Have you ever had a thread removed when you weren’t actually a troll?

[Yoghurtpit]

I always wonder this. Sometimes I comment on a thread then it’s gone as it’s ‘not genuine’ etc. But I wonder if sometimes the facts are changed a little to protect confidentiality and really the essence of the story is true? This happened to me many years ago now and I still remember feeling like I was at my lowest then that happened! Everything I had put was actually accurate but the situation must have seemed so awful it was unbelievable to some posters.

I haven’t but I remember a poster once did, her waters broke at 18 weeks and she didn’t no if the baby would survive, she got lots of support and great advice, and then after weeks mumsnet pulled it and said it was a troll. About a year later she appeared on One born every minute and the story had indeed been true! Mumsnet apologised but it’s horrible that she got called a troll and has all that support and advice deleted when she was indeed telling the truth.

And long-term MNetters know there are (in)famous piss, shit and school uniform trolls. "OMG I just shat myself at work, please share your stories of when you've shat yourself in public so I don’t feel so embarrassed" 🙄

I doubt anyone posting about their DP leaving shit stains on the bed or wiping bogies on the sofa really don't know it's disgusting and need other posters to confirm they are NBU.

About five/six years ago there was a thread from an OP about how her teenage kids where driving her mad with housework/hygiene etc.

I commented that I had "survived' my fives teenage years with a good sense of humour and a water pistol. It was ment to be a jokey comment, one that I have used many times and my now grown up children use it.

FOR THE RECORD I HAVE ONLY EVER HAD WATER PLAY FIGHTS WITH MY KIDS.
I HAVE NEVER USED A WATER PISTOL AS A PUNISHMENT.

HOWEVER,

Several users on here decided that a was a child abuser, unsafe to be around children and the pile on after my comment were really nasty. I received several nasty messages and threats of involving social services. I reported all to Mumsnet and no action was taken!!
The next time I went to log into my account it was locked and I had been removed.

It had a big impact on me and I doubted my abilities as a parent and now a very much involved grandparent.

Recently, after receiving a diagnosis of autism and ADHD I joined in on a thread for other members like myself to explain how this affects/effects us, our family and other people around us. I found this a great help - being able to talk, chat and even laugh about our day to day struggles. It was a big help, realising that I wasn't alone.

But then another thread who was aimed at people who live with people like me decided that they would use our thread as a 'look, see how funny they think it is at how they cause us heartache' and 'educational'.

I and many others on the thread disappeared and left because of this.

Mumsnet admins sat back and did nothing.

I have no doubt in my mind that this will probably get deleted and my account will be blocked again but I'm a lot stronger now and I really don't care.

Yes on an old account. Was worried about DDs friend who was basically gorging herself on food all the time (encouraged by her mother). Was told it couldn’t possibly be true and no child would eat like that. It was, she’s a morbidly obese teenager now.

I saw a thread on MN once where an OP had posted about their DP getting drunk at a family event and drawing a flower around the toddler DCs belly button with a sharpie as they thought it was 'cute'.

Not okay to be drunk and drawing on a child obviously and that was the OPs complaint. But the thread went absolutely deranged with some posters saying if she didn't LTB immediately she was enabling child abuse, and a couple of posters claiming it was 'well known' that drawing on DC was something CSA rings producing CSAI do, and threatening the poster that they'd report the thread to social services and the Police so MNHQ would have to disclose their email and IP address.

I think the thread was deleted, I can't remember, but whether it was or not, I'm sure the OP was terrified and very distressed by the pile-on and frankly batshit accusations she received.

I was accused of trolling once on a thread I started and also had a thread started about be on MN Trolls Reddit. It was at a seriously low point in my life and everything I wrote was the truth. It wasn't a very nice experience if I'm honest, it definitely knocked me when I was already down. The thread didn't get removed but it was reported. It was about a close family member having a MH crisis. Not a begging thread or anything outlandish, just looking for support/to vent. I de-regged for a while after that.

A while ago a Facebook friend messaged me to say they'd recognised me here after I posted something about a band I'm into. Now I NC regularly and change identifying stuff eg sex/age/number of DCs, my own age etc to keep things extra private. I do worry that if I'm ever reported again MN will take that as 'inconsistencies' and therefore proof I'm a troll, but it's better than being outed.

