Conflict in the Middle East: Can we stop the copy/paste spamming, please?

[Pizdietz]

Thread after thread after thread in the "Conflict in the Middle East" board is just post after post after post of someone copy/pasting a "newsflash" from their X/Insta feed. For example, the one on "Documenting Israeli army racism and torture" kicks off with no fewer than EIGHT copy/pastes from the same poster, and continues in the same vein.

This kind of spamming is not discussion or intelligent debate, and has reduced the quality of threads to the point where there is no point commenting.

Would it be possible to introduce a rule on that board, where it's fine to share a news link but only if the poster explains what is new and interesting about it, apart from "Look what monsters Israel are"? And could there be a limit on repeated copy/pastes? Or is there another way round this, e.g. should we report these as spam?

It's quite clear that some of the links haven't even been read by the poster themselves. False information has repeatedly been shared, which is potentially dangerous in a war that is also fought with propaganda.

I would also like to see it made unacceptable to deny the atrocities of 7 October. These are repeatedly dismissed as Israeli lies, when there is clear evidence to the contrary, sadly. It's not just a matter of opinion, and it's outrageous that posters are taking this approach.

It’s the same poster over and over again and when I pointed it out on one of the posts - that they’d made no comment with their own thoughts, just spammed it with links and quotes, my comment was deleted.

Yes, I've had the same experience. These posters are very trigger-happy about reporting posts for the slightest offence, yet are consistently rude and dismissive, not to mention downright aggressive. Reporting them would take all day.

I deleted my account on MN because of the hostility online from these people (an IP address can be traced). It's a shame, as I have been on here for years. I now post from various IDs and use VPNs, but try to avoid the forum as it's just ridiculous.

Maybe don't open the thread if you don't to engage? This just seems to me as a form of censorship. If mumsnet made a rule where only threads with "new or interesting" content was allowed the site would be closed down.

But there is no real "engaging."

Just copy/paste copy/paste copy/paste copy/paste copy/paste copy/paste copy/paste copy/paste copy/paste copy/paste X and Insta stuff and dismissing any comments as "derailing."

Posters don't seem to realise that we all have access to online information, or we wouldn't be on MN! And do they realise that their social media feed is controlled by algorithms? So the more you click on something, the more of it you see?

What is the point of MN threads just becoming extensions of individual posters' poorly managed social media platforms?

This op is currently on a thread started by a pro Israel supporter where that op has copied and pasted links about hamas at the very start, for about the first 4 posts, no comments, just c&p links...She isnt complaining about that.

It depends what you call censorship.

If the same couple of posters were starting multiple threads about any other country, dredging up negative stories and old tropes that play into age-old prejudices, there would be rightful pushback. But because it's big bad Israel, it's fair game.

Again, a spiteful personal attack.

I commented on that thread to say there was no point doing it.

But I do understand that OP's anxiety about balancing the flood of biased information on MN.

Yes; and then it's "We're not being antisemitic, we're just against Israel, d'oh, can't you tell the difference, dumbasss?!"

This is totally outrageous and as @feralunderclass has said just a typical attempt to censor legitimate criticism of Israeli practices.

I have seen Dozens of copy pasting and links by pro-Israeli posters threads.

i would strongly object to this and imagine a majority of MN posters would too!

@PurpleChrayne if you look on the Christmas threads, covid, Ukraine threads there is so much repetitive stuff. It's about Israel at the moment because there is a war going on. I really hate this insinuation that Israel is being critisized because it's Jewish and therefore antisemitic behaviour - it's just another way to shut down critical discourse.

The problem is there is no way of judging legitimacy and some have been from horrific antisemitics and well known at that.
There are well known posters that do this all the time with no come back.
We see you!

Spiteful personal attack. Really? Grow up. You are at it. You commented on that thread to say there was no point doing it, where it was posting hamas atrocities, as you felt the thread wouldn't be supported on mn due to lots of pro Palestinian sentiment. You said lets leave them to their bunfight.

Embarrassing.

What is the point of MN threads just becoming extensions of individual posters' poorly managed social media platforms?

This.

@ssd she’s right. Every.single.thread. gets taken over by the same posters. Almost immediately. You obviously cannot see that nobody really posts on the board now. There’s no point whatsoever. It’s just the same people pushing their view point. You’ve essentially shut discussion down. Job done eh ?

I've just hidden the whole board, I've given up trying to wade through.

Is there a whole section on Ukraine? On Sudan? On the Afghan refugee crisis in Pakistan?

Hi OP

We'll have a chat about this feedback in the office. In the meantime, if you have any concerns about content, please report it to us. We're always happy to have a look behind the scenes.

But by saying that not all criticism of Israel is Anti-semitic is also shutting down debate, because it means actual Anti-Semitism can't be called out because it's claimed to be "just" anti-Israel.

It's a fallacy anyway. My husband and 3-year-old daughter weren't heckled ("JEW JEW JEW") on the bus last week because my husband is Israeli. It was because he wears a yarmulke and tzitzit.

That's awful PurpleChrayne, your poor daughter and dh.

@LilyMumsnet a thread the other day was literally full of links to allegedly educational sites, funnily enough all pro Palestinian. One was to a far left US site supportive of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. How can you be sure that the ME conflict board isn’t being targeted by political organisations with a clear agenda ?
These people aren’t posting in good faith.

Again, a spiteful personal attack.

Embarrassing...

I am so sorry you endured this.

I completely understand that MN is in a tricky position here, because the unwitting Hamas propagandists regular posters on this board are so quick to shout about censorship and bias.

Unfortunately, allowing their voices to dominate has potentially sinister repercussions in real life.

This is my concern. I mean, you can excuse some youthful naivety and exuberance, but Hamas are very clever at manipulating propaganda; and social media (especially with its built-in algorithms to trap you more in an echo chamber) makes us all very easy targets.

Just to reiterate, I do think it should be unacceptable to deny the events of 7 October. I'm absolutely appalled at the number of posters on here who pretend it's just a bit of tat fake news from the Israeli baby-murdering machine.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-hamas-propaganda-war

Many of the threads are links after links. If you don’t like them then move on. There are many with discussions and also derailments and despite trying to focus in one topic there is always coming one looking after a fight posting something else that will end up in personal attacks

@mnhq if you’re going to look at removing thread because they contain too many links , then I’d suggest you also remove those threads that are clearly being used to attack posters from the Middle East board and are taat all the time.

the thread contains an important links to show what's going on, if anyone wants to challenge particular posts or comments or links they can report, as is encouraged throughout the thread. However I believe allowing people to see that side of the conflict is important. Always important to see both sides of any story; and whilst I don't agree with thread derailment to do so, challenge with evidence, or more importantly, report comments or posts you don't agree with, or start a counter thread that shows the "most moral" side of IDF or shows evidence of how bad Hamas is. However, trying to censor is not a good look.