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...

But if it is all made up, why do you care?

And I repeat, we are supposed to accept that most threads (particularly within relationships) are made up, yes? But we are most emphatically NOT allowed to suspect which ones are made up and which are genuine and challenge the OP, because that is naughty?

Portofino - do you mean why do I care if 'its all made up?'

The major problem with trolling on our bereaved Mums thread is - we, I think, are quite a trusting bunch. We created our thread about 5 years ago - its a 'safe haven' - its not always sad...we have plenty of laughs on there, we scream, shout, cry, laugh, etc etc and there is always someone who knows what someone is going 'through' because they have been there. When a troll comes on they are shown the same respect and support as everybody else. After a while I usually think that something is not right with the way they are posting or the things they are saying.

Grieving for a child/children takes up most of my physical and emotional energy and to realise that someone is 'taking you for a fool' is a very hard thing to get your head around.

Your argument appears to be that almost all the threads on Mumsnet are made up and that it is (a) wrong to believe that any of them are genuine but also (b) wrong to suggest that any of them in particular are made up. However, your telling us that they are all made up and that therefore 90% of posters are trolls is just fine and dandy.

Unless you HAVE been hounded off the boards after being (falsely) accused as a troll, I cannot understand why you are so worried by this.

Shabba - no, my commented was directed to the OP. I know that you and others on the Bereavement boards have sadly had to harden yourself to the possibility that some posters aren't genuine. Like you, I cannot possibly imaging why anyone would do such a thing.

But OP seems to think it is perfectly acceptable that stuff is made up, it happens so we should just accept it, and how very dare we try to challenge it.

I am asking why the OP cares so much.

What I really don't understand is why people don't hit the report button when they suspect a troll, instead of mocking and humiliating the poster on the thread, and getting the rest of the gang to join in. I understand that to do the latter feels big, and feels clever, but is there no little voice of conscience saying: "What if this poster is real?" And is it really so clever to be able to mobilise an internet gang?

Oh OK I didn't 'get' any of this thread for quite some time. If anybody finds my marbles please will they leave them in the lost property box and I will pick them up later.....

God my typing/spelling is awful this morning - I do apologise.

I do find troll hunting fairly irritating. Especially when it's on threads that people are not emotionally invested in and are unlikely to become so. There's also an argument that even if the op is an outright troll a little fanciful with the truth that the thread may help others.

That said a gentle reminder to "be on your guard/you don't really know someone you've just met online" on a suspicious thread is not a bad thing. Neither is PMing someone who's getting overly involved in something.

But this thread is just bizarre.

thepile - i have been reprting the troll in question for over a year...

Which troll is the troll in question? Do you mean the OP?

There's no evidence to suggest the OP is a troll. I agree with her OP.

How can you know what her other usernames have been (she only seems to have posted on 2 threads with her current name - no problem with that, we are all allowed to nc)?

If you have been reporting her for a year, and MN has been ignoring your reports, might that not mean that she is a genuine poster?

And that you are mistaken?

This is really really boring.

Yes, there are many ways to de-rail a thread.

OP popped up on another questionable thread where a multi-faceted troll was being discussed. I have no idea at all if OP is the same person, probably not, but I still find the argument a little odd under the circumstances.

Fine to hate troll hunting, in most cases, good advice is given and no harm is done. Better to go with it than to cause upset to a genuine poster.

But OP's point is that most threads AREN'T genuine - so in which case why is OP so concerned about troll hunters? If you have the view that most threads are made up, why would you care what anyone thinks on t'interweb? You would just not bother, surely and go and read a book instead?

I posted on a Professional Cycling forum yesterday. I know nothing about cycling.

Tufty, there's a cycling website that thinks it's funny to invade MN occasionally - was told this by a neighbour who posts on there (he'd had a drink and thought it was amusing. Daft sod.)

Edam, I now remember reading that on here. There is no connection or any sub text intended in my post. Unless you count being obtuse