to think that a perfectly harmless and hilarious thread shouldn't be deleted

[SeeMyLanyardAndWeepBitch]

Just because the poster is new and on (what we suspect might be) a bit of a wind up? I mean what actual rules are broken and what harm done?

PLEASE DON'T DELETE THIS THREAD FOR BEING A TAT. I am referencing a previous deleted thread, but my point is less about that thread and more about the prevailing culture on here these days concerning what is considered off limits.

The thread I have in mind wasn't offensive, just daft. A spoof. No person with a protected characteristic (or humble but doughty shop worker) was offended, harmed or triggered in the making of said thread.

Are spoofs and very obvious tongue in cheek wind ups no longer to be tolerated on MN?

This place has changed. It used to be fun. We could all take a joke once. What has happened?

YANBU: This place has changed. Way too serious now.

YABU: I am a sanctimonious Guardian reading arse who sees no humour in anything.

I've been here so long I remember when all this was fields (and Friday night bum sex)

It's definitely changed a lot, though I'm not wearing rose tinted glasses because it's always had it problem posters. It definitely felt a lot more fun and lighthearted though.

I think that's it @Ninkanink everyone reacts differently to threads.

I remember my first troll thread when I fist joined. Titled 'Dan Snow Boss'. I was completely sucked in, all the drama and live updates, very fast moving (like they always are i know that now) The OP was posting outfits and we had to choose, she was updating from this guy's loo and everything. Then it disappeared. I could not believe it, i wanted to know what happened!

But it was creative writing , nothing more. Lesson learnt.

But so what if they are tedious to you daisychain? You can click out and continue your tedious search through the dross but others might find it funny and attempt witty comments themselves. If people don't it dies a death and goes away - disappears onto page 2 and beyond.

There is no need to demand they don't exist or get banned. You can't only deal with one style of humour and ban other types. There's things that have posters claim to be weeping with laughter about that I don't even find vaguely funny. Leave them to it if it's harmless.

Sparklingbrook I just meant that on threads about funny threads absolutely everyone of that vintage always seems to make a point of saying they didn't find PB funny at the time. I'm the only person who ever confesses to having been amused.

There must be distinction between obvious trouble makers and those wanting a light hearted laugh. except as MNHQ said, this was a persistent troll, and although this thread may have been funny, they have posted unpleasant troll threads in the past, in which case it stands to reason that none of their posts should be allowed to stand.

This is why Hide Thread is a good function TBF. Or report and Hide thread without even commenting.

@AlternativePerspective

There must be distinction between obvious trouble makers and those wanting a light hearted laugh. except as MNHQ said, this was a persistent troll, and although this thread may have been funny, they have posted unpleasant troll threads in the past, in which case it stands to reason that none of their posts should be allowed to stand.

I agree, you can't say 'well you are a persistent unpleasant returning troll but this thread is quite funny so we'll let it stand' that makes no sense.

Yes... and that’s fine for that one thread.

Not so fine for other threads.

I think I've seen that done a couple of times, when most of a banned poster's threads get deleted but one gets left where MNer hand them their arse in particularly strong form. It's rare though. The OP of the thread I quoted above was a classic lazy journalist who had one of their threads removed "I just saw a woman change her baby's nappy on a cafe table, tell me your examples of anti-social parenting" but the other was left to stand as an example for others.

I expect HQ let a few odd ones stand to show willing, but if they allow them all to remain then it could set a trend and their forum loses credibility. If the OP posts then abandons MN completely, HQ will want to clear away their mess, they probably have a policy about abandoned threads where the poster deregisters (guess). Having to sift through the dross in the Active list to get to something meaningful is tedious imo. There are plenty of witty, amusing, observational comments embedded in real threads.

Why does a thread have to be meaningful? Or every board have to be credible. Baby feeding, infertility, SEN and similar should be. Chat is just for shite on the interweb surely!