Both of these are absolutely shocking.

This is so sad. Imagine going thru such a traumatic event and then having the biggest website for mothers telling you outright you are lying.

With regards to some of the things mentioned here, I do think MNetters themselves need to take a bit of responsibility and stop sharing stories about piss, shit and periods.

Absolutely fine to advise anyone with a problem regarding the above, but it's the "Please share your stories" trolls that are so bloody obvious and yet you can guarantee some will trot along and dutifully oblige, without giving any actual advice at all.

It's not just MNHQ at fault in these cases, it's anyone who shares that stuff without giving it any thought as to why they're being asked to do so.

Ha that is funny!

Lots of people reported me for being a troll because I posted about the same thing multiple times

Oh yeah totally. Or not replying to the thread every 5 minutes.

’OP seems to have done a disappearing act, what a surprise’

In my case I’d been on the thread all morning (I’d woken up in the small hours to something happening and started the thread), then went out to go and treat myself to lunch and clear my head. By the time I came back apparently I was obviously a troll as I’d been away from the thread for several hours 🙄

Know exactly what you mean by the gleeful detailing of ‘the signs’ 🙄😆 It’s soo weird, and yes, the pride they take in it 😂😂😆

Ha, yes, and let's not forget the "interesting first post, OP" comment which is so annoying.
When someone has a problem and starts a thread, it's not unlikely that they'll name change.
What an absolute saddo someone must be to go looking up others' posting history so they can catch them out.

About two years ago I had a thread under a different name that must have been reported by a few people who seemingly thought I was a troll trying to scam money judging by a few of the replies and a comment on the thread from mn. I was in a very low place at the time, having just left my ex and starting out as a single mum with no home and no job. My thread was a mixture of venting and asking for advice on various things - including financial related because I was in a very insecure position but certainly not asking for money from anyone! I don't think the thread got removed but the reaction to it made me feel awful and I stayed away from mn for a while after that!

Yes exactly this. Horrible feeling and often on absolutely no basis – which I think people don’t realise when there’s a statement saying a thread has been deleted. People have the impression it must have been removed on the basis of some evidence – nope.

But if none of these hunches are ever verified, it’s just kind of a self-perpetuating confirmation bias. Even the sense that there are ‘lots of trolls’ is probably very skewed by all the genuine threads that get incorrectly removed and a little notice put up.

I know, right!

I assume most people on mn change their name frequently as a matter of course now, and yes, particularly when starting a thread about something personal or sensitive!

I don't believe a word of it 😂

Yes I came on to say that. When they took down the post as a troll I felt betrayed as I’d been concerned and thinking about the young woman a lot (I probably hadn’t posted anything).

And then horrified when she was on One Born Every Minute. Her baby died.

MN came back and said they were sorry it looked like they’d made a mistake.

I did once when I asked did anyone think adult kids kissing their parents on the mouth was weird.

I have been troll hunted -someone trawled all my previous posts and did a "ha gotcha" - which wasn't, that posted a huge and very hateful pile-on, that then appeared in MNtrolls on Reddit with more self-congratulatory backslapping and hatred of me.
In the end it was a bit silly and as it was over a trivial post I didn't take it to heart. It does show how daft MN and the internet can be though. I think the thread still exists but I had to stop reading it (I didn't start the thread but it turned into we all hate Fightyou).

Yes, I did exactly that and changed around a few details, which I always do incase threads get picked up by news outlets or something, and troll hunters gleefully took that as proof that I was lying. I was not.

Oh - well that's interesting, my last post must have contained some words that automatically make it worthy of review......

I posted about discriminatory treatment of gypsy/ traveller people which turned into a huge pile on of people making quite frankly racist comments. The whole thread was removed for 'not being in the spirit', which I was incredibly unimpressed by, as it really just seemed like a PR exercise.

I'm surprised how many people are surprised when certain threads get deleted. Don't ask a forum of strangers for advice about if your child has been sexually abused! Don't ask a forum of strangers for advice on medical emergencies. Don't ask a forum of strangers to talk about little girls' underwear. If you want professional advice, speak to professionals. If you want to find underwear for little children, Google it. If you sound like a pervert, people are going to think you are a pervert.

My deleted thread wasn't anything like that