war topic

[Samcro]

any chance of a covid style war topic for all the "are we going to war " threads please.

@merrymouse

if it is made into a breach of talk guidelines to complain on the threads themselves about what has been posted where, with repeat offenders to be banned. If people report quietly, and the threads are moved without a fuss, then I don't have an issue.

That seems fair.

I completely agree with @AlexaShutUp and @merrymouse re this approach.

@A580Hojas

Did they Alexa? I must have missed that, it usually gets flagged up with "MNHQ have commented on this thread" but I didn't see that this time.

Early on.

I would imagine part of the discussion as well as the overall volume and sustainability of the traffic is the sheer amount of mod time which will be consumed by complaints of threads in the wrong place, complaints about people complaining its in the wrong place etc.

I'd be interested to know how much time they have spent dealing with complaints of that type about covid threads/posters.

If people actually used topics then the Ukraine related discussion would have gone into News until it hit volume for a new topic. Seems like the main case here is to get rid of miscellaneous topics

@BIWI to be clear, I don't think anyone is suggesting the actual war will die down in a few days! Just that the volume of threads about it might, which would make the discussion about a separate board moot

Another vote here for a sticky in AIBU and Chat clearly signposting the correct place and a ban on "YABU for not posting in the Ukraine topic" replies, if a separate board is created.

Seems like the main case here is to get rid of miscellaneous topics

That would certainly seem to be the logical conclusion from many of the arguments on here.

What I really don't want MNHQ to do is to end up with a separate board but no guidance on what can/can't be put on the miscellaneous threads. That would be the worst of all worlds imo, because the thread police would think that they were entitled to derail threads by moaning that they are in the wrong place while everyone else would think that, in the absence of any rules to the contrary, they are entitled to post wherever they like.

So please, MNHQ, if you are going to create a specific board, I would ask that you make it really clear as to whether threads on that topic must be placed on that board or whether the miscellaneous topics can also be used if posters choose to do so. If discussions on specific topics are to be restricted, please ensure that this is stated very clearly at the top of each of the miscellaneous boards so that we are all clear on which specific topics are considered to be taboo at any given time. Please make the voting facility available on other boards for those who have been pushed out of AIBU. And please establish a clear procedure for reporting threads that are inadvertently placed on the wrong board so that we don't end up with loads of moaning from the self righteous thread police that gets in the way of discussion. Thank you.

What I really don't want MNHQ to do is to end up with a separate board but no guidance on what can/can't be put on the miscellaneous threads

AIBU - this is pretty clear. People use this board to ask if they're being reasonable/unreasonable about a situation. Can be anything. As long as they're using it genuinely to ask this question and not just posting 'for the traffic'

I think it's Chat that's the most ambiguous topic. Anything can go here, which is why we get serious and trivial stuff side-by-side - especially if there isn't a designated board. But because of this, like AIBU, it generates a lot of traffic - hence also 'posting for the traffic'.

@psychomath I doubt very much that the volume of threads will die down - just look at Covid and all the threads that are still being started.

@BIWI

What I really don't want MNHQ to do is to end up with a separate board but no guidance on what can/can't be put on the miscellaneous threads

AIBU - this is pretty clear. People use this board to ask if they're being reasonable/unreasonable about a situation. Can be anything. As long as they're using it genuinely to ask this question and not just posting 'for the traffic'

I think it's Chat that's the most ambiguous topic. Anything can go here, which is why we get serious and trivial stuff side-by-side - especially if there isn't a designated board. But because of this, like AIBU, it generates a lot of traffic - hence also 'posting for the traffic'.

@psychomath I doubt very much that the volume of threads will die down - just look at Covid and all the threads that are still being started.

Is AIBU really clear? There are lots of AIBU to think that... which could easily include opinions on the Ukraine situation, Covid, Brexit etc. Some of those questions are genuine AIBUs and some are not. Like threads on virtually any other topic on AIBU.

If specific topics are to be excluded from AIBU and Chat, then this needs to be made really clear, with a list of specific topics that are to be excluded.

Or maybe MN needs two versions of Chat and AIBU - one for the people who want the censored versions and the other for people who want those discussions to stay unrestricted.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4493415-To-ask-MNHQ-to-create-a-board-about-the-current-situation

An AIBU about it, but pretty much the same as this thread.

@Sparklingbrook

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4493415-To-ask-MNHQ-to-create-a-board-about-the-current-situation

An AIBU about it, but pretty much the same as this thread.

Yep, votes split pretty much half and half between the different views.

What I really don't want MNHQ to do is to end up with a separate board but no guidance on what can/can't be put on the miscellaneous threads.

I don’t think anyone is suggesting that it matters if somebody posts something about gardening in AIBU - it’s just one or two subjects that require more moderation.

That can also change - The volume of Brexit posts is now low and far less contentious.

And again there have been some really interesting long running political threads, but it’s difficult to find them if you don’t post for a while and they are in AIBU.

@merrymouse

What I really don't want MNHQ to do is to end up with a separate board but no guidance on what can/can't be put on the miscellaneous threads.

