Why WASN'T this thread deleted?

[Fairenuff]

This thread was posted in feminism and was obviously reported very quickly but has been allowed to stand. Why? It just makes a mockery of We Believe You and is quite offensive.

There are loads of posters calling OP a troll and that would normally be enough to shut down a thread, even if the content wasn't so awful.

Hi again,

To reassure you, no, we certainly don't 'ignore' reports. We do work late into the night and there are people here again first thing, but unfortunately it's just not possible to staff the boards 24/7 and occasionally something like this slips through the net.

In retrospect, we probably should have deleted this when it first appeared. It was a busy night elsewhere on the boards, and we were a bit preoccupied sorting out other threads and didn't have time to give enough thought to this one, perhaps.

All we can do is hold our hands up and say: 'Sorry, we're only human, we do make mistakes sometimes. We made the wrong call on this occasion, and were too slow off the mark'. We do hope we get it right most of the time but we're sorry if we fouled up on this one.

As regards the deletion message, we felt the question of whether the OP was 'genuinely' a troll or 'genuinely' just a deeply unpleasant human being was not so relevant as the fact that the messages he posted during the night were offensive in the extreme and that is what we deleted the thread for. We have obviously banned him, as well as his 'supporter' on that thread.

Thanks again for taking the time to report. We do appreciate it very much.

We do work late into the night and there are people here again first thing, but unfortunately it's just not possible to staff the boards 24/7 and occasionally something like this slips through the net.

Isn't that the opposite of what Rowan posted which was quoted earlier on this thread though?

RowanMumsnet (MNHQ)Wed 29-Oct-14 14:30:31
(Another posters comment is quoted: MNHQ simply don't appear to have the number of bodies to cope with the number of reports or the right HQers in at peak times for useage )
The response: That's not how we see it tbh (though we wouldn't would we grin). Although we're busy, we very rarely overwhelmed - usually only when something ridiculous (like Heartbleed) happens. Most days/evenings we clear almost everything that's been reported to us, and the Night Watch deal with egregious trolling and spamming overnight.

So... which is it

Hi there, Fairenuff. It's not really the opposite. As Rowan says, we are rarely overwhelmed. We were quite busy last night, but as mentioned, it's only 'occasionally' that something like this slips through the net. It isn't something that happens frequently.

So most days/evenings we do clear everything that's been reported to us and most nights the Night Watch do deal with egregious trolling overnight. As we said, unfortunately, on this occasion that wasn't the case, and for that we can only apologise, but we're pleased to say this doesn't happen very often.

I do sympathise with HQ - but that thread should never have got past page1. I can only imagine that the humorous responses allowed it to stay.

But seriously, the OP itself was just so wrong: "Feminists! Tell me what was going through this woman's head when she falsely accused me of rape!"

And that's before the whole thing got really vile.

I sympathise with HQ too and of course they cannot be everywhere all the time.

BUT- HQ posted on that thread half a dozen posts in and much as the puns offered some light relief, it was quite obvious that the OP may not be entirely… upfront about his intentions.

Why not at the very least lock the thread?? And then check out in the morning.

It was Not A Pretty Sight and, with respect (honest respect, not sarky) I don't think MNHQ got it right.

To reassure you, no, we certainly don't 'ignore' reports. We do work late into the night and there are people here again first thing, but unfortunately it's just not possible to staff the boards 24/7 and occasionally something like this slips through the net.

Why is it not possible to staff the boards 24/7?

Given how massive MN has become, it absolutely should be possible to pay people a wage to staff the boards at night, instead of relying on the goodwill of the volunteer night watch crew.

I've been here nearly 3 years now and this problem is simply not going away. If anything it's getting worse, given how much MN has grown.

Surely paying a living wage to a couple of people to work a night shift is not impossible?

Even if it has to come out of the gin budget

MNHQ can I suggest that, if someone posts on the FWR saying that he's been falsely accused of rape, that it's deleted immediately?

What is the point in asking people to report threads if there is no-one there to respond?

Hi again. We do our best to have people on the boards at all times. However, this is a big place and we can't be everywhere at once. Reporting always helps. We might be dealing with a long list of reports from all over the site, but we will get to each one as soon as we can. With a thread like this one, the more reports we receive the better. If we can see a long list of reports on the same thread, we know it's one to prioritise. We appreciate it can sometimes seem like a long wait from the outside looking in, but we assure you we do get to things as soon as we can and reporting is the quickest way to get our attention. Shouting 'troll' on the boards, despite the rumours, is not the quickest method!

Emotions, I'm quite glad you saw it, in a way. Yes, that happens a lot and second poster was very reminiscent of others...

I think to start with it looked like a goad and run, and when MNHQ posted at first, it was all naval jokes and second poster hadn't arrived.

Yes Yonic in a way I'm glad I saw it too, I was quite shocked and disturbed by that thread. I would hope it's a rare occurrence but I suspect you will tell me otherwise.

Ah, no. Probably a similar visitor to yorrick every few days. The OP type is rarer but he showed his true colours further down the thread...

He most certainly did, but it shouldn't be a feature of the FWR board that you have to put up with either type.