Why aren’t you banning the far-right agitators?

[GoldMedallist]

Deleting their posts but allowing them to keep inciting racial hatred under the same accounts is making the site unusable. Why should we keep reporting them if you’re not going to do anything meaningful about it?

What are you on about and why have you picked me out of this thread to goad, when many other people on this thread are expressing their upset about what has gone on since Monday?

Because when I first came to another thread and asked who was the perpetrator you jumped at me and accused me of several things and were rude. An absolute normal question with not agenda so may be pipe down a bit. If you want to call people things may be think before you write.

Yeah, I don't even know how long I've been here now...must be at least 15 years. I don't think I have ever seriously considered deleting my account in all that time, but I guess nothing stays the same forever.

Like you, I'm on here pretty much every day, and it's surprisingly hard to let go of that. It has become a part of my life and I know I would miss it. Then again, I already miss what it once was...

I'm going to ponder it for a bit before I decide. I don't know that I blame MNHQ really. The problem here on MN reflects the problems in our wider society. Yes, the moderation could be tighter, but at the end of the day, MN is a business first and foremost - advertising revenue probably comes before other concerns.

I just feel sad to have lost something that used to really add value to my life. Now I feel like it just brings me down.

Quite a lot of us have very good memories and also, AS.

Not at all, I have always enjoyed the open and honest debate on MN. I'm fine with people having different views, but this is different. I don't want to spend my free time talking to far right racists and their apologists.

Was it on one of the threads that were deleted for speculation and racism or a thread still running? Do please point me towards it so I can check my posts.

Yes. People who the day after far Right rioters were demolishing peoples garden walls for bricks to throw at the police who were trying to keep order saying "but you can understand why they were demonstrating". Posts that are mostly gone now.

And yes, I do understand why they were "demonstrating", it's because they are thugs with shit for brains who hate people with different coloured skin from white and who have no respect for the dead and injured in Southport and their families.

I'm just very glad I don't have to try to moderate it.

I think there is potential for a stronger moderation on some issues to be more inclusive. MN for example ran the "we believe you" campaign and was no-tolerance on rape myths. Maybe we could ask similar for moderating racist content.

I also feel like the "it's not enough to not be racist, you should be anti-racist" could be a good approach to take.

People aren't robots and when there is an uptick in far right rhetoric and people are quite frankly scared they will respond accordingly. "Thinking" works both ways and you could cut Pandora some slack before being sparky.

This. It needs said again and again.

That would be good, but I wonder if MN would go for it.

Some of the worst threads have had voting options, and it's clear that, in addition to the very vocal racist posters, there are a lot of silent users are supporting the racist content as well. I'm guessing that's why MN is often reluctant to delete stuff.

If MN took a hard line on racism, it would probably lose a good chunk of its users, and that would impact on its advertising revenue. And even though some of us might decide to walk away, I'm not sure that there are enough of us to make a real difference.

unfortunately there is a a heavy air of transphobia permeating through many sub forums of the board for a long time now.

Do you include the thread running at the moment about the women’s boxing at the Olympics?

It's really sad that everything comes down to money :(
Makes me wonder if there really is no point to posting here any more

I'm appalled by the boxing thing and I'm as gender critical as they come, but a lot of the FWR threads do seem to have been taken over by the right wing. I don't really bother reading them any more.

oops quoted myself in error!

OK. This was the exchange that I think upset you.

dottiehens · 30/07/2024 10:42
Who is the attacker?

PandoraSox · 30/07/2024 10:43 A 17 year old who was born in Cardiff. Have you not read the news today?

I was a little brusque, it is true. I apologise profusely.

ETA: or was it this that offended you?

dottiehens · 30/07/2024 10:50
I wanted a name and a photo and a real reason not speculation.
Show quote history
PandoraSox · 30/07/2024 10:54Why a photo? You won't get his name either as he is only 17. The police have confirmed he was born in Cardiff and his age, so that is fact not speculation, btw.

We did have another exchange on that thread, when I replied to another of your posts, but sadly MNHQ deleted your post.

Anyway, don't want to turn this into a TAAT!

I would like to think that money isn't a consideration, but realistically, I think it will be. I imagine that MN is trying to achieve a balance that causes the least number of people to abandon the site. I'm sure that they know that they will lose a few along the way no matter what they do, m because you're never going to keep everyone happy. And as a business, it probably matters less who you lose and more how many. And unfortunately, the posters objecting to the racism on these boards seem to be in a minority at the moment.

Certain topics are easy to avoid, the high volumes in aibu and chat have been different.

Hopefully it will calm down now that the PM has come down hard on SM and fake websites.

Might be useful to remember that he was Director of Public Prosecutions during the 2011 riots in London.

To be honest, by Mumsnet standards I am far right. I find some of the views on here to be absolutely ridiculous but I usually just try and click off a thread. Partly because there's no point even having the conversation with people who are so far the other way and refuse to ever even consider other viewpoints.

I think that is maybe a tad cynical.

But I do find it very frustrating that the obviously racist but very careful posters stay up. They are usually the ones who disingenuously ask a question in their first post.

You have to know a fair amount about MAGA , Farage, and Tate to see the playbook.

Clouded reference to the Leeds riots is an example and straight from Farage ( although he outright blamed 'South Asia') Making spurious claims about un Christian Olympic opening ceremonies comes largely from the American Right.

I have seen those two things today.

And globalism, liberal elite, progressive, North London. Saw that one straight after someone else told me I was being ridiculous.

I sometimes wonder if some of these posters actually are Farage.He seems a bit bored .

This

Don't be a racist, it's quite simple.

I hope I am being too cynical. I'm just struggling to see any other reason why MN would leave some of the stuff to stand.

What exactly are they afraid of when it comes to deleting those "obviously racist but carefully worded" posts? What is stopping them from deleting them?

I genuinely don't get it. I find it really hard to believe that they don't recognise the racism when they see it. And I would like to believe that MNHQ aren't bought into that kind of thinking. So why do they leave that stuff to stand? Apart from a possible loss of users and therefore revenue, what would be the risks of just zapping each and every one of them?

Is it because they don't see what these posters are doing? Is it that they believe that valuing freedom of speech means that they have to give the racists a platform?

This is exactly how I feel.