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Original poster

Spoofs, Jokes and Trolls

17 replies

Hullygully · 27/03/2013 16:47

Right.

I want a serious debate about this.

I started a joke thread, in my own name as usual, about a neighbour stealing a spoon.

It was questioned as "trolling" and I got told off by Rebecca at MNHQ.

Are spoofs and/or jokes no longer allowed?

Since when?

And why?

What do people think about spoofs, jokes and trolls and the difference theereof?

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MNHQ

HelenMumsnet · 27/03/2013 17:18

Afternoon.

Apols if you think we're a humourless lot. That wasn't our intention at all.

We haven't deleted your thread, Hully. Or any of the other spoof/joke threads that have been started over the past couple of days.

What we have done, though, is mail the folks who started them to let them know that we have had a fair few reports from people who either got taken in and thought they were goady/troll threads or who were a bit concerned that others might get taken in and think they were goady/troll threads - given the unfortunate rise of genuine goady/troll/invader threads recently.

All we said in our mail was that we'd appreciate it hugely if they could cool it with the wind-ups for a bit (there are quite a lot of them all at once!), given the number of reports they were generating.

Again, we're sorry if the recent troubles/extra calls on our delete button has made us a bit grinchy. It's been a long month. reaches for gin

MNHQ

HelenMumsnet · 27/03/2013 17:24

@Tee2072

The problem is the inconsistency, Helen.

Gin?

What inconsistency, Tee?

MNHQ

HelenMumsnet · 27/03/2013 17:38

@Tee2072

Troll threads hanging about and fun threads being targeted.

Also, I reported a thread this morning that wasn't replied to for hours.

How long between Hully's thread being reported and her being "warned"?

Why did she need to be warned if she's actually done nothing wrong? Broken no TGs?

Well, I'm not sure we'd agree with that.

We don't leave troll threads hanging around: the moment we spot them, they're gone.

We might however leave up a thread that some folks think is a troll thread, if we've no reason to think that it's a troll thread. Benefit of the doubt has always been our stance.

And we're not 'targeting' fun threads. God forbid!

MNHQ

HelenMumsnet · 27/03/2013 17:42

@seeker

Would I be derailing this thread if I asked about deletions? If you're "personally attacked" on a thread, and if you've said on the thread that you're happy for the posts to remain, do you have any say in whether the posts are deleted or not? I was on a thread recently where some people said some very silly things, and they were deleted. Which made them look a bigger deal than they were, and also unbalanced the thread a bit. Feel free to ignore this post if it is derailing- but it just seems to be part of the whole trigger happy culture.

The sad thing is that the spoon thing could easily have been genuine. No sillier than many other recent threads!

No, seeker. A personal attack breaks the guidelines and, if reported, will be deleted.

That said, if a personal attack is reported, we would always look at the post in context and the thread as a whole - just to make sure no one is selectively reporting in order to get one person deleted and not others.

MNHQ

HelenMumsnet · 27/03/2013 17:44

@KatieMiddleton

Pffffft. Thin end of the wedge isn't it?

Can I suggest that instead of pandering to the slightly wet MNHQ send them a link to a general chat thread in the new topic I'm a fwuffy hun, yes I am. Contain 'em if they can't safely mooch the boards without reaching for the smelling salts.

You calling us slightly wet, KatieMiddleton?

MNHQ

HelenMumsnet · 27/03/2013 17:48

@Tee2072

"And we're not 'targeting' fun threads. God forbid!"

Then why send Hully a warning at all? Why not just ignore the report or reply with 'it's not a troll'.

I got a reply like that just the other day from Rowan. I don't agree with her, I think the thread is weird and trolly and in the wrong place, but it's not up to me, it's up to HQ.

So why didn't HQ tell the reporter to fuck off what Rowan told me?

We didn't send her a warning. We asked her (and others), politely, to cool it. That's all. No deletions, no warnings.

And of course we would have told anyone reporting those threads that the OP was not a troll.

MNHQ

HelenMumsnet · 27/03/2013 17:53

@UnChartered

i slightly disagree with that Helen, about reporting and personal attacks

recently i had an 'altercation' with a MNer, and we sorted it out on thread - no harm done.

Until some nosey twat decided to report us both and with the deletions it is left looking like it was a nasty spat.

Ok, well, in that situation, although it was, technically, correct to delete the personal attacks, we would like to think the MNHQer on duty would have had time to see that you and the other MNer had made up on the thread and apologised to each other - and we could then have pointed out to the nosey twat reporter that peace and love had broken on, so all was well.

Obviously, that didn't happen in this case.

MNHQ

HelenMumsnet · 27/03/2013 17:57

@Tee2072

Okay. Then why ask them to cool it? What do they need to cool? Having fun?

No, of course not. But I gather they'd announced their intention to start a lot of spoof threads, and then they did, all at once.

