reporting a suspected Troll

[Tulipomania]

Tired of reporting suspected trolls, get an email from MN saying "we're looking into it" and then never hear anything more again - thread is still standing.

Hi OP

Thanks for raising this.

If the thread is still up, it's likely that we are giving the benefit of the doubt. Not all users who are reported as trolls are actual trolls - so naturally they won't always be removed.

That being said, we follow a procedure behind the scenes when receiving reports, so that we can keep an eye on things.

We hear you about our emails saying 'we're taking a look'. Truthfully, we just get so busy that we don't always have time to explain our decisions in every report. We will definitely discuss this and see if there's anything we can do to make this a better experience for reporters.

Thanks Lily - It's a big thread that a lot of others thought must be a troll too, so I do feel we are owed some sort of explanation.

@LilyMumsnet The thread has finally been deleted - after running for 36 hours & numerous reports of a troll - "for breaking MN Talk Guidelines". Why can't you be more specific?

I presume this was the jealous friend thread? I was surprised when it finally went, as it stood for so long.

I don’t think MN should go into specifics around a thread breaking talk guidelines. It’ll only give other trolls useful info.
Just delete the thread and move on.

I hear you - I feel the same thing happened to me. I reported someone I thought was an obvious troll who goes around upsetting people. Got a “ thank you were looking into it” then nothing and the poster is still doing the same thing, being deliberately provocative.
A reply would be good to say what they have decided to do or not do. It would be polite.

MNHQ have always said TSSDNCOP.

But I would also imagine there’s not time to type an individual reply to each report.
For a time they stopped replying to reports and you literally didn’t know anything, but they’ve brought it back-just an acknowledgment they’ve received it.

They could have some stock phrases to pick from like other websites do. Like We have investigated but do not currently see evidence of rule breaking, for example.

If I’ve made a report and had a reply that they’re having a look, but the thread stays up then I just assume that currently they don’t see any evidence of rule breaking.

Yes I did assume the same but it would be better manners to reply to people who report stuff or else the community have less reason to feel engaged

I think time must be a huge factor. There’s a lot of trolls on here that presumably generate a lot of reports.
I don’t think it’s about ‘manners’ really it’s not like you don’t get any reply at all to a report, it is acknowledged.

That’s your opinion, fair enough. I have a different opinion which I have expressed in the hope that a mod will read it & consider it as a site improvement. Time’s always an issue but other websites reply to concerns and I have to reply to concerns in my job not just say thank you for raising it.

You could always email MNHQ with your suggestion to
improve the site rather than waiting for a mod to possibly read it on here?
I’m not sure comparing your own job to being a moderator on MN is useful though. I have to reply to emails in my job but it’s not the same thing at all.

Thanks for your advice

Why not just hide the thread and ignore? Troll hunting is as annoying as trolls.

Move on.

👍

Afternoon everyone. We do try to respond to most reports - we always prefer to engage with MNers if we can! Sometimes though (usually if it's v v v busy) we may not get the chance. We do always do our best though, promise!

If have specific questions about moderation, please do send them to [email protected] - we're always happy to chat.

This issue in this case Sparkling was that the thread in question stayed up for over 24 hours after I reported it, as did several others, so I assumed it was a bona fide poster, and then eventually got deleted after it had run on for several more pages ... without a reason being given (other than breaking guidelines).

That must happen every now and again, not being able to instantly tell whether it's ok or not. Sounds like they possibly needed more time to rummage into the detail etc.

You do know MN owe you nothing right? It’s good enough that they actually respond to emails individually whereas a lot of sites don’t do that at all. I think they do more than enough in terms of responding to reports

This!

Twiglets1, i think you are expecting too much of MNHQ.
after all, it's not a commercial relationship, we don't pay to take part.
they are doing their best.
and you are doing your best to alert them to people who may not be posting in good faith.
that's enough.
no need to be further involved in dubious or unpleasant ones.
just skip over them.
MN is probably busy trying to deal with numerous alerts.

Morning @Tulipomania and others.

Just in case it gives you a bit more background, am afraid I don't know anything about the specific thread you're talking about, but sometimes what will happen when we get a report is this:

It will look like the thread does need looking into but we know that might take a while, so we'll reply and say 'thank you and we'll look into it' just so you know we've seen the report and are onto it.

With threads like the one you're talking about it might be that we can see exactly why you've had suspicions but we can't see anything concrete at that point to make us think the OP isn't genuine. Or maybe they're asking for help and we feel it would be worth giving them the benefit of the doubt and see how things shake out. Then, possibly days later, more evidence appears, or the thread jumps the shark or the troll otherwise gives themselves away and so we'll delete it. Of course, most of the time, if you hear nothing more it's because we've had a look and are pretty confident it's all fine.

Honestly, if we had the time, we'd love to go back at that stage and follow up on mails - talking to Mumsnetters genuinely is the best part of the job - there just is rarely the time to do that, sadly. And we don't like to give too much away on the thread deletions as that just helps the trolls out. So that's why it occasionally looks like a bit of a mystery.

You can always drop us a line though if you're curious about a particular thread and if we have any more info we can share, we're happy to do that. Nine times out of ten though, it's a straight case of 'weren't sure it was a troll. Once we were sure, we deleted the thread'.

Hope that helps explain it a bit further anyway.