So what do we do to change things? that's the million dollar question, and with MN as big as it is now, although not dollars it is a site worth millions and part of the reason why things have changed as the financial stakes for those at the top have changed.
This is all a bit of a mess at the moment and I'm on the fence here. I think some people haven't behaved particularly well but understand it has come from feelings of huge frustration and anger with MNHQ . And I get it must have been upsetting for Justine to see the coackroach or whatever insect it meme on Reddit and feel it was the last straw.
Over the years I've seen Justine keep her cool on many occasions I would have lost mine but her Achilles heel appears to be other forums. Mumsonline turned into a thing, MoldieGate wouldn't have happened in the way it did if she hadn't brought it up and now Reddit has kicked things off again with a blurring of the boundaries between MN and Reddit. I think she is understandably protective over MN as it's something she is so heavily invested in emotionally and financially but sometimes some things best left alone.
MN have decided to make changes to how they are going to moderate and will ditch the auto response thing which I think will help. But I think they do need to take on board the anger that so many people are expressing about feeling like being a product. The reality is we are and I personally don't mind and use MN in a way that works for me but I do understand why people are upset to see regulars banned and there have been very mixed messages re reporting trolls etc which have all addded into to where we are now.
The problem with AIBU is that the fight club attitudes that are seen spreads over to the other boards and whereas Chat used to be a fair bit softer it often feels like AIBU by extension. There are ongoing issues with moderating tricky subjects as Pagwatch said above and those are going to be incredibly difficult to solve but do need to be talked about.
I also think it's unconsciously become a bit of a thing recently in society to be on one side or another. Always been there but never as overtly as it has been now and that will spill over onto online forums.
That'll quite long and I don't think it helps much but is how I see things after only one morning cuppa. Lots of bad feeling last night and I hope things can move on today but it's the weekend so I guess they won't. That is definitely something that needs dealing with. The Nightwatch is not appropriate for a site this size and income and there needs to be more weekend staff.