to think there are a LOT of harsh, angry people on MN at the moment?

[ChamberLink]

I've been on MN under various user names for over 12 years and I am struck by the vitriolic posts made by so many posters these days. It seems that so many people are angry and bitter and take pleasure in spreading this around.

I don't remember it being like this before. AIBU was, perhaps, more predominantly light hearted. These days it's an ugly pile on usually at the expense of some vulnerable person who has posted for advice / help.

There's such harsh tone to so many people's responses and it growing worse.

It this a symptom of increasingly difficult circumstances for so many people these days? I am not British and it's jarring to read so many hard line stances and so many fractured family dynamics.

What's going on with people? Where's the empathy gone?

While I agree that it's very polarised and that some posters are just spoiling for a fight, any fight, it's also where I come to read about and discuss live political issues. I recognise certain usernames as well-informed and generally clear minded and some others as provocateurs from the extreme left and the hard right. There has recently been a spate of threads about the NHS, as you'd expect given the press coverage of the statistics: there will always be a handful who insist that it's all the evil Tories fault, and noone could disagree that they must shoulder some of the blame. But generally the discussions have been civilised and nuanced. I do tend to ignore anything about relationships and family dynamics though, and stick to S&B, books and property.

Me twelve please?

See I think the problem with some of the mods is they are too scared to think for themselves. They’re told that a poster is being abusive or causing distress and so they delete without actually checking the content is any of those things. I’ve seen ridiculously tame and accurate posts deleted purely because they seemed to just not be toeing the line and were going against the consensus of the thread. Just because someone claims something is hurtful or hateful it doesn’t mean it is and i understand that the mods must be busy I do think there is strategic reporting done on this site, often, and that should be addressed.

That’s a very good point. And there’s few other forums that permit such open discussion. I think this is quite important in these days when the press is often far from balanced.

It is a weekly post

I thought we were drawing up a rosta on whos turn it would be to post this?

Community Management is a skill and a profession.

Either Mumsnet does not employ enough community management staff leaving them unable to intervene to enforce guidelines or (my personal theory) they see a combatative forum as better able to drive PR and ad spend.

I couldn’t agree more. The moderation seems to depend entirely on reporting and fails to take malicious reporting into account. Some really dreadful posts are left standing and some very innocuous ones get zapped.

Some of the comments are hilarious that's why I read it and that's one of reasons the traffic is much higher. Fact is no one likes being told they're being unreasonable.

This in spades. I’ve been in community management for the last dozen years or so, I agree with you.

I wonder if it's a reflection of the wider world. I'm sat on a train at the moment and witnessed a few hostile interactions already.

It can be volatile at times and many threads often get nasty.
I often feel sorry for the op's who are flamed straight away ! Especially when it's clear their opening post hasn't been read properly or it's about something controversial

You've mentioned British twice in this thread OP.

Where are you from just out of interest?

I agree. I have no problem with a good debate but it seems now people just want to belittle and scoff at people they don’t agree with rather than reason and persuade.

I think it is. It seems to happen everywhere now. I’ve always loved driving but it’s becoming increasingly stressful because so many people drive like they own the road.

@lightand Could I have the name too please? Thanks :)

Yes. My brother got called a c* the other day driving us to the supermarket. I know it's always happened and people have always been rude but I do think something is in the air and most likely...it's that people are stressed!

Sorry, can I also be added to the list - only when you have time, thanks.

Can someone explain what this is about?

Despite reading what a dreadful bitchy site Tattle is on Mumsnet, I've found it the opposite. Really nice, tolerant & supportive people. Yes it's a gossip site but it's a lot more friendly & there's tons of humour too.

I totally agree, except that imo it's not recent, it's been going on for years.

I don’t post there, though do look occasionally. My dsis left MN and now posts there as she says she can’t be arsed with the aggression here.

I almost created a thread about this the other day. I posted a couple of light hearted posts, and omg the vitriol I got. For absolutely no reason was ridiculous. Some really nasty posts.

I agree. It is very aggressive. I believe some posters are genuinely looking for a fight. Others are encouraged by the hostility to "call out" or give tough love "advice".

I notice a lot of, what I think of as, a pecking order of selfishness. Horror that someone else's selfishness can cause inconvenience to one's own selfishness.

I noticed a tendency as well that when there is a clear cut case that OP is being hard done by for posters to say "well there has to be a backstory". This implies that OP must be in the wrong somehow.

Yes, lots of nasty posts.

There's a few I've noticed come up time and time again. Shrug it off. It says more about them.