Yanbu

@ilovesooty just because someone reports something it doesn't mean it should be taken down though. MN should assess the situation and not get overly sensitive at topics that 'may cause offence' because the person isn't talking about something light hearted

[quote bagheaven]@ilovesooty just because someone reports something it doesn't mean it should be taken down though. MN should assess the situation and not get overly sensitive at topics that 'may cause offence' because the person isn't talking about something light hearted [/quote]
I am sure MNHQ do assess the situation and act accordingly. Although there's not just one moderator is there. Presumably they are allowed to make the decision they deem fit for each individual thread. So it's not a case of 'MN' being 'overly sensitive' as a whole, it's many decisions each day having to be made by many people.

@LittleBearPad

I expect HQ let a few odd ones stand to show willing, but if they allow them all to remain then it could set a trend and their forum loses credibility. If the OP posts then abandons MN completely, HQ will want to clear away their mess, they probably have a policy about abandoned threads where the poster deregisters (guess). Having to sift through the dross in the Active list to get to something meaningful is tedious imo. There are plenty of witty, amusing, observational comments embedded in real threads.

Why does a thread have to be meaningful? Or every board have to be credible. Baby feeding, infertility, SEN and similar should be. Chat is just for shite on the interweb surely!

Chat and AIBU have definitely become shite, that's for sure

@Sparklingbrook I agree but some of the decision making of moderators is poor.

I will never get over a thread being deleted because the poster had said Adele seems arrogant these days.

I mean the moderator must have either been a huge Adele fan and biased or have the poorest decision making skills ever.

Utterly ridiculous

Chat and Aibu have become boring - full of posters mainly repeating thread topics. Probably why so many rush to troll threads because they're the fairly interesting ones.

@Sparklingbrook I agree but some of the decision making of moderators is poor

That's all down to opinion isn't it I suppose. What one person thinks is a poor decision someone else will think that's the correct one?

I'm not saying I know the answer. A fully moderated site like Nethuns? There's too many reports for just one moderator presumably? Then you have the whole 'Nightwatch' thing going on...

I will never get over a thread being deleted because the poster had said Adele seems arrogant these days. people need to bear in mind though that when someone posts something derogatory about a celebrity that celebrity has the power to threaten legal action against the owners of the site.

The situation with Gina ford was years ago and MN really were threatened with legal action over comments a poster made about her.

Nowadays a lot of celebs employ social media experts to trawl the internet for their name and to, where possible, prevent negative comments from being allowed to stand.

We have no idea who may or may not have threatened HQ in the past, but I think it’s fair to say that if a thread is posted with derogatory and possibly defamatory comments it is in HQ’s best interests to remove it if it is flagged to them.

Yes I agree about the celebrity threads. Why would MN want to even take the chance of getting legal action over one if they can nip it in the bud straight away. Plus it must have had something not quite right to be reported in the first place.

The BF and the lanyard went overnight

Yet the I am leaving my husband and have a flat troll come back every few months (using the same language) and sucks everyone in. Only been deleted once.

@TheHoptimist is that the one where the OP is all set, flat is prepared and ready to move into, cue the tension and the countdown... etc. If so OMG!

[quote daisychain01]@TheHoptimist is that the one where the OP is all set, flat is prepared and ready to move into, cue the tension and the countdown... etc. If so OMG![/quote]
Yes, there have been at least 3 if not more. Slight twist but they have the same writing style. They also revisit and stoke the thread with a drama whenever it dies down.

@JanuaryBluehoo

There was a really jokey thread in Christmas, are you giving your staff a tip.. Very clearly taking the mic out of people who employ staff.. From the past.. Unfortunately the fun suckers who were unable to detect the irony got their teeth into it and sucked it dry.

Was that one deleted? Shame, it reminded be that I hadn't tipped the pot-boy.

[quote daisychain01]@TheHoptimist is that the one where the OP is all set, flat is prepared and ready to move into, cue the tension and the countdown... etc. If so OMG![/quote]
When I am being charitable I thin that it must be escapism- they must be stick in a crap life and want to escape. When I am being uncharitable I want to scream at the people being sucked in.

Totally agree! And those who say 'reported'. The stuff about 'looking into it' is a load of rubbish too. I have had a thread delete that was genuine and no one contacted me when actually I wanted them to explain and defend my position. At times it feels like MN is complicit in silencing women