Please give an automatic ban to trollhunters

[catsrus]

There's some appalling troll hunting tonight on a DV thread. If the only consequence of troll hunting is a deleted post people will carry on doing it. Instead of the ubiquitous "please read our guidelines..." Type message I would like to see "This poster is now under a one week suspension for troll hunting" .

We know some women live in situations that are so extreme they are hard to believe - surely MN should err on the side of believing?

[Whoknewitcouldbeso]

Clicks does make sense, the advertisers want our clicks after all. I guess only MN can answer if they get paid for republished content but to my mind we agree that they own the content we write on here by agreeing to T&Cs on sign up. If they own it then I would assume they could sell it and earn that way too.

[TheAnimatedRemainsOfMaryz]

I presume the reward is clicks, as Sparking said. And troll threads are great for the clicks. All the waiting for updates, the marking places, etc, along with the sheer length of some of the threads.

One of the points raised previously about this is the difference between the number of posters drawn in on troll threads, and on "normal" threads where posters have rl problems.

There are many threads on the boards with very few answers, and little support for sometimes very distressed posters. That's because so many people are drawn in by the trolls who are very skilful in the way they gradually leak information, ramp up their threads, use sockpuppets to bump, posts at times when lots of posters are online etc etc.

Every 500 post troll thread is 500 wasted posts that could be supporting people with genuine problems, which is another reason to dislike and resent all the trolling that is around atm.

[Sparklingbrook]

I thought the reward would come in the way of clicks? It's all about the clicks.

[Whoknewitcouldbeso]

Brenda you think MN doesn't get financial reimbursement when their forum content is republished?

[Sparklingbrook]

Anastasie this is Nightwatch. It was introduced a year or two ago IIRC.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_night_watch

TBF it does say it is for spam and not to troll hunt on it though. It's v quiet.

[BrendaandEddie]

lol at ' selling ' threads to the media

[Whoknewitcouldbeso]

Maybe MNHQ don't mind trolls as they occasionally start threads that can be sold to the media. Wasn't penis beaker a troll thread and I remember the Daily Mail published it so MN must have made money off the back of it?

[emotionsecho]

Better solution would be for MNHQ to deal far more effectively with trolls.

There were a number of very good and reasonable suggestions put forward on the other threads re trolls/troll hunting after the particularly despicable recent child bereavement troll but, to my knowledge, MNHQ haven't so much as acknowledged, let alone considered, any of them.

Conclusion is that MNHQ are perfectly content for the site to be troll central.

[Anastasie]

What I mean is they can't have it both ways. Either reports get responded to in good time, or people will take matter into their own hands and troll hunt.

IMO

If MNHQ want people to report and not say owt on a thrwad then they need to read the reports and act on them in a timely manner.

Not 9 hours later.

[Anastasie]

I have never heard of Nightwatch and don't know where it is or how to find it. I've been here for nearly 9 years.

I have had a reply to one of my reports saying that they operate a 'skeleton staff' at night and apologising for the delay.

It's crazy. It's a 24 hour full on site. They need proper staffing at night.

[emotionsecho]

I agree with Maryz about the frankly ludicrous justification that trolls should be allowed free rein without any challenge on the merest off chance that they might be genuine and even if they aren't then some other random person who may just happen to read the thread could be helped.

Basically that is saying that the posters who have in genuine good faith shared/relived their own harrowing experiences in the hope of helping someone have to add to that experience the upset and humiliation of the knowledge that the person they tried to help or advise is laughing at them on the other side of the screen.

To use the line 'don't give more than you can emotionally, etc.' is trite as if that was implied to rule no-one could offer help or advice because by default they have to give of their own experience.

Furthermore, MN is not the only vehicle available for support for people in difficult positions, the way the 'ban troll hunters' brigade go on you would be forgiven for thinking that nothing or no-one else is out there.

[TheAnimatedRemainsOfMaryz]

Why should I?

I happen to like it here. I just don't like bullshitters upsetting people. What's wrong with that?

[Darkbehindthecurtain]

So find another site? But you won't, will you?

[TheAnimatedRemainsOfMaryz]

They will never restrict the namechanging.

They will never put a post count.

So is there anything that mnhq are willing to do, that they could do easily, that would reduce the trolling?

Sansoora, there are many people in dreadful situations who post on here who are believed. They are believed because what they are posting about is true. They answer questions truthfully, they respond to concern, they actually interact with posters who are trying to help (and in fact with posters who are querying their story).

I have posted about things that I can hardly believe myself, and (like many people on here) have struggled with pretty much unbelievable rl experiences. But the difference between truthful posters and trolls is that the troll isn't telling the truth, and therefore suggestions/queries/interest is met with anger and cries of bullying, and sockpuppets shouting "troll-hunter".

Anyone who wants to reduce troll-hunting should consider starting at the beginning - reduce trolling.

[Sansoora]

We know some women live in situations that are so extreme they are hard to believe

Im one of those women. In fact, at times, I can hardly believe my story myself. Im quite glad that I have a few real life friends who also post here and should I ever be called a troll I know they would come forward. I'd also be happy to open up my FB to someone from MNHQ in order to show I have nothing to hide. And that yes, my awful story is true.

[StrawberryTeaLeaf]

And a post count in the person's header

Jeff diluted the usefulness of that idea. So many of us de-regged and re-regged after his nonsense. There are still people lurking but not re-regged etc etc.

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeG0es]

And a post count in the person's header, get rid of all this "nc'd for this, naice ham, pombear" business.

[TheAnimatedRemainsOfMaryz]

Look, there are going to be occasions where mnhq get it wrong.

And there are going to be occasions where people with genuine problems are presumed to be trolling.

But compared to the number of out and out trolls causing upset and distress on a daily basis, those occasions are very few.

From what I can remember, recent suggestions have been:

(1) quicker response from hq
(2) when a thread is deleted for the op being a pbp all their posts and threads should be deleted, not just the one where they are "caught"
(3) there should be more categories to reporting - one being ?troll, one possibly being ?personal attack, and one being THIS IS BEYOND THE PALE AND SHOULD BE DELETED IMMEDIATELY
(4) troll reports should be automatically counted, and if there are, say 50 individual reports of a post or thread, (or maybe fewer in the beyond the pale category) that post and/or thread should be auto-hidden immediately until hq can have a look (with an message being posted as to why it has been hidden)

Has anyone any extra suggestions?

[SagaNorensLeatherTrousers]

I forgot about Nightwatch too.

[Sparklingbrook]

Mumsnet stuff, sorry.