we hope that most of you can understand that we're just not set up to do forensic detective work
I totally agree with you MNHQ. However, from a business perspective, Mumsnet had income of £7m last year and made profit of over £2m. You're not exactly a kitchen table company anymore so you need to review how you operate and your risks and procedures as a large company.
I posted on one of the many deleted threads that Mumsnet really needs to look at it's internal risk policies as to how you handle these situations. You have clearly made a quick decision over the charity/crowdfunding thing but there are much larger issues. This kind of situation is going to crop up repeatedly and if there's a lesson to be learned it's how you handle a long running thread with repeated reporting by many many posters over a 4 month period. Do you think, hand on heart that you have treated those posters well, both at the time they reported and over the weekend? Imvho I would say not, and that's why you have posters who are emotional about it. In their anger, many posters have probably put themselves in danger of being sued and I totally get that this is one of the reasons why some threads might have been pulled, but you never said this. In fact the message by @katemumsnet only makes an oblique reference to that possibility.
(An aside to mumsnetters, I have said repeatedly over the last few days that I believe the poster in the thread concerned was exactly who they said they were. Mumsnet believe this too, as do other posters. Think for one moment before you post whether you can afford to be sued for defamation and slander before you throw accusations around, especially those posters who were naming the couple concerned or responding after they had been named).
Back to MNHQ: it didn't take me very long to conclude the story checked out using online resources (check the deleted threads as to how i got there) and quite frankly any one of your 84 employees could have done the same. Equally, if you didn't feel savvy enough to do this, you might want to use a v small portion of those £2m of profits to keep an investigative company on a retainer who can quickly get to the bottom of things for you).
However, just because someone is exactly who they say they are doesn't mean that the situation presented is exactly as they say it is on a thread or that all material facts have been disclosed on the thread. Think carefully about what message your deletion statements and official statements convey either directly or subliminally.
I would also add that for a company that makes £2m profit running a 24 hour website where things are likely to blow up on a weekend, is strictly keeping office hours or having a "weekend crew" the right thing to do? Because I know at my company, our head of PR would have been straight on to this, advising management on how to respond. Do you have the same set up?
This will absolutely blow over but where is @justinemumsnet. If she's on holiday then fair enough tell everyone that but her silence on this issue also conveys a message to mumsnetters.
Final point, mumsnetters aren't stupid people. That's why you make £7m of income from them because advertisers are keen to engage with them (and pay you £4.5m) and get insights from or about mumsnetters (and pay £1m for the privilege). I guess the question you need to ask yourselves is over the last few days, weeks and months have you treated mumsnetters as if they are smart people from whom you make millions? Also, our PMs aren't exactly private to you. If you're getting a lot of reports about a thread or a poster then perhaps checking their PMs on a regular basis ought to be part of your risk procedures?
At the end of the day you're a business, you don't owe a duty of care to anyone, whatever you say about being a supportive environment for parents. Might it have been better at some point when the link to the foundation was first posted, to freeze the thread and say "we have had a ton of posters reporting so we need to freeze the thread while we look into their reports?". Could you not have privately said to the poster, okay, we believe you are who you say you are because you can prove it but something isn't quite adding up for posters, including many medical professionals so in this case, given you say you're a wealthy businessman, I think getting support through counselling might be the best route for you. And sorry for your loss.
Just a few thoughts!