Mumsnet encouraging brigading by Twitter TRAs

[TerfinUSA]

Apparently Mumsnet now takes 'reports' by Twitter.

twitter.com/MumsnetTowers/status/991593570955153408

May I ask why? It seems normal that threads should be flagged on site, and that Twitter isn't an appropriate mechanism for this.

Moreover a purpose-built Twitter TRA account, one of hundreds on Twitter set up specifically to harass and silence gender-critical feminists is being actively engaged with, even as it publicly defames Mumsnet on Twitter

twitter.com/MumsnetTowers/status/991683672356028417

The TRA modus operandi on Twitter is to mass-report feminist accounts until they are blocked and banned, and dozens have been silences in this fashion, now it seems Mumsnet, is voluntarily submitting to TRA oversight.

A thread from November about an article from 'Shon Faye' on transgender access to women's refuges has been deleted based on this Tweet:

twitter.com/youngvulgarian/status/991328378178473985

The basis for deletion appears to have been 'misgendering'. It seems to me that it is rendered impossible to have a discussion on protecting single sex spaces if you are forced to use 'preferred pronouns' instead of ones that reflect biological reality. It is rather hard to understand the worldview whereby the feelings of the likes of Shon Faye asserting the right to enter a single sex space is prioritised over actual domestic abuse and rape victims. Especially on a which from its name 'Mumsnet' clearly has some basis in female biology!

Moreover, it seems reports are being received on the basis of 'Shon's feelings might be hurt', but it doesn't seem these same standards are applied to people who are not TRAs.

Any given thread about anyone, be they Jamie Oliver, Chris Evans, whoever, is likely to have people being slightly rude, but it seems that Mumsnet is inviting TRAs to brigade the site to enforce trans ideology ('misgendering', etc.) and render women voiceless the same way they have done on Twitter.

Already TRAs are circling demanding bans of posters for not being 100% on-board with trans ideology, they will not rest until this place is indistinguishable from a NUS conference.

twitter.com/MumsnetTowers/status/991707542752583681

The above was a mobile device clipboard pasting fail. I won't ask for it to be deleted though as it probably bears repeating. Others have said similar much better than me though.

The message I wanted has gone to the ether but I assure you it was thorough relevant and quite fantastic!
I cant write it all again but it did include asking why Truscum's message above was deleted? I really saw nothing wrong , memory aint perfect though.
The modding has been more than over zealous over the last 72 hours, much more .

Unfortunately if the rules of a 'civil debate' is that the debate must start from the point of transwomen are women, then the debate has already been silenced. To enforce the use of language that implies that something is a done deal and already accepted - when it emphatically isn't - is an intentional political strategy intended to disempower and prevent dissent.

If MN enforces that, they have been drawn into taking a side.

PencilsInSpace

Fantastic post. I especially agree about the posts in the paedophile thread. I got my first ever deletion in there, and then my second soon after..and I even clarified in the deleted posts incase they were taken the wrong way that I was in no way implying that TRAs are actually paedophiles.

The current situation could not be more different from the one I expected when we were all lauding Justine for her Times article

Indeed

Although some seemed a little reticent in piling on the plaudits while waiting to see what would actually ... perhaps a not unwise choice, as it turns out

Yes Pencils thank you for taking the time to write that post. @MNHQ I hope you read it too.

I hope that @MNHQ realises that there are a lot of us who do not comment much or at all and are following this situation with concern. The standard of posts on these boards is so high it is an education.

I think MNHQ need to get a handle on the weaponising of the reporting and complaints process by mobbing, vexatious parties intent on using MN mods to be their bullies by proxy. Don't let yourself be used and abused by them MN. It is tech abuse and commonly used now. I've said before where help can be found to assist to ensure your good nature isn't used and abused - and please get female expertise to help - so many men techies don't understand this covert weaponisation and they downplay and dismiss the harm caused. It needs female specialist intervention as well.

@MNHQ please can we have an update on this?

I've modded online groups for 30 odd years, including on some high profile global sites. Its a job which is often impossible to get right, I understand very well its always a balancing act.

However I've never been on a group which invites complaints from non members, especially from a platform which is dominated by an unfriendly population (in this case male dominated site invited to complain about a rare female dominated site).

What on earth did you think would happen? Do you understand how organised and automated some of the activists are? (both TRA and MRA)

Hello. Any thoughts on Glosswitch's insightful New Statesman write-up about Mumsnet and some men's attempts to police it? www.newstatesman.com/politics/feminism/2018/05/demonisation-mumsnet-just-latest-incarnation-witch-hunting

Abolissimo

That is a great article

I really hope MNHQ thinks again about this and takes on the feminist analysis of what they have succumbed to in inviting these Twitter reports

Great post Pencil

Sorry, but I have just read through this. Respectfully. ARE YOU INSANE? I have never in all my years of the Internet known a forum to allow complaints being submitted via another website open to non users of that website. And even worse, it’s that hellhole of an echo chamber Twitter.

Is someone from MNHQ able to answer the following questions?:

What made you decide to use Twitter as a platform where non registered members of the site can report posts?

If the reporting of posts is important enough to be anonymous on here, then why do you allow Twitter users to report posts with screenshots of said posts, publicly for the world to see?

Would you delete a post like this posted on here for being abusive to the users on this site? All those words about Mumsnet and not a single one about them being shit-eating TERFs because that’s what’s been posted under the mumsnet hashtag within the last hour on Twitter.

You have made a really grave mistake on this and you need to seriously reconsider it. I’m not going to go into the trans issue because although I agree with the majority of the users on this site it doesn’t impact me in the same way as it does them, but my god, doing this as a forum for anybody that aren’t users to make a complaint about anything on here is like opening your front door and allowing burglars to come in and trash and ransack your house. Who advised you of this!? They are either deluded or not very intelligent and don’t know the first thing about Twitter.

I totally agree, Mission

Mind you, there are tantrums on twitter at the moment. I can't be sure, but I think someone may have reported mumsnet/mumsnet users - or maybe twitter users - to the police tonight. As they have long threatened to. And I think they may have got a response along the lines that it is not transphobia - it is opinion.

Which is as it should be of course - unless you want to live authoritarian state that doesn't allow free thought and discussion. (In which case - you'll be next. That's what happens in authoritarian states.)

I am also concerned, as I have heard that some trans-activists are pressuring Mumsnet advertisers to pull their support from MN.... I would expect that the word Mumsnet is a registered trademark and that Twitter authorities could be asked not to let these activists use "Mumsnet Transphobia" as a handle to try and discredit the network.
At the very least, MNHQ should not bow to such pressures and forbid members from calling men men, especially since many trans M-to-Fs or M-to-Ts such as Caitlyn Jenner freely acknowledge that they DO remain men, with or without the requisite equipment. It seems to me that men are first and foremost a political force, and that silencing free speech in women has long been a priority of theirs.
Anyway, please be assured of my entire solidarity and hope for an harmonious issue.

Bump. Will there be answers to questions in this thread?

@MNHQ I suspect you're going to be very busy tomorrow, so would you like to give us an answer to this before you batten down the hatches?

@MNHQ - Do you have any comment to make on this subject now that you are experiencing the reality of it?