Hi All,
Just to add our voice to the melee and specifically to answer the GF query and whether it's affected our policy re intervention, the short answer is: it hasn't. We deleted all the GF stuff partly because of the threat of legal action and partly because GF was very upset. In actual fact we doubt very much whether we would have been liable for anything but to be honest we didn't want to incur the time and expense involved in even beginning a conversation with lawyers so deleting the threads as requested seemed the most pragmatic option (particularly as it was all a bit unedifying really and didn't add a lot to the general wellbeing in terms of advice etc etc). We probably should have explained all this at the time but the truth is it was August and a very large portion of mumsnet hq was at the beach!
Since then we've deleted one post (not a thread, a post) because of dodgy health advice, this one yesterday and a few others specifically at the members' who posted requests - usually because they mistakenly divulged some personal information. Incidently we have left a lot of stuff up that we've been asked to delete on the grounds that it's rude or offensive because our policy was and is that as far as possible the boards be self-policing. As we've said before we won't tolerate personal attacks and racism but tactless, rude or crass comments do not warrant intervention - for the simple reasons that it's extremely hard to know where to draw the line - one person's humour causes another offence; misunderstandings often happen with this medium - things can sound abrupt when they aren't meant to be; very often people learn from the discussions that follow crass posts - even the orginal poster sometimes and finally, as has been argued very eloquently here, it's impossible to know everyone's history and to be sensitive to everyone's personal situation.
In other words we avoid censorship as far as we possibly can. Yesterday's intervention to some extent broke our own rules on this - it was a bit of a special case, as SM and Lou have posted because a number of the people involved in the thread, once they'd realised that another member's feelings may have been hurt, requested that the thread be deleted; but maybe we should have actually thought a bit harder about the consequences because as some of you have pointed out no one acted at all maliciously and our intervention may have given the (wrong) impression that there was anyone to blame. So apologies for that, it was not what we intended.
It is sad that some of you think mumsnet has become a place where you have to watch what you say. That isn't our intention - as we always say it's a discussion forum and (so long as no-one's being deliberately offensive) we want to encourage discussion. Inevitably with the range of subjects under discussion - including religion, politics, GF (shhh!), supermarket grape consumption etc etc - there are going to be some disagreements, 'twas ever thus and in our view it's no bad thing. Some of you have noted that there are more than there used to be in the good ol' days and indeed there are but then there are many, many more active discussions than there used to be and many more posters. It is an unfortunate consequence of a board like ours that a minority view can seem hounded because a lot of people post the opposite view in a short space of time but that doesn't necessarily constitute ganging up or condemnation - just that a lot of people disagree.
In our "mumsnet philosophy" on the talk home page we ask people to respect others' choices even if they disagree with them and wherever possible to offer moral support. It's a fine line to tread between encouraging spontenaity, free speech and honesty and at the same time trying to preserve people's feelings - being a parent is stressful enough. We have in the last few days been simultaneously charged with being way too lax in what we allow and of being po-face and prefectly. There's no doubt we do get it wrong sometimes but all we can say is we promise to try and get the balance right for as long as you're posting and to be mindful that without honest discussion there's not much point having a discussion forum. Discuss!
Justine, Carrie and Rachel