the lack of overnight responses to reports is making a mockery of this site and allowing trolls to run rife

[wannaBe]

at least two blatantly obvious troll threads over night. Yes in this instance it seems pretty obvious that they're trolls (in fact I'm not uncertain that they're not the same poster) But they are from people whose attitudes towards children appear to be so vile as to stir up a lot of harsh and deserved responses, as well as a lot of cries of troll, which are apparently not allowed on mn...

but if mn were quicker to respond to reports these posters wouldn't still be there and people wouldn't feel the need to A, take the piss, B, call troll, and your site wouldn't look like a playground for trolls after the hours of darkness.

I do have to agree that weekends and overnight are the best time to troll unhindered.

Have they been zapped yet?

nope. one in step parenting and one in relationships.

Yeah, I've learned to look at the time of start of a troll thread. Usually around midnight. So there's a fair few hours before MN come to work in daylight hours and deal with the troll reports.

Trolls know this, it's part of what makes them so tragic.

Theres Nightwatch but not sure exactly what that's for.

Y,y just ran across the one in relationships.

I agree that lack of nighttime supervision is a problem that needs a solution.

Would it be an idea to adopt a Reddit-style solution where each troll-magnet board is trusted to several posters who care about it overnight? 2-3 trusted MNers can be given the power to take Relationship threads offline, for example, with decisions to be reviewed by MNHQ personnel in the morning. Others for Step Parents, Chat, etc.

Many of us care deeply about MN and the integrity of its forums, and I would assume that at least some are trusted by MNHQ to not go crazy if given limited power to suspend threads overnight until MNHQ can take a look in the morning.

Hi all,

Thanks for this.
This is what the nightwatch are for and we are currently looking into how we can work with what we have and perhaps expand it a little further.

We will have a discussion over the next couple of weeks and see what we can do to help the situation.

The thing with Nightwatch though is that it is there for all to see. you feel like supergrass, and although it says it's not for Trollhunting that's exactly what you are doing reporting a troll thread there. IYKWIM.

I think if you asked mumsnetters some of us could come up with sensible, workable solutions, but there has to be a willingness to take a hard line on trolling.

At the moment there isn't. So banned posters can come back repeatedly, as we've seen over the last few weeks.

I agree Maryz.

A lot of forums have members as zappers, but in don't know if its a huge problem in MN. Most members are quick to spot and report.

Out of however many posts put up yesterday, how many were trolls/zapped? Probably a small minority.

Maybe now its term time it will calm down

Would it be technically possible to add a 'report to nightwatch' button to the report page? With an explanation that it should be used for all reports between (set hours) and that all such reports will also be copied to MNHQ for review.

Then you can switch it on to nightwatch or just have it going directly to MNHQ depending on who is actually there to deal with reports.

Or if that would make it look too much like 'here are the hours when it's easier to troll', could the report function just copy over to nightwatch when MNHQ staff hit the gin go home? That would be silent as far as posters are concerned. Though I suppose that might mean opening up an antipodean offshoot so you can have a proper rota of who will be awake and working.

I never even knew Nightwatch existed until this thread!

Could you have an overnight '5 individual reports and thread gets locked until someone moderates it' or similar.

I agree with PPs that posting in The Night Watch topic www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_night_watch makes it all too obvious to see - plus it could be deemed as openly troll hunting, which people disapprove of on threads (i.e. "why don't you just Report?").

The Night Watch appear to be 'toothless', if that's the correct expression?

I like AuntieStella's idea of a 'Report To Nightwatch' button. Although, of course, not everyone is in the UK - so that could be difficult for MNers on the other side of the world ..... let alone UK MNers.

Although her idea of a 'switching' scenario for after-hours might work - but there is usually one MNHQer on duty over-night, I believe?

Oh, and, binary, I always totally forget about The Night Watch anyway

for all they claim its not, its well know that reporting outside of 9.30am-5.30pm mon-fri is going to get you almost no response at all.

It's a bot contradictory that mn is supposedly a self moderating site, yet we're not allowed to point out openly obviously trolly posts

I get the issues with overt, zealous troll hunting but how can we self moderate if we can't say 'this is obviously bollocks' without it being against the rules of the site?

Do you think they need to take a vow a la Song of Fire and Ice

Night gathers, and now my watch begins.
It shall not end until morning (or thereabouts)
I shall take no gin, hold no grudges, feed no trolls.
I shall wear no crowns and win no glory.
I shall live and snooze at my computer.
I am the mumsnetter in the darkness.
I am the watcher on the Sofa.
I am the Cup of Tea that burns against the chill
the light that brings the dawn,
the Mouse Clicker that does not wake the sleepers,
the shield that guards the realms of MN.
I pledge my life and honour to the Night's Watch,
for this night and all the nights to come.

Would posting just this on a suspect thread be considered troll hunting?

Ah is that what happened to the thread about the mirror and the other thread a bout the pregnant lady with a DH who had shared custody of his children?

I see so many threads now and just think posters are really gullible to believe the obvious twaddle
I don't even bother to report them.