The AMA topic (Sorry)

[duckfuckduck]

It needs a warning on threads that says similar to that in legal - that people shouldn’t take the advice as truth and MN can’t vouch for anyone etc.

(Unless there is a fact checking process to go through before you’re allowed to post there? Is there?)

It’s just gossip.

Just gossip about victims of the sex industry, paedophiles and violence? Or do you mean the gossip of the several people in positions of trust talking about the vulnerable people they work with?

I'm an alcoholic. Just gossip?

I spent Monday morning in a BDSM dungeon? Just gossip? Where the OP is badgered by another poster and basically told she must be wrong in the head?

I was in a relationship with my teacher when I was 15? Just gossip?

I watch kiddie porn?

Seriously not gossip.

And I do think there ought to be some sort of disclaimer or warning in the AMA topic, though the vast majority surely take most of them with a pinch of salt, as the quality and authenticity of the AMA varies greatly..

A criminal offers an AMA and those reporting this are the culprit? Ok then..

Agree 100%. I believe I'm right in saying that the Reddit AMA which inspires this involves a fact checking process. If we don't have that here (and I don't think we should), there should be a disclaimer.

The format inevitably attracts posters looking for a higher standard of advice than the average thread. See the consultant gynaecologist thread for example. The thought should be put in their heads that it's all bullshit.

If people need a disclaimer then they shouldn’t be allowed access to the internet unsupervised

Good luck with making that happen

And I refer you to every post on here asking for medical advice - again see the consultant gynaecologist AMA for abundant examples. All the "should I go to A&E?" threads. What do you think people do with the advice they get here? There will be a highproportion of people on here who take it as gospel.

If there isn't a need for this @mumsnettowers , why do we have a similar warning on the legal forum?

And why are people taken in by the "Iraqi gold bullion, send me your bank details" type scams? People are gullible.

I'll stop now!

What reddit does or does not do is largely beside the point.

A number of people have raised concerns about the AMAs and with good reason. Other people’s lives are not a circus parade and it is distasteful to treat them as such: that is one matter.

When the AMAs are becoming about as repulsive and as base as it is possible to get I do think it is time to draw a line.

The point with stashing them is not to preserve them but because when they are deleted it would seem they are deleted from people’s memories as well as from MN. People blankly ask ‘what teacher troll? and ‘well, I have never seen any racism! That doesn’t mean it does not exist. It means that it was deleted - well and good, but that isn’t a solution in itself, it removes the problem rather than solves it.

So round on the reporter if you like but just remember that meanwhile someone cane here to talk about his sexual fantasies about children and he thought that was OK. Why did he think that, I wonder.

Surely it's common knowledge?

It shouldn't be for unpaid volunteers to be responsible for moderating at night anyway - not in my opinion. And if an AMA were to be posted late friday or late saturday it could sit for hours and hours.

^

I'm sometimes on here late at night (due to living abroad) and occasionally report threads via the night watch but MN basically need to pay someone to do that instead

There should definitely be one on the 'I'm a psychic, AMA' one!

We all know how it'd end though.

Careful. People might start thinking you two have a personal axe to grind rather then the subject in question. And you wouldn’t want to give that impression now, would you

I started an AMA thread, but only in the full knowledge that it might be necessary to provide my name, in order for anyone who wanted to verify my bona fides. I started the thread because I thought it might be helpful.

Of course I fully endorse the idea that a pinch of salt might be required but that goes for anything on any Internet forum really.

I’m more concerned about the validation of sex offenders than someone pretending to be a pilot when they are an air hostess.

Exactly, immortal

I think the topic needs to go janey

I do understand people like to be curious about other people’s lives but curiosity in itself isn’t reason enough to discuss the vulnerable, the deviant and the unwell.