To have noticed there are a lot of threads/ comments deleted on MN

[Chloefairydust]

Haven’t been on mumsnet long, but have noticed lots of threads being deleted and comments too. Also seems to be some people who seem to enjoy reporting comments (some of which I don’t understand why they were offensive). Someone reported a comment about twerking on one of the threads 😂

Just seems a bit odd to me, feels a bit like censorship although I know there probably are valid reasons for deletion of threads at times. I do think sometimes conversations about difficult and controversial topics do need to be had. Although can understand legal implications of people being named ect…

Yes but on threads like that you always have irresponsible posters spreading rumours, manufacturing stuff and coming out with idiotic comments like 'oh you can tell by her eyes she's guilty'.

I had an instance on a royal family thread where a poster who disagreed with me and had posted prolifically asked me why I was so invested in the subject, didn't I have anything better to do. I replied asking her why she was so invested and didn't she have any other interests.
She reported and MNHQ removed my post and left hers. I kind of lost faith in their judgment and impartiality after that.

It is censorship, that’s what the word means.

It’s not a freedom of speech issue, but moderation is censorship, it’s literally the site’s moderators censoring posts which contain racism, homophobia, personal attacks and so on.

I've noticed a lot more rude comments lately, and a lot more deleted posts.

I'm glad the mods are clamping down on people hurling insults. It's OK to disagree with someone but not to attack them because of their views.

'Play the ball not the man'

You should have reported her posts too if you thought they were on the same level.

Some people have an aversion to reporting posts that attack them, but they shouldn't. My feelings aren't hurt if an angry idiot calls me a cunt on the internet. But it is objectively offensive, and if we want to encourage people to post here, we shouldn't let them feel that that kind of thing should stand.

I've probably got a fairly relaxed view of robust debate - wouldn't occur to me to report if someone just did the old "well you're on the internet about it" thing. But actual name calling and overt abusiveness, I'll always report. I don't find it acceptable.

Posts saying some pretty appalling things about one of our political parties and those who vote for them seem to be allowed to remain, even if reported.

It sometimes looks as though what’s beyond the pale is dependent on who’s being attacked.

Paranoia.
I think MN tend to get it mostly right.

Just seems a bit odd to me, feels a bit like censorship.

OP MN would not get as revenue if their forum was full of racist, xenophobic, sexist etc comments. It's not censorship if you are using a platform that you don't own.

There are quite a lot of posts up describing people as “Tory scum”, so no, it’s not paranoia.

Ad revenue! **

I do feel a bit disappointed when entire threads are deleted for privacy reasons. I don't mind if the OP wants their own content removed, that's understandable, but some of the replies are amazingly well thought-out and full of good points & resources.

I quite like Reddit's style where the original post and OPs comments can be deleted but the thread title and replies stay up. It's not helpful for people reading it for the first time but it is immensely helpful for those of us who were already on the thread to come back to, or continue a conversation.

I also like the way that comments can be locked without deletion if a thread becomes too much to moderate.

And I’ve seen disparaging things said about supporters of other parties. It’s swings and roundabouts. It’s also not a personal attack on a particular poster, so it doesn’t really count.
personal attacks always get deleted.

YABU. It's advised that grapes are cut up for under 4's because the shape of a pre-schoolers windpipe is very different to that of an adult (more of a cone shape, which increases the risk of food getting lodged). By the time a child is 4 their windpipe is more of a tube shape so they choking risk is lower. You can teach your child to bite grapes in half before putting them in their mouth, as a work around.

I think if asc are having to chop up grapes for 20-30 kids or more then they are probably less inclined to serve them.

I appear to have posted on the wrong thread 😬

That’s interesting, but quite a tangent really.

On trans issues it is a hate site. Oh, sorry gender critical 🙄🙄🙄

Posts that insult trans people are deleted, rightly. Posts that state that sex is real, immutable and sometimes matters, for example in sports or changing rooms, will not be. Nor will posts that argue against self ID.

Should they be?

Only for those who think that saying something such as “trans women are male” is hateful, which is sadly quite a few of the activists.

For anyone normal these are not hateful comments.

Thats incorrect. Because any trans hate is deleted. Like other forms of hate.

You mean MN allows people to discuss the impact of the translobby on women and let’s us express that biology is a real thing?

That’s not hate.

Threads usually get deleted becayse MN admin have decided they're fake/trolling.

Sadly MN has a large cohort of posters who'll believe pretty much anything so it's ripe for wind-up threads.

Trolling is as much a part of Mumsnet as MNHQ is.

But there have been a lot of posts deleted and posters banned for talking about safeguarding, which in the light of recent revelations have been correct.

I agree. But surely MNHQ should have looked at the conversation history? It just seemed like a lazy response.

And begging which is now going to be in full season. Usually starts mid October

They weren't banned for talking about safeguarding. That's disingenuous. They would have been banned because they were speculating and gossiping about ongoing cases, making unfounded accusations, or because they included hate speech.

For example, while it might be correct to say that Mermaids had a fairly dodgy member among its trustees, before the point the story broke it might not have been acceptable to say, for example "Mermaids is a pedo organisation grooming kids".

MN have to operate within the law. They can't allow hateful speech, libel etc to stand.

It's like I see some posts being outwardly hateful towards trans people. Saying things like "LOL those freaks think they can really change sex, they're deluded". They rightly get reported and deleted. And then the poster comes whining about how "all they said was it's impossible to change sex". No, that's not what they said.