Are Mumsnet rules just for the little people?

[Penandink]

"Troll cries make MNers look silly. If you think the person is not real, you don't have to post - nobody has a gun at your head! If you suspect the person is false and trying to hurt, or get money, tell MNHQ! How terrible if genuine people - people in trouble, people at the end of their tether - come here as their last hope for some help and advice, are savaged and go off again, feeling terrible and that they don't have anywhere left to turn to?"

www.mumsnet.com/info/netiquette

There is a very real problem on Mumsnet that there are a small group of posters who wilfully ignore this "rule" as and when it suits them. I think the problem is now institutionalised in MN as being the norm and acceptable.

These people just make stuff up about people they've never met. Once they do this other people pile in believing the bullshit, and then acting on it. The troll-hunters also don't seem to stop and think how their assumptions might affect - or even damage the rest of the site. Lets summarise their position: " I am OUTRAGED and APPALLED by something that may or may not have happened but can't be proved, because although I say it did, I won't provide any evidence"

Sometimes this place is more like a bear pit rather than a community of support and OBJECTIVE thinking and response.

They have their bit of fun and when their target gives up - off course they do having been hounded unmercifully - the Hunter claim that proves they were a troll. Disagree with the unters and sooner rather than later they will accuse you of being a man (their ultimate insult) or a troll. A suggestion that you should leave the site usually follows.

The "silent majority" don't put up with this. They just leave...

I am 5.2" which makes me quite little and I feel I have exactly the same rights on here as much taller people.

Mumsnets reputation my arse. One aspect of mnet that is hugely respected by other forums and across the Internet is that it is self policed. And it works too and has continued to work as the forum has got larger.

I fail to see why you only focus on mnet and not forum groups as a whole. The silent majority is a load of bull shit. Do you worry about the silent majority who don't shop at Tesco too. If people choose not to post on mnet it is for a myriad of reasons.

I hate this selecting certain posters as well as the cause if all evil. You sound as if you have an agenda which has nothing to do with genuine concern for a particular site.

/ what honeydragon said.

Lissie - was going to put this really amazing post about Dizzy and several others who have 'trolled' across our thread.....I learnt from that experience, but at the time it was emotionally horrible. WAS going to write more but as my very wise DS4 (just 14 years old) always says (as he is closing the laptop on my hands) 'Mum DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS!!!

MNHQ DOES take action against troll hunting. The posts get deleted.

I agree with Honeydragon, that OP has some agenda here and it is nowt to do with MN's reputation.

As I said yesterday, I have had 11 posts deleted on 2 threads for this possible reason - both in the last week or so. In nearly 4 years! Yet OP lists me as one of the group of supposed repeat offenders, and goes on to imply that we are somehow all sockpuppets of each other.

I believe the reputation of MN is damaged much more by nasty trolls posting in the Bereavement and Relationship threads. I for one am MUCH more cynical about what is written and what I would reply to. That is not the fault of the troll hunters but of the ill, deranged or just plain twisted individuals that get their jollies out of making up stories and sucking people in, either for cash, attention, or just sport.

yes, it was Dizzymare. I was trying to remember which of the two who suckered me, that it was.

She stayed just on the side of fully acceptable and it was someone from another forum who recognised her.

I'm sorry but I am not convinced that feeling somebody might be a troll (without any evidence) is justification for breaking the rules you signed up when you joined Mumsnet.

And that is my last contribution to this thread.

When you have been 'stung' a couple of times by trolls you would then really, really 'change your tune!'

Is that a promise penandink?

Bye.

Okay then, bye.

Secret - Dizzy and several others who trolled across our bereavement thread were/are dispicable. Cannot describe the damage she and others like her caused.

shabs, SNF, its a shame. I dont post/reply on the MH boards because of the hurt I felt when Hillllls was outed (that particular troll set my anorexia recovery back significantly - I remember sobbing to my EDT that my stupidity and lack of worth had been confirmed) then there's CVQ, all those posters reliving the most traumatic and harrowing experiences of their lives to show a rape victim that she wasnt alone, that she could survive. and she took parts of their story and added them to her own. imagine the shame and hurt they felt. and, of course, Dizzy. all those posters on the bereavement board, who have endured the greatest loss. pouring out their hearts, supporting and helping someone who was manipulating a mothers grief to get her own jollies.

then we have the financial trolls. the posters who will take the last tenner from a strangers purse with a sob story about how their children are starving.

the sockpuppets, posters who use alternate names to be cruel and abusive to other posters.#

but, you know. let them be. they do no harm.

Words on a screen innit?

What if something clicks and you have proof that a fairly innocuous poster is a troll? What would you do then? Notify Hq and let them know or as long as their posts appeared to be just general posts - let it stand?

At what point do you become a troll hunter as opposed to as truth teller? I know which I would rather do/be what about you?

honeydragon, yep. I have to say, my gut "feelings" have only been wrong once.

agree with Mary (ps, how was taxi-ing?)

oooh, teenage party fights! we used to walk home from parties (even the ones oin the middle of nowhere) hangover is a little better thanks, felt a bit rough this morning. I am obviously out of practice.

so any taxi-ing planned for tonight?

oh god, that does sound iffy. you can only hope that the nightclub had some sense.

Theres a few threads running atm that I don't believe a word of , I just ignore them now