Can we add the date posters joined MN?

[BIWI]

So many trolls, cheeky and goady fuckers these days! Advanced Search can be helpful in identifying a first time poster - but given how frequently people name change, or the fact that often people name change for one, specific post, sometimes a long-term poster can seem to be a first time poster. Hence they may come under suspicion too.

Could you add, underneath the info on the right-hand side, where it currently has 'message/report', the month and year that they joined MN?

I realise that being here for a while doesn't preclude trolling (unfortunately), but it's much more likely that someone posting a CF/GF/Troll thread, who only joined this month, is not going to be a genuine poster.

Most other sites seem to have this kind of information. I think it would be really useful.

I’d like to see PMs disabled on threads that mention money or financial difficulty.

I agree, it would stop vigilantes.
The joining date should be under the persons profile.

And you should only be able to see posts if you are a MN member, I know you can set up a fake account but as it is the whole world can see any thread.

@ErrolTheDragon

If you think someone is a troll or GF, then you can always report

Absolutely. (And I always do). But this, and my suggestion, is not mutually exclusive!

Only 1in 20 getting taken down just indicates that MNHQ are giving the benefit of the doubt to threads that have been reported. I think trolling is a far worse problem than trollhunting.

You could minimise the NC/outing issue by after 1, 2 or 3 years omitting the month and just saying "Member since 2010" or something.

@MilkTwoSugarsThanks

TRAs would have a field day

How? What would they do with this information?

@fatwomanfat

BIWI what she means is that let’s say BIWI joined April 2006 and then you name change to VerySensitivePoster and that also says she joined in April 2006. Someone pipes up ‘sounds like BIWI’ and bam

But there will be many more people who joined in the same month, so I really don't see how that could happen. (But I agree with you - doxxing is horrible and should be reported/dealt with just as trolling should be)

I don’t think so BIWI - it would make people fairly easy to track down.

Yes, several people probably joined April 2006 but then if they also have a dog, a DS, blah blah. Just not sure that the need to stamp out trolls trumps peoples right to privacy.

@PlanDeRaccordement

^But why should a newbie have to wait months and months, reading threads and learning MN peculiar etiquette to be able to ask for advice? Why should a person have to pass unwritten tests set by troll hunters to prove they are genuine?
Lots of newbies don’t find MN until they are in crisis and desperately want advice. They find MN and post. Then they get attacked. It’s heartbreaking.

I agree with you, and I think it's terribly sad that you're terrified to post (although you're doing well on this thread )

But this situation has come about because of the amount of trolling on MN. I think it's come to be the case that the default position of many posters (especially in the bearpit of AIBU) that the OP is a troll.

Privacy? There's no privacy on an open forum like Mumsnet! Something that all of us need to be aware when we post about our home/family/lives.

Perhaps rather than the year of joining being stated maybe a more open term such as
newbie for less than 6 months
recent for 6 months to 2 years
Established for 2-5 years
Original member 5 years plus

Not very good titles but just a framework of an idea
I change names probably once per month partly to avoid being recognised partly because I like to - so seem to other posters to be a newbie all the time

Yes please, can't see why this wouldn't be anything but positive. Can't it just go with the account rather than the name so people can still name change?

Sorry just seen pp have already suggested similar , my bad

BIWI is your real name then is it

I would be totally against this. Anything that makes me more identifiable is a bad thing.

Posters just need to be a bit more sensible when reading this anonymous Internet forum where anybody can lie or stir up trouble.

I be interested in seeing how this could be a bad thing. So in the interest of science ():

I am a very infrequent namechanger. My first post on this website was in Oct 2006 (using a ‘regular use name’ - I had joined and flounced in 2004/5 )

I was extremely prolific between 2009 and 2014.

Very happy to accept PMs from anyone who thinks they can used ‘Joined in Oct 06’ against me.

I’m not baiting, I’m interested in seeing what problems could arise.

It’s more that it will be used against newbies. Because every newbie will automatically be considered more likely to be a troll than a long time MN member. So their threads will be viewed with even more suspicion. Leading to MN cliques forming. I’ve seen it on other forums where if you are new, you can be discounted and patronised. It creates a hierarchy of users as well. Like one poster mentioned, long time MN posters will become “royalty” and get a free pass for comments and behaviour that if a newbie did it, would get reported as a troll.

I think it would cut down on the troll hunting.

If anything, I think it would increase troll hunting as people try and link posters to their different usernames.

I think the royalty thing arises out of being a known name/personality, not the actual length of time on MN.

I doubt it would be problematic if it was just number of years, or months within the first year. And I'd put something like ">5 years" to prevent excessive 'oldie-ism' - lots of old-timers dereged/rereged because of Jeffreygate anyway.

I think that although this matter has been considered at various points in the past, it is different nowadays for various reasons - back in the day, few people had more than one email address and might have fixed IP, whereas now people can just knock up new accounts easily. Apart from marking very new posters, there is already a delay on posting attachments, is there also one on making clicky links and sending PMs?

What about something more vague then..."newbie" for say, registered for less than a month, "regular contributor" for over 100 posts made, etc.? That way it gives users an indication for how long someone has been around but it's less in detail for the possible "troll-hunting-by-matching-up-dates" thing?

Length of time since account created is not an indicator of trolliness

I wouldn't support this, because it isn't fit for purpose, if the purpose is to identify and deter trolls.

@fatwomanfat

BIWI is your real name then is it

I'm not sure what you mean by that - can you tell me more?

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor

Can't it just go with the account rather than the name so people can still name change?

Yes, that's what I'm suggesting.

@PurpleDaisies

Not really sure how this would make you more identifiable?

Not really sure how this would make you more identifiable?

It would make if easier to connect name changes.

I think the suggestion of making it more vague would get round that though.