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 never said it didn't, @DoesntLeftoverTurkeySoupDragOn

But is there any evidence trolls are more likely to be new posters than old ones?

Many troll/goady posts seem pretty expertly crafted to push MN buttons and must therefore be by people who are pretty familiar with the site. More obvious trolls (weird sex pests etc) get deleted very quickly as things stand.

Adding date joined seems to have no value in preventing trolling, but just allow long term users to feel superior.

Re pp comments I don’t think mn leave threads that long once they see it had been reported. If anything you’re getting threads saying too many are deleted (I don’t agree, if they have to go they should). Also yes to leaving it there for a bit so people don’t start more asking where it is.

There are complaints when a thread is deleted because it's not going the way the OP wanted, not because it's a troll. A surprising number of people develop privacy concerns about something they've posted when they realise they are in the wrong It is frustrating when it seems easier for someone to get their own thread deleted than blocking the trolls.

Yeh that’s annoying

2003

The irony is that you think adding the month/year people joined will make the site less susceptible to trolling and more secure, when in fact it will make those of us who joined in (for example) July 2004 far more identifiable and make it much easier to link our usernames.

As someone who posts in FWR, I am totally against this and it would actually stop me posting.

We are all adults and this is an open forum. If you think the risk of you being trolled, or even just trolls existing, is so great that you want to put others at risk of being doxxed/outed, stop using it. I know that sounds harsh but that's how I see it. And is a risk, anyone who uses FWR knows this.

The number of posts being visible, is even more stupid, IMO. As PP said, some of the most trolly trolls were here a long time.

This conversation has come up since the days of Lavender (see, I'm an old timer ) and I don't think there is any easy solution. Yes the number of trolls are definitely greater, but the use of the internet has changed and we all need to be aware of this. You will never stop trolling, it's on us to hone our detection skills and not invest more than we want to, just in case.

One thing I would like to see is PMs disabled for OPs on threads like "I have no money for electric, no neighbours, no family, can't use food banks and my twins are hungry". But again, if you're fucking stupid enough to paypal someone like this a tenner, it's on you.

Maybe I'm just old and cynical and grumpy as fuck today, but I think we need to take responsibility for our own use of the internet and constantly be aware not everyone is who they say they are. Interestingly for my (teen/adult) DC this is Internet 101 and they wouldn't be taken in as often as MNers do - some of the Mner "Ive PMed you hon" responses to very very obvious trolly trolls would have them spraining their eyeballs.

God I really am grumpy. Does anyone know where I put my Lindt chocolates as I can't fucking find them and I'm annoyed

I'm quite intrigued that posters are arguing against something that would only disadvantage trolls.

But this is only true if you think that all trolls are newbies. It would actually disadvantage ALL genuine newbies because we’d automatically have our newness held against us as a troll red flag.

I might be supportive of a flag to say that someone has been a member for 12+ months but I wouldn’t want anything more detailed.

I joined in 2007. I’ve de-regged at least three times and will probably do so again at some point. It feels safest way of protecting my privacy given some past events.

Not all trolls are new, but the repeatedly banned posters who re-register to post on their favourite troll topics are. I'd say the majority of trolls have very recent registrations, although only MN would know really.

'But is there any evidence trolls are more likely to be new posters than old ones? Many troll/goady posts seem pretty expertly crafted to push MN buttons and must therefore be by people who are pretty familiar with the site. More obvious trolls (weird sex pests etc) get deleted very quickly as things stand.'

Yes, date joined it irrelevant. Best thing to do is take it with a pinch of salt. If people find trolls too stressful then online forums maybe aren't a good idea.

@WeBuiltCisCityOnSexistRoles

Interestingly for my (teen/adult) DC this is Internet 101 and they wouldn't be taken in as often as MNers do - some of the Mner "Ive PMed you hon" responses to very very obvious trolly trolls would have them spraining their eyeballs.

I would like to believe this is true - as a definite old gimmer I'm always surprised, though, by so many MNetters who must be a lot younger than me who seem to be taken in!!!

(Sorry you've lost your chocolate )

"I do think MN need to take stronger action against the trolls. Whether that is proper active moderation 24 hours a day, providing some indication next to a user's name or something else, just reporting threads really isn't working."

I completely agree with this above but I can't see it happening. Nothing has even changed since MNTrolls started up on Reddit - you'd think hq would find that slightly embarrassing.

The negatives outweigh the positives, in my opinion

I’d prefer active moderation 24 hours rather than relying on freebies from night crew. Over date as a deterrent.

I avoid anywhere that has that hierarchy of user (eg vip etc). The date in the profile was ok though. Not that it’s accurate as people re-reg.

I never said it didn't

You said you don't see why people think a longer term poster is better. This is the very essence of "Royalty".

I don't really see why anyone would think that a longer term poster is better than anyone more recent.

Anyway, I genuinely don't understand why people think a date will make trolls easier to spot or anything positive like that. I think the negatives (identifying, making people immediately disregard newbies etc) far outweigh any perceive positives. There's no point saying anything else about it.

That's your interpretation, not mine! Anyway, I get it SoupDragon - you think it's a bad idea.

Clearly someone in the family has eaten your chocolate. HTH!!

Another time when it would be helpful is the trolls who come on to post how awful MN is/how MNers all hate men, etc, etc.

There are so many threads atm where posters are looking for help about serious topics and trolls are doing 'what about the menz' and 'omg MN is full of man haters'. It's slowly eroding MN's USP. This used to be the one place on the internet that countered the misogyny everywhere else.

If someone's first post is 'omg MN is full of man-haters! This place is so biased!' it's hugely likely they're an MRA. Knowing that their first post is trashing the site is quite a good indicator of their intentions and their lack of sincerity.

Hear, hear

I think a good middle-ground would be for there to be a maybe month-long buffer period where someone would have a tag that said 'newbie' or something along those lines—similar to how it is with newcomers not being able to post pictures for the first 48 hours IIRC. Sure, it wouldn't eradicate trolling, but it could minimise it.