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...

no, didn't mean to suggest you were anything to do with it, just came into my head when you mentioned cycling!

I didn't think you were Edam

I did.

I think that's exactly what you meant.

Hully I have actually won Tour de France 4 times. But it's a secret.

Anyone who trolls the bereavement boards needs a dynamite enema

Great idea chickens

trolling on any sensitive area of the boards is unforgiveable. There are a lot of very special people throughout mumsnet who are willing to share their experiences with others in the hope that they can help

Yes we are all aware that its an open forum and that some people are not what they seem but if eg someone reaches out for support on a bereavement there are not many people who would ignore that cry for help on the off chance they are making it up

I think it takes a very sick person to do this type of trolling

Forgot to do this:

.............and the post of the day on that daft thread was someone who said (cant be bothered now going through it all looking for her name!!)..... 'You know when someone coughs and says worraloadofbollocks at the same time? Well thats what I just did.....'

Whoever that was you made me spit my brew on the keyboard.....I do love a hint of sarcasm!!

Mumsnet has rules about Troll Hunting. Some members of Mumsnet obviously feel that they don't have to follow these rules and I would like to know why they think this is the case.

Troll hunting does harm to the site in a number of ways. HQ staff have explained in some detail why their approach to trolls is better than yours but you seem unable to accept their ruling. It does harm the reputation of Mumsnet that rules that people freely sign up to follow when they join are ignored, seemingly without any sanctions being taken.

The Hunters absolute refusal to justify their current "We know better than Mumsnet" approach cannot have gone unnoticed.

Who are the little people

noddy I thought they were dc!!

penandink - I believe, personally, that the bereaved Mums thread (of which I am sadly a part of) has been hit harder by Trolls than any other thread on MN. We have had at least half a dozen of them over the last 2 years. When they come onto our thread and tell there story everybody replies to them and supports them. Sometimes over the weeks i start to get an uneasy feeling and if I think its someone trolling I private message MNHQ. Not once has any of us shouted 'troll' on our thread.

It is very difficult to describe how everyone feels on our thread when a troll causes damage and upset.

A couple of years ago around Christmas time we were all 'taken in' by someone who I believe was mentally ill - surely you have to be mentally ill to pretend your child has died? I wish, with all my heart, one of the 'troll alerters' you talk about in your post had jumped all over our thread shouting 'troll, troll she is a troll.' The damage the poster caused was sickening and so very sad.

Penandink , we get your point

So Shabbapinkfrog, you are saying that troll hunting is a good thing, and you would like to see more of it?

Penandink - are you a regular who has namechanged (which would explain your familiarity with the site).

And if, as you do really believe that ".....the percentage of genuine messages in most of the site sections is close to zero....." - then why does any of it matter anyway? If it is all fiction, why do trolling/troll hunting matter or do any damage?

I wonder if you are going to answer my questions (which others have already asked and you have ignored) or are you going to post another generic post about mumsnet's rules, the harm that trolling does to the site etc etc?

I am not sure about encouraging people to shout troll on the bereavment board shabs...

Its a realy difficult one as I know you and a couple of others were badly stung by that troll but that thread has been a safe haven for 5 years now.. cant believe its been that long ..

we both know how hard it is to talk about losing your child in the real world and we really dont want mums put off for fear of not being believed

I think that if someone suspects a troll - especially on such emotional threads as ours they should contact MNHQ as soon as poss. The incident I mentioned in my post got to the point that the 'troll' on New Years Eve messaged me on another networking site and said (for all to see) 'I need your support tonight...I cannot stop thinking about my child...you are the only person who can help me. IF you go out tonight I warn you that I will take my own life.' I ended up telling her I was going out and wouldn't be held to ransom by her.

When I came onto MN the day after another lady who had been drawn in by the troll had started a thread desperatly trying to find me so I could go and talk to this troll.......and, yes, she was pretending to be a bereaved Mum.