OK, this has been bothering me for a while now and I've ummed and aahed about whether to post or not..so here goes.
There seem to have been quite a few troll accusations levelled at new posters recently, some made by people who have hidden their identities in order to make the accusation. I don't know whether the original posters were really trolls, and that's the point really, NO-ONE does, not for sure. Troll is a euphemism for calling someone a liar - would a person actually call someone a liar to their face IRL if they doubted their story? I know I wouldn't.
The reason this matters so much to me at the moment is because just before Christmas something very tragic (can't go into details) happened to the husband of a woman my dh knows. The very next day she gave birth to her first baby. My dh (much to my surprise, as he moans like mad about the amount of time I spend on MN) asked a mutual friend to tell her about Mumsnet, as he felt the support of other online Mums might be of help to her. To my knowledge, she hasn't posted, and to be completely honest, I'm relieved. Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel if she had posted, as a new member, with a story that sounds like something out of Take a Break or Chat My Real Life Tragedy but in fact is TRUE, I think it's quite likely she would have been accused of being a troll. How devastating for someone in real need, and emotional distress, to be accused of making up stories.
I do know trolls can cause real upset. A poster on a site I used to frequent caused a lot of upset to many vulnerable people by posting about the death of her child, under the most horrific circumstances. But when it all came out, the poster HAD lost a child, not in the circumstances she described, but she was obviously someone who did need help, she sadly chose a destructive way of looking for it.
I'd just like to sound a note of caution - if you suspect someone of being a troll (and I'm neither naive or gullible - I know they're out there) surely it's better to give them the benefit of the doubt? And if you can't find it in yourself to do that then just don't respond. Surely a real troll is looking for a reaction - lack of interest is likely to send them off to new pastures.
Right, public service announcement over, I'll get off my soapbox now. I just really felt I needed to get that off my chest.