Mumsnet not paying staff disgusting

[stepuporshutup]

Just read that mumsnet do not pay their night staff.
This cannot be true can it mumsnet?
If it is true then what is going on at mnhq
Aibu to be shocked by this
Or do fellow mumsnetters think it is ok to work for free
If the story is true

Me and @EineKleineNachtwatcher discussing which threads to hide one day last winter…

Brilliant 🤣

I do feel like night moderation happening only on a volunteer basis cheapens the Mumsnet offering. In the context of their retained profits, large dividends and high director salary, volunteer night mods feels particularly conspicuous and incongruous.

There is a difference between helping a charity as a volunteer and volunteering to work for a wealthy business. If people are working for nothing on here then yes it is a disgrace.

If mumsnet needs moderation overnight then mumsnet should be paying for this as part of their business expenses. To be relying on volunteers as if mumsnet is some kind of public service is ridiculous. It is a business. It is as incongruous as people volunteering to help 'facebook'.

Interesting language. Surely the terms “consumer-driven, materialistic and mercenary” would more appropriately apply to a company choosing to have duties undertaken by volunteers rather than paid workers, purely to maximise profits, and with no discernible benefit to those volunteers?

The great North run makes a lot of money as a company it has plenty of volunteers. I saw the figures .

Mumsnet is a service that benefits many members. It was there during the lockdowns for which I'm grateful. It's a strange bird altruism wise.

@GoldenSongbird

I volunteer, but for charity non profit community organisations where profits are re-invested in the organisation. I’m not going to ring Jeff Bezos offering to fulfill night shifts.

volunteering is different to Justine Roberts
who is worth at least 7m getting people to work for free.

as an aside JR could re-invest some of her wealth in making the mumsnet
user interface far better. I wonder is the IT department made up of volunteers too because simple updates are usually a disaster like the recent changes to the search button

All the camaraderie between the nightwatchers is lovely, but it doesn't change the fact that you are doing free work for a large and very profitable corporation.

Random question - so do night watch volunteers have to stay up all night reading everything that's posted or do they just get notified if someone reports somethings? Like being on call?

But so what if they enjoy it?

As I said above, all of us are producing free content for the site. Many of us share our expertise in a range of different fields. We don't get paid for it, but we choose to post on here for our own personal reasons. Our posts are making money for MNHQ but so what? We know that and we are choosing to invest the time anyway.

I don't see why it's any different if the night watchers choose to invest their time not only in posting but also in helping to moderate the site by hiding dodgy threads. How many of us have helped to contribute to the policing of the site by reporting offensive or inappropriate posts? It's just an extension of that, really.

considering the amount of information this sites users, produces I'd be more than willing to vol for night watch.

volunteering is different to Justine Roberts who is worth at least 7m getting people to work for free

Maybe my standards are too high but I’m baffled what constitutes work. Non-obligitary reading of a flagged post or two and hiding them if it seems dodgy doesn’t really seem like work to me. They’re not chained to a desk between 5pm and 5am trawling through everything that’s written and spending ages investigating things.

If you are obliged to read posts rather than go to bed whoever you like you are working. It is taking the piss

That's what I think. They can stop at any time too, they aren't tied to anything. They are on MN anyway. Should we all be paid for reporting threads, you could argue that's 'work'.
Perhaps people would prefer a fully moderated site that doesn't rely on users reporting?

Who says that they're obliged to read anything? Or that they can't go to bed whenever they like.

MNHQ have already clarified that there are no expectations on the night watch regarding the hours that they do.

They can do this as often as they wish and don't have set hours or anything like that. We are hugely appreciative of all our nightwatchers and would certainly never have expectations of their time.

So how is it work if they are free to dip in and out whenever they want?

So how do MN ensure there are always mods on at night? Do they end up some nights with no mods on?

Possibly, yes. But this site ran for years with no night time moderation at all anyway.

@Sparklingbrook

Possibly, yes. But this site ran for years with no night time moderation at all anyway

I remember it well 😳. Some of the things posted when there was no night time moderation were really deeply disturbing. Night time moderation is a real necessity.

Yes, it was wide open to all the trolls that come out overnight knowing there was nothing going to happen until morning.
Maybe just knowing it's a possibility that the thread will be reported to NW is a deterrent.

Or maybe the nightwatch are doing a good job and hiding threads?

Yes maybe. It's all good.

Why do you ruin your body clock for night work that you don't even get paid for

I think I can speak for all NWers when I say we don't stay up all night to watch things on here

I work shifts so sometimes I'm at work and have down time. I'm up just now because I was working til midnight so I'm winding down.

I really don't see not being paid as a big deal. Tbh if it was a paying job I wouldn't do it because then I'd need to commit to specific nights and times which isn't what I'd want

Our powers are limited which since we're volunteers is fine.

Its nice to see that so many people appreciate what we do

What @ANightwatcher said!
<delivers manly slap on back in solidarity>

(photo is all of us turning up for work this evening)

Hi.

How do you sign up to this?