Dealing with the trolls

[margiebargie]

Lots of people reported the most recent big troll thread, but it obviously trundled on for a while regardless - I presume while you were looking into it behind the scenes. How about a system whereby if you've received a certain amount of reports, the thread is automatically "paused"/locked/hidden while you investigate?

And if a thread is revealed to have been from a troll, delete it (with the message "Yawn" or similar), and keep it up for a day or two but hide it from everyone apart from those who were posting on it (op excluded, obviously), so that they can discuss it among themselves without their discussions being public. I'm sure the trolls get a kick out of being called a sick fucker as much as from the original deception; as it's an attention-seeking phenomenon, the less attention they get, the better, no?

Can I borrow your pitchfork to spear trolls who start goady threads about sensitive subjects in their buttocks too please usual?

Was the woman whose marathon runner husband was having an affair with an older woman this same troll?

I nearly reported the recent thread but it's been many years since my daughter's diagnosis and I was prepared to give the OP the benefit of the doubt as procedures have obviously changed over time.

I couldn't bring myself to post on the thread though as I felt so uncomfortable about it, and I wasn't surprised when I saw the deletion message.

I don't think people who offered support should be mocked, if you're lucky enough not to have been in a similar position yourself you can't possibly know for sure that what was being posted wasn't genuine.

Horrible.

What happened to the one about the woman who's husband had a drugs past and his ex-girlfriend died in suspicious circumstances. That thread disappeared. Was that nonsense too? About 2-3 weeks ago.

*whose

I suspected the OA op from the second post. My trolldar is pretty good (but then I'm a cynic at the best of times). I didn't post, because I don't post much - I just spend my time in awe of everyone here and know I can't possibly add anything of the same value!
But one thing that bemuses me always about these threads is that they post from the bedside, with all the machines on. When my DS was in NICU and SCBU, we weren't allowed to use phones in the units in case it interfered with the machines, and it was strictly monitored. I remember trying to play him some music from my phone on airplane mode and got told off. Was our hospital just extra picky?

Badgoush - that's still going on isn't it?

What happened to the one about the woman who's husband had a drugs past and his ex-girlfriend died in suspicious circumstances. That thread disappeared. Was that nonsense too? About 2-3 weeks ago.

It was still there a couple of hours ago.

Hmm, it might have gone now. No idea why because I didn't post on it.

I reported that one fireside and the one prior to it. Apparently it's ok

Of course it is.

Oh wow. So life is stranger than fiction in this case!

Yes Bad life is very strange !

DrDiva I think rules about mobile phones have changed a lot in the recent years.
I remeber when I had my dcs that they were completely forbidden because of the risk they would interfere with 'essential' equipments.
When my DMIL had open heart surgery, she was the one ringing us on her mobile

Aristotle I have visions of your DMIL chatting from the operating table while a surgeon tries to work around the phone!

DS is only 3, but it's amazing how fast things change.

Thanks for the suggestions here -please do keep the reports coming
WE have deleted speculation/troll hunting here, and will continue to think on what the best solution is.
Thanks
MNHQ

Why did I get deleted? All it was was a link to the thread that someone asked about and I made no comment that could be worthy of a deletion. This place does my head in sometimes.

There's a US parenting forum, which is very different to MN (it's completely anonymous and very fast-moving, which means you don't get these 1000 post threads and sagas going on - completely addictive in a different way), and they have a system whereby you can click "dislike" on a post, and after a certain amount of dislikes, the post is greyed out. It's still there, you can still read it, respond to it, but you get a heads-up that the post may be offensive/fake whatever.

What I like about it is the automation of it. There's no one sitting agonising about it or doing detective work behind the scenes, it's just a numbers thing. And I've never seen it trigger any sort of retaliative frenzy or agonizing about why it's been disliked.

MN works differently, I know, and I know there would be a behind-the-scenes process, but I think a greying-out style thing could work while they're looking into it. Otherwise, you have the situation as it stands, which is that during the time MNHQ are trying to get to the bottom of it, hundreds of posters are drawn in, some becoming emotionally invested and making themselves vulnerable.

"Educating people" is a waste of time, imo. You can tell them what you like, but as has been much discussed on this thread, people enjoy a dramatic thread and they want to be part of it. Others are just plain naive, or simply more trusting than the cynical among us. And some can relate to the story and have a personal, often painful connection, and they want to help.

I think some sort of gentle system to signal that the thread is being looked into might just make people stop and think a bit first.

It's an interesting idea to 'grey out' or somehow otherwise indicate that a thread is under investigation. Although I suppose the danger is that it could be perfectly innocent but people are put off from posting anyway.

But if it only came into effect after a certain amount of reports, I'd guess that the chances are it's dodgy. And if MNHQ investigated and decided it was ok, then they'd reverse the greyed out thing.