I don’t think anyone is suggesting that it matters if somebody posts something about gardening in AIBU - it’s just one or two subjects that require more moderation.

That can also change - The volume of Brexit posts is now low and far less contentious.

Exactly. If it isn't the case that all topics which could be put in another thread can't also be put onto AIBU, we need a list of censored topics so that everyone is clear what they are, and this can be updated regularly as situations evolve and change. We can't all be expected to just know what these topics are.

It isn't fair to expect people to abide by rules that haven't been articulated clearly.

I still think that a Ukraine topic would work just as the Covid one does. Nothing to do with 'censoring' it's not that complicated really.

Just the two topics currently that people want to start thread after thread about, do a bit of scaremongering, post every brain fart as a seperate thread etc

People know now that if they post about Covid it'll get moved to the Covid topic. It could just be the same with Ukraine.

I think it's great that half of the votes on the AIBU thread are in support of a separate topic. But MNHQ aren't going to see it over there. maybe it needs moving to Site Stuff?

@Sparklingbrook

I still think that a Ukraine topic would work just as the Covid one does. Nothing to do with 'censoring' it's not that complicated really.

Just the two topics currently that people want to start thread after thread about, do a bit of scaremongering, post every brain fart as a seperate thread etc

People know now that if they post about Covid it'll get moved to the Covid topic. It could just be the same with Ukraine.

The separate covid topic might have worked for you, but it didn't work for everyone. It was the same with the Brexit threads. It will be the same if a Ukraine thread is created, and no doubt there will be other issues in the future which spark the same response.

As far as I am aware, MNHQ never explicitly stated that people weren't allowed to post about Brexit/Covid on the miscellaneous boards, so people weren't doing anything wrong by posting about these issues in AIBU, Chat etc. However, thread after thread after thread was derailed by the self appointed thread police complaining self righteously and sometimes aggressively about things being put in the "wrong" place. That really didn't work for me, and it didn't work for many other posters either.

Either the content on the miscellaneous threads is restricted or it isn't. There can't just be an unspoken rule based on the particular sensitivities of certain posters. We need it to be clear.

Which thread is that?
(I don't open all of them - so many, often repetitive!)

Could you link it here, and then perhaps MNHQ will see it and have a look too

@Sparklingbrook

I think it's great that half of the votes on the AIBU thread are in support of a separate topic. But MNHQ aren't going to see it over there. maybe it needs moving to Site Stuff?

And I think it's great that half of the votes are against.

@Sparklingbrook has already linked to it above.

I don't open all of them - so many, often repetitive!

Perhaps we need a separate topic for people asking MN to create separate topics.

Oops!

@Sparklingbrook

I think it's great that half of the votes on the AIBU thread are in support of a separate topic. But MNHQ aren't going to see it over there. maybe it needs moving to Site Stuff?

I think in a strange way that thread proves people don't check to see if there is a current thread.

AIBU - this is pretty clear. People use this board to ask if they're being reasonable/unreasonable about a situation. Can be anything. As long as they're using it genuinely to ask this question and not just posting 'for the traffic'

Oh come on - AIBU and Chat are both used utterly randomly. The sheer number of posters who apparently don't even know about topics or post in AIBU "for traffic" evidences the unhealthy extent to which they (especially AIBU) dominate the whole forum.

Most of AIBU has a largely artificial AIBU added and is plainly just a discussion thread. They could very easily go into its relevant topic board and have voting there.

Frankly if I were a mod I'd be wincing at the prospect of trying to police whether something is a "genuine" AIBU or not.

If certain topics are to be banned from AIBU or Chat then it needs a really clear sticky explaining which topics and why, as well as the penalties for misposting or questioning posts in the "wrong" place.

If certain topics are to be banned from AIBU or Chat

I would just like Ukraine to have it's own topic like Covid does. And maybe if another world event happens that causes MN to go slightly bananas that could have one too. So for me anyway, it's not about any other threads being moved, it's about quantity of threads about exactly the same thing.

@Sparklingbrook

If certain topics are to be banned from AIBU or Chat

I would just like Ukraine to have it's own topic like Covid does. And maybe if another world event happens that causes MN to go slightly bananas that could have one too. So for me anyway, it's not about any other threads being moved, it's about quantity of threads about exactly the same thing.

Oh OK. So you don't actually want to stop people from posting about these topics in Chat/AIBU if they choose to, you just want a separate topic as well? I can get on board with that if people are still free to post wherever they like.

Oh OK. So you don't actually want to stop people from posting about these topics in Chat/AIBU if they choose to, you just want a separate topic as well? I can get on board with that if people are still free to post wherever they like

No. I think Ukraine should have it's own topic and threads posted elsewhere should be moved to it as they are with the Covid topic now. I was talking about topics other than Ukraine not being moved because there just isn't the amount of them so they aren't cluttering up Active in the same way.

Thanks for clarifying. As I've said above, I can live with the threads getting moved to a specific board, a)if MNHQ makes its policy on this really explicit and b)if strong action is taken to address the issue of people derailing threads by complaining about where they have been posted. That seems like a fair compromise to me.