stories for attention.

@ManifestingJoy

Troll hunters are another side of the same coin in my opinion.

Asking ''are you very young?'' when the op hasn't said anything to suggest that she is ''very'' young. I think it just makes the person asking the question feel superior. Like they have all this wisdom and would never find themselves wondering whether or not to dump an asshole boyfriend. That is a question that a woman any age can find herself asking.

What is thinking that a poster seems young got to do with trolls or troll-hunting?

@MaenadsJustWannaHaveFun

Of course troll posts have to be deleted. I don't want to give some horrible little Herbert his kicks, or see other people painfully relive their own tragedies when sickos post fake bereavement or abuse threads - do you?

They clearly do. And yet it's the people spitting them, and trying to warn others off who are the bad guys. You couldn't make it up. Except, of course, they do.

I love a troll thread. Some of the replies and arguments between posters...brilliant.

I'm really gullible and naive and never think oh, it's a troll. How did you find out that the one about the twins was a troll? Are we meant to be suspicious of anything heartbreaking when it could be true! There are some on here atm that are quite painful to read - what are the giveaways?

Kudos to MNHQ for taking down a damsel in distress thread a few minutes ago.

First time poster writes how her fiance has just left her with no warning, she's pregnant, they were engaged, a relative of his told her never to contact her again, to get out of their shared house, she lives in a rural area, has no money to rent a new place, there have been men tapping at her window and leering at her, etc etc (ok, I might have made that last point up) etc etc.

Seriously? In that situation you don't ask a friend or relative for advice but you create an account on MN? And of course there were the people who fell for it...

The twins troll posted photos of someone else's premature babies in SCBU, she'd taken them off Google images and were tracked back to a South African woman's blog about her own journey with her babies.

Are we meant to be suspicious of anything heartbreaking when it could be true! There are some on here atm that are quite painful to read - what are the giveaways?

I don't think it's suspicious as much as thinking critically: Is it a little too painful and dramatic and heartbreaking? Are there all sorts of reasons why the poster can't take any action? Does the poster have no posting history? Is the poster hostile when challenged?

All of those ping possible troll to me.

I’m fine with trolling about parking and ridiculous MILs etc

I’m not fine with emotional vampires who make up dead babies, horrific abuse or other tragedy in an effort to get people to disclose.

I’m ambivalent about begging threads - if you’re old enough to use the Internet you should always proceed with caution.

Basically if I found out Mexican House Thief/luxury
Teens in a chalet/small korean lady or any other number of entertaining threads that have seen me through my own ups and downs were fake I couldn’t care less.

Anyone who sends money or gifts to a random poster on the internet, who is claiming to be down to their last 14p with no electricity, no family, no friends, chuck in a hungry child or two, needs to have a word with themselves.

If a friend of mine was struggling, I wouldn't hesitate to help out financially or materially. But I am very suspicious of new posters who turn to Mumsnet for help in these circumstances.

@Billandben444

I'm really gullible and naive and never think oh, it's a troll. How did you find out that the one about the twins was a troll? Are we meant to be suspicious of anything heartbreaking when it could be true! There are some on here atm that are quite painful to read - what are the giveaways?

New posters with no history, inconsistent facts in posts, constant updates at odd times (for example, if you're packing your car and fleeing your abusive husband at that very moment then you don't have time to update and post photos to MN every 5 minutes), continual rebuttal of helpful suggestions and why that couldn't possibly work (hint hint - the only thing that could help is someone sending them cash), persistent refusal to ask anyone in real life for help or take any steps to actually deal with whatever the problem is, ramping up of drama to the point of ludicrousness in subsequent updates (people will still lap it up and turn on anyone who points out that maybe it's getting a bit silly).

They usually post about very sensitive topics e.g. ill children, dying H, no money for food / Christmas / heating, abusive relationships, or topics that will whip up the froth and keep threads running and running (parking, cheeky friends etc). Sometimes a combination.

Whilst I'm not saying there aren't people in truly dire situations out there - we all know there are - they crop up on MN with alarming regularity.

Oh yeah, the tragic ones are horrible. I don't like those ones.

But the ones which are so subtly funny they could be true but are juuuuust ridiculous enough to spark pages of replies - "My DIL has had her hair cut and I hate it, should I tell her she should grow it again for the my 60th birthday next year so it doesn't look awful on pictures?" - are great. Half the fun is when, 6 pages in, they go "...and I also think I should be allowed to tell her not to breathe when she's in my house!" and they reveal themselves to be a troll.

I think trolls are ok so long as they say 'gotcha!' on the tenth page. People do get very invested.

I don’t like when it’s about kids etc. Whether it’s a troll or not, an opening post saying something like ‘my daughter has xyz vagina problem what could this be’ shouldn’t be answered other than with ‘go to the doctor.’

I mean why would you ask something like that on a public forum? If you’re concerned go to the doctor with your very young child and ask their informed and educated opinion.

I've heard a lot of users say that their genuine threads were deleted by MN's overzealous Troll-hammer! Makes me wonder what their criteria are for judging content.

Which twins?
The list over the years of trolls with twins is long and not terribly distinguished (to coin a phrase)

@FangsForTheMemory

I think trolls are ok so long as they say 'gotcha!' on the tenth page. People do get very invested.

I've never seen that happen. Not once. They either get deleted, leave the thread or continue the drama for multiple threads.

I actually successfully called out a troll the other day. It was the person who was moaning about cooking Christmas dinner and buying gifts worth £700 and getting little/nothing in return. I was the only person in about 25 pages to spot it and it turns out the poster had been previously banned and had posted the exact same thing three years previously! Honestly, some people have got nothing better to do with their lives.
I reported it and someone was very rude to me and then MN took it down 😂

Christmas is a-coming and so are the begging trolls, hoping for handouts to fund presents and food for their imaginary twins.