Perhaps it's time to suspend new registrations, MNHQ?

[BIWI]

You reap what you sow, I fear.

Since penisbeaker, and SheffieldGuy, both of which were widely touted by Mumsnet themselves, we have had an influx of dubious posters.

Another couple of blokes looking for sex today, plus one persistent odious racist poster.

Would you consider suspending the ability of people to register until this all dies down?

Of course, that would also preclude anyone in need of help and support from joining, which would be a terrible shame.

And please stop linking and promoting such dubious posts/posters. It doesn't do anyone here any favours.

Me Pistey. I miss HelenMN.

It is getting silly now - open season for trolls. I know MNHQ wants publicity to get advertising and cold hard cash, but so many just won't bother posting any more if Active Convos is full of shit and nonsense.

Time for a £5 new registration fee.

Back - but these posters don't care about looking ignorant - they only do it for attention. So give them none and delete.

Whist 'Don't feed the trolls' is probably excellent advice, it is hard for people not to post if blatant and goady troll threads are left undeleted for inexplicably long periods of time.
They really do need more MNHQers on duty, particularly at peak troll times.

Oh thank Christ!

Spot on OP. This place has been going downhill since PBgate. What's the use in a forum like this when it's walls are being graffitied all over

Also MNHQ hi!!! I don't need that many emails from you every single week thank you! I used to open and read them but you're starting to fall into "spam" territory where I will just delete

PortofinoRevisited That poster may not have cared, but it can be argued that threads like that reflect on all racists, even the ones that try to appear respectable. That it makes them all look pathetic and less likely to gain support.

Like I say, it's a matter of opinion. I know others may feel differently.

I really, really, really don't want those horrible racist threads to stand, thank you very much. No matter how funny any of the replies might be. What more do you want the Daily Mail to be reporting of MN?

The whole place is now filled with odd threads. Backonly - but people engaged with the twat. Anyone else wanting to do similar will see that. These posters should be ignored and swiftly deleted. I am cross that MNHQ seem to be so happy to have DM type publicity that the rest of us can't trust a bloody thing anyone posts anymore as Active Convos seems to be filled with goady, made up shit.

When will people learn not to engage with trolls.

Is it because they think the troll will turn round after reading their post and say "yes, I was wrong, you've convinced me".

Why can't people just ignore?

I used to be a bit a troll hunter back in the day - before I got banned told off and promised not to do it anymore. This seems almost laughable now as in mho the trolls/journalists/wind up merchants almost seem to overtake genuine posters at some points.

It's hard not to engage, tbh.

Hopefully, though, all those threads are gone now.

Hi all,

Thanks for this and we do totally see where you are coming from and the last thing we want is to be overrun by trolls.

The thing is, we can never anticipate a reaction about a thread. The Sheffield thread responses were very funny and we did share them, but we also shared 20/30 other threads last week about many different things.

We never know what the media will pick up on, if at all.

We do get to reports as quickly as we possibly can and we do suspend registrations if we see an invasion happening - sometime for half an hour, sometimes all night.

The night watch is currently with Tech and we will hopefully have it up and running over the coming months. We are sure this will help.

As has been said a few times on the thread already, trolls love attention, that is what they are here for. We know it can be hard when their posts are massively inflammatory but it really is best to report and ignore. We will get to the reports as quickly as possible and remove them and their posts.

Please do also feel free to report other funny threads or posts that you would like to see shared on our social media channels - we are always on the look out for witty and intelligent threads to share.

Hmmmm .............. that was a very anodyne, let's please everyone type of reply.

Frankly, you don't get to reports quickly enough - there have been some horror threads that have stood for hours.

You've been promising better overnight moderation for ages & it still hasn't happened.

And nothing in the Sheffield thread was that funny. Honestly.

But I totally agree with 'don't feed the trolls'.

Press report & don't comment on the thread - it really would make a difference.

"As has been said a few times on the thread already, trolls love attention, that is what they are here for. [...] but it really is best to report and ignore."

Rather than repost on social media to reach a larger audience you mean?

What I didn't understand about Sheffield guy thread was a couple of pages in , and most of those posts were "waiting for deletion message" , MNHQ came on to say - right this thread is going - and then after that message it was on FB and twitter. So attracting people to a thread that had already been acknowledged to break the guidelines.

It was about as funny as coming across a flasher.

Have you seen the price of short back smoked bacon?

I have just one suggestion. Let posters tell other posters to fuck off without it being classed as a personal attack. Especially of things arent being deleted as fast as would be ideal.

TrollPerson posts shite. Six million members tell them to fuck off. The end.

it is a coincidence that I have had such a post deleted this week

I'll believe night moderation when I see it!

What about weekends? They dont seem to be sorted yet, never mind night times? I think you may need mnhq on continentals

Tis true that if no one posted on a troll thread, the troll would sod off sooner rather than later, so some of the onus has to be on posters as well as HQ to not post. Between HQ and posters, we could do more to put them off.

People like getting their teeth into a juicy thread though, there's no denying it. An utter racist twat who gets 0 responses is more likely to do one than a troll who gets loads of responses then being banned and seeing it as a challenge to re-reg and carry on.

Banning new posters is not the way to go.

MN want to grow, and the more members/people signing in, the more advertising. And therefore more income.

MN is not a public service, or charity. At the end of the day Justine wants to retire in the Caribbean with no financial worries.

I do think more moderation is the way to go. Sometimes I imagine one lonely person in MN towers, doing Sudoku, rather than paying attention to a thread where 100 posters are reporting abuse.

And posters do do a rather good job of eating trolls alive. Usually.

I don't agree with suspending new registrations. That's a massive overreaction and MN is a business after all, why on earth would they want to stop new customers joining?

I've joined since - and not due to - the whole PB thing, and the site has been really helpful to me as a paranoid first time mum to be. There are lots of others who would have struggled to find sensible advice if they hadn't joined too I'm sure.

Maybe reporting and monitoring needs to be stepped up, but tbh I've found that while the vast majority of posters are lovely and helpful, there's a minority who seem to feel like the new people are spoiling their fun. Its hardly the welcome that people like myself either expect or deserve. We're not in school now, so stop acting like the cool kids who own the playground. This is a public site, with lots of genuine people on it, and anyone should be able to join in.