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 also ignore, but quite a few of these threads are ongoing and there are people getting caught up in them.

I know that LBE , but what can you do? If you report MNHQ often has no proof , if you shout troll you get deleted .

I admit to being very cynical though and know that other posters take things at face value, thats up to them really though

I don't know what the answer is , but such is the internet

I think it's just a shame that the ones taken in are usually, the nicer, kinder posters and not the hard arsed cynics like us me.

It is a shame when you see lovely kind supportive posters getting sucked in , I want to shout ITS A TROLL on some threads , but I just ignore now and hope other posters realise sooner or later

Shabba- I remember the damage done, all too well.

the whole ss thing was very odd indeed...she certainly came across as a bereaved mum...guess we will never know the whole truth..

but it certainly sent shockwaves through the bereaved mummies thread.. took us a while to get back to "normality"

.

I certainly still believe that she was a bereaved mother. But her behaviour was despicable. In fact, didn't she start a thread simillar to this one calling into question the legitimacy of the other posters?

Either way, I'm glad she's gone. I'm glad that all the bridge dwellers get found out eventually. And I don't know how they reconcile their behaviour. Unless, like the op, they see mn as a writng exercise and believe that none of itsd real.

Oh believe me Lissie - she/they/all of them have not gone at all Have been on MN about 5 years now. I could never ever detect 'a troll' at first....people would warn me but I was always too trusting. Nowadays I can read something and I instantly think 'be careful....just sit and watch and keep your mouth shut!!'

Holy moley - Penandink answered a question!!

Wow, you have a scarily good memory for shit like that

What I find weird is when you post a subtle hint that you are onto the op, that only the op would be able to recognise and they immediately flounce.

What also irritates me is when half way through a post they say cries of troll will scare genuine posters like me away you horrible lot and then flounce. A cynic would say that a genuine poster would focus on the people providing the info they need and ignore the rest.

Remember, a while back, there was a suggestion that suspicious posters could insert something along the lines of There Are Other Life Lines out there. (note the caps)
It's true, inoffensive but also a warning.
It fizzled out after a while, but seemed useful.

Think there's been a mistake- my comment did NOT break any guidelines. Does this guy work for MNHQ?

Message deleted and slap on the back of her legs by Mumsnet.

I remember your post LeBOF and no it didn't, but what was said up thread obviously touched a nerve - perhaps they deleted yours for good measure?

This has been such a weird thread.