Is mumsnet going crazy or something?

[fio2]

I am fed up everyday of logging on to troll posts. cant something be done to stop this

Trouble is that a lot of people who find MN for the first time have done it when searching for an answer for a fairly immediate/urgent question or problem. If they have to go wait for a password to be delivered then they prob won't bother posting and they won't get the immediate answer they're looking for. Which means that they may never bother to come back to MN and we'd lose quite a few potential new members.

Yes it would, Tissy. There's no way I would join such a board.

Can't remember if this is currently in place, but most of the boards I join you can't post until you've responded or clicked on a link that is emailed to you (thus veryfying you've provided a legitimate contact email address). This is just enough faff to minimize casual trolls without too much faff for the genuine posters with the bonus that if there is then trouble you have an ISP to complain to at least.

agree it's a bit annoying when people land on here out of the blue who obviously have an agenda (ie not an individual, but campaigning for some cause or other) but it's worth that annoyance for maintaining free speech, imo

Couldn't we all give our telephone numbers when we register and then if this sort of thing happens one of the MN team could give us a ring to authenticate us??? Perhaps???

I don't think MN have time for that pixie plus to me it would feel intrusive

they would put down false numbers anyway..

Again, no way would I give out my phone number to a website (unless I'm buying something and I trust that it's secure).

01234 5678900 is very quick and easy to type and fools most valid number checkers. Just as S0D 0FF gets used as my postcode quite frequently too

what about one of the mods or a responsible adult immediately does CAT to the suspected troll? That would get rid of most of them, surely?

That rather begs the question, suzy - are any of the mods responsible adults?

I thought you'd all say that! But...I've had a look at the subscribers page, and there are a massive 312 members who've paid a subscription(peculiarly, a lot of whom I've never seen posting....maybe some have changed their names!). I know that some choose to keep their contributions anonymous, but how many registered members (paid-up or not) are there? It seems that there are an awful lot of people out there who are not contributing (financially) anyway, so putting them off may not have a financial impact on the site.

Phnarrrrr!

Tissy, last figure for number of members I saw quoted was 20,000

And that reminds me...I think my membership may have expired - do we get sent a reminder?

the phone thing was only if there was a problem. if the person had put a wrong telephone number then the team would find out and could delete the thread.

I thought we did- but my name isn't on that list, so I've just paid up, honest!

I dont' think it's just the financial impact on the site it's to do with immediacy, people feeling like they can contribute or get an answer quickly.

Still think the best policy is to ignore trolls

So, out of 20,000 members, only 300-odd find it valuable enough to pay a small sub.

If moderators can't be given rights to close or postpone a thread, why not let them have an official log in name so that newbies like me know that it's a moderator who is suggesting that a thread is ignored.
Also, if it wouldn't put people off, could we have a system like ebay where a tally is kept of how long (days/weeks/years) you've been using MN (since registration?) Would then make it more obvious if newbie is a troll or just never posted before, only visited and read? Maybe?

good, point, jamiesam- other sites have a profile that says, "member since....and no of posts..." You could keep your number of posts through name changes, so it's obvious if a new name is a name change of a long-term poster.

TBH, we have so few trolls hanging around the place causing trouble, that it seems to be almost pointless to ammend any registration formalities. There is always a dizzy few days post troll, but it always dies down and we get on. I don't think Mumsnet should be made prohibitively difficult for everyone just for the sake of a handful of trolls.

Oh no tissy don't get me wrong I agree it's an outrage that so few people pay the MN sub but I was just saying that I don't think making it complusory is a good idea.

Tissy, some users can't afford to make the sub.

I think we do get a reminder, but it might just be that justine et al bulk email us all at a specific point to remind us that subs are due, regardless of when we last paid ?

everyone catches on pretty quickly to trolls don't they??? are we getting tiny bit para here?

I've just scanned the list for my sub. I could've sworn I was up to date......

... Juyst been and checked my email for the WorldPay reciept and I did subscribe again on 17th June 2004. That's weird....?! Perhaps I accidentally ticked to be anon ? [puzzled emoticon]

x 1000. Just found my name on the list.....