It was the fact that there were quite a few of them that made us send the mail.

Perhaps we got our tone wrong in the mail (I'll have to check) but I can only repeat that it wasn't meant as a telling off or as a warning; merely as a polite request to not start any more for a bit.

MNHQ

HelenMumsnet · 27/03/2013 18:00

@Hullygully

Helen, what about these, my earlier points?

Hi Helen,

I can't agree with you, "cooling it" will do nothing except make people even more po when joking is allowed to recommence.

You can't, surely, even call it a "wind-up" - a thread about a neighbour stealing a spoon, in my own name, that is one long series of jokes about Roger etc.

Come on.

And there are loads of us who like a larf and and a spoof and a joke.

Are we just to shut up and let all the humourless po roam free and heavy-footed over MN?

How is that fair?

We have been larking and joking since the beginning, you can't let a load of newbies turn up and ruin the tone and change the style. How can that possibly be fair?

Nope. We certainly wouldn't want anyone - newbie or not - to turn up and stop anyone larking around.

Please don't assume we wouldn't explain to those who were confused/upset/bewildered/concerned that we could see this was a regular MNer having a bit of a laugh. Of course we would.

MNHQ

HelenMumsnet · 27/03/2013 18:03

@Hullygully

Three of us Helen, just three.

And we started one harmless thread each.

Out of the zillions on here.

Three is quite a few in one day, no?

But look, we've already apologised for appearing to be humourless/grinchy.

It can be hard to get the balance right sometimes. Last time there was a spoof thread, we were lambasted for joining in, if I recall!

MNHQ

HelenMumsnet · 27/03/2013 18:12

@Hullygully

No, three is not a lot in one day. IMVHO

And this is bigger than the telling off email of today (I appreciate you have apologised etc), the reason I am harping on is because I think there is a real danger of the whole tone of the site changing and us all being driven off.

OK, well that may be true. Although I'm not sure it is, entirely.

We do have a lot of new people - always do at the turn of the year. (We always notice because we have to spend weeks explaining that we allow swearing, and that swearing isn't always a personal attack.)

And we have lost some of the older regulars - that does tend to happen, sadly.

But we hope the tone will stay largely the same. That's down in part to us at MNHQ trying to stay as reasonable as possible and not lose our SOH too often but it's also down to newbies being willing to get a feel for MN as it is now and learn to love all its wonderful idiosyncracies. It's also down to regulars being willing to welcome, be patient with and tolerate newbies who might not get our ways straightaway.

MNHQ

HelenMumsnet · 27/03/2013 18:15

@Hullygully

Yeah but we don't like them.

Can't we ban them?

Except those that get it immediately (like magi), the rest are just frankly annoying.

No. Fraid not.

But perhaps we can slowly show them the wisdom of our ways, eh?

MNHQ

HelenMumsnet · 27/03/2013 18:18

@SecretLindtBunny

Helen, when you say we have lost some of the older posters that's the understatement of the century.

There are an awful lot of people who now don't bother posting because they have had enough of Po-faced whiny gits reporting.

They may report. It doesn't mean we do what they're demanding we do.

MNHQ

HelenMumsnet · 27/03/2013 18:20

@Hullygully

I admire your (obligatory) optimism, but sadly don't share it.

They don't WANT to see and share the wisdom, they are humourless and po and dull and want to make us the same. And I am not joking.

Maybe. But if folks just attack them, then they genuinely do have something to complain about.

We think there's room for everybody. And the MN thang gets you in the end.

(Think I was probably quite dull when I first joined. My first post was about sippy cups, fgs)

MNHQ

HelenMumsnet · 27/03/2013 18:22

@CandyCrushed

HelenMumsnet Nice move calling posters who report personal attacks ' Nosey Twats '. Absolutely charming Confused

Oh dear. I was repeating someone else's words in an attempt at humour. MNHQ Fail.

MNHQ

HelenMumsnet · 27/03/2013 18:24

@Maryz

Helen, did you see what happened on Freddie's thread ? It should have been fun, but she got pasted.

And there was a child swapping thread someone tried to derail.

And there are people lurking and reporting all over the place.

I got deleted for trying out my backwards talk on one thread. Where one poster was deliberately trying to wind everyone up, and was allowed to here

It is becoming impossible to talk about anything without someone taking offence. Now I have taken huge offence at the Conduct Disorder thread - but I'm willing to stay on it and argue my point. I'm not silently lurking and reporting (though I confess I did ask you to keep an eye on it, for fear the DM lot got a hold of it).

I did see the Freddie thread. Maryz. And 'things' were done in response to that, we can assure you.

And someone being offended is not a reason for us to delete a thread.

MNHQ

HelenMumsnet · 27/03/2013 18:27

Right. I'm afraid I have to go now. Hope that's helped a bit. Even if I'm not funny.

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