Anti-Religious Trolling On Mumsnet

[DioneTheDiabolist]

I get that not everyone is religious and that some people are very anti-religious (some with good reasons).

But some MNetters are religious, others are simply curious. So how come so many threads are allowed to be derailed by anti-religious trolls? Today a thread about Good Friday was deleted because a troll came on. FFS, it's Easter! Threads about Islam are regularly derailed by Islamophobes. On a thread seeking information on Judaism in the Philosophy & Religion topic, a troll has posted LMFAO. Ok, serious question, why does the Jewish God make all men wear a funny beards? She continues venting for a few posts before eventually exiting the thread saying that she is on drugs because It's Easter, party time.

She is a MN regular, like most of the anti-religious trolls here. I have reported her posts but they still stand.

Trolls are not interested in knowing what other people think or believe. They have no desire to discuss the point of actual threads and rarely start threads of their own regarding their issues with religion or belief. They just derail threads in the hope of driving all talk of religion and different beliefs off MN. And they are succeeding.

Why are MNHQ allowing this to happen? Deleting threads instead of dealing with posters? Allowing blatant anti-religious trolling to derail threads that people may find supportive or informative? Is MN a religion free zone? Because if it is, that's ok. I just think that religious posters should be told. Then they can go elsewhere if they wish to discuss their beliefs.

I didn't particularly have you in mind Silver, I would have to look at your specific posts again to see if I thought it was a derailment of the thread.

I don't expect a special sort of respect regarding religious beliefs as opposed to any other world views - I have mainly been talking about thread derailment as a tactic to put forward a poster's own agenda (being unrelated to the OP) without challenge and shut down any other discussion.

thegreenheart I think you've got most of the typical derailments covered.

What do you think the best course of action is bar moderation & reporting?

Overtly point out the digression and steer the conversation back? Ignoring completely just gives someone a platform for saying exactly what they like, unchallenged and often someone will eventually 'bite' (often myself), with varying success. Sometimes the challenge silences them but sometimes it derails the thread further, which is what some will want.

Taking a step back from the issue of Trolls specifically on the P&R threads and our fairly circular discussion.

I do feel in recent months there has been considerably more Trollery going on throughout the site. There are some discussions elsewhere on Site Stuff for the need for faster responses, particularly in the evenings and overnight. I wonder whether for those who frequent the P&R boards they are not aware that these sort of problems are happening elsewhere. Certainly the issues about being shouted down or derailment are quite mild in comparison with some of the horrors I have observed elsewhere.

IMHO MNHQ are pretty good at managing Trolls (speed of response aside) but the site has become a victim of its own success and reflects the way the Internet can often be.

I'm not sure I understand this derailment angle. I posted something probably when this thread had moved on somewhat which would probably be classed as a derailment? But then I feel I am entitled to post my feelings/experience regardless of where the thread is? Or where someone else thinks the thread is and how it should continue from x point? After all, my post can be ignored as such and the thread brought "back on course" or whatever?

I'd like to see the link.

Maybe the people who don't want a thread derailed could post "Ignore the Dawkins troll" and be rigorous in not responding to its taunts. Bloody annoying though.

Someone asked earlier why Muslims were not subject to the offensive posts like Christians were, here is a particularly bigoted example of how Islamic teachings were portrayed:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/philosophy_religion_spirituality/2562580-Can-someone-explain-the-differences-between-Judaism-Christianity-and-Islam

itsmine I don't have to be tolerant of beliefs. Especially if I think they are nonsense.

Shakey it gets very difficult to get back to what issues an OP raised when a thread subject matter is diverted on numerous occasions. What you wanted to say probably did relate to a conversation between several posters up thread. If there were the possibility of moderation and deletion, digression would more obviously something to avoid and what would be seen as what should discussed would be the issue the OP raised. As is is now digression and potentially derailment is more accepted (even if reluctantly).

This thread was started because some diversions have a purpose of shutting down discussion or pushing individual posters unique agendas, as observed in the religious threads.. BigD you are correct anyone could be guilty of this, atheist or people of any religion - I never said they couldn't. If moderation was a possibility perhaps there would be less opportunity to divert conversation away from some of the more controversial issues.

I am tolerant of people, I don't have to respect belief.

itsmine you are being disingenuous.

It was Jankf and Sunny's posts I was referencing as offensive Trollery

You don't have to like them or agree, but clearly tolerance is fundamental in our society.

So you would tolerate homophobia? If a friend was blanking a neighbour because they were gay?

And it's not a case of tolerating all views but the very worst. It's a sliding scale. I've challenged people's views calmly at a dinner party for example. I didn't flip the table over and instigate a riot.

BigD, regarding 'interesting tangents', I agree and it is a shame, in a way, that diversions are used to derail and shut down conversation. Natural conversation is diverse, tangents are often creative.

However it might have to come sort of moderation or other kind of self operated moderation defensive tactics, such as 'calling out' every diversion, when people are starting to feel they cannot discuss what they want or contribute to threads because of this.

We could certainly try flagging up the derailments and ignoring them. On ship of fools we used to have troll warning comments 'trip, trap, over the bridge' or similar. I'm not regular over there any more so I don't know if they still do that but that place could get very lively at times. So 'thread wreck alert' or similar could give posters the heads up that we have a derailment going on and we ignore the white noise of disrespect.

Yes, we have to be careful not to slip into actually 'troll hunting', as per MN guidelines, though thegreenheart. But overtly stating 'off point' or 'that subject is not what this thread is discussing' might help. Sometimes just ignoring, I feel, can allow to much of a free reign to continue posting on whatever subject the derailleur wants, without challenge.

I think calling it out as trolling is going to be most effective, since trolling is explicitly not allowed on MN.