Hiding a thread from Active and Trending Now

[DumplingsAndStew]

Hi,

I have contacted MNHQ off the board about this, but the first response skirted around the question without answering it, and my second email has been ignored, so I thought I would ask here in the hopes it's less likely to be ignored (though looking around shows that to probably not be the case!)

Last night, a thread was hidden from Active and Trending Now. The thread had deviated from its initial topic, but was very, very active and had not - at that stage - been commented on by a member of MNHQ.

The thread in question has now been deleted, but it was hidden from easy viewing far, far before that, so saying that threads which are going to be deleted won't show on these lists is not relevant.

For what reasons might a thread be hidden from these lists, and for which reason was this particular thread hidden?

My understanding is that the Night Watch can hide threads but not delete them, so if a thread is reported overnight it will be hidden until MNHQ can have a look at it in the morning.

@ChicCroissant

Thanks. The thread itself wasn't hidden, it was still active, it was just hidden from showing up on the Active Conversations tab, disappeared from Trending box (and refreshes) and IIRC didn't appear on the forum (_Chat) list either. It's like they didn't want to delete it, but yet didn't want anyone to find it.

Hi @DumplingsAndStew
We'll hide a thread if it goes way off-topic, if there's lots of Talk guideline breaking posts, if there's trollhunting - and a fair few other reasons.

Removing a thread from Active gives things a chance to calm down and for us to moderate and try to save the thread.

Despite attempts to get things back on track, the thread you're referring to has now been deleted.

@MichaelMumsnet

So the thread was hidden from Active yet no edits, deletions or comments were made by Mumsnet until approximately 10 hours later? Was it hidden then forgotten about? Do Nightwatch have the ability to hide a thread from Active, or just paid staff?

It was clear the thread was not going to calm down, yet no moderation took place for hours. It seems an odd decision to hide it from view in that case.

Can I suggest that if a thread is hidden from Active in the future, the member of staff who does so could post on the thread to say what they are doing and why? If nothing else, it would reassure posters who have concerns about the thread that it is being dealt with, and possibly reduce the number of ongoing reports MN receive about that thread, freeing up time for moderation or other duties.

Why hide a thread if it's gone off topic, assuming talk guidelines aren't consistently being broken? What harm does it do if the conversation rambles a bit, provided the parties to that conversation aren't upset?

Thanks for the suggestions - we'll bear them in mind.