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?

I don't know if it's a genuine feeling they supported free speech when womens rights were very threatened in 2015 ish. They put themselves in the firing line good and proper then and got lots of issues as a result.

But it seems to have gone too far the other way.

Not sure what the answer is as it happens everywhere. I think maybe a bit more leniency towards posters highlighting racism or similar would be helpful as at the moment there are posters who will report "personal attacks" if they even perceive any implication you think they are being racist for example. I think it should be possible to say "what you wrote sounds racist because xyz" without it being taken as "an attack"

I also think there is some targeted reporting or winding up of more moderate posters who don't name change to get them banned, but that might just be me taking my experiences personally.

It's quite tricky to post here at the moment I think.

I also think there is some targeted reporting or winding up of more moderate posters who don't name change to get them banned, but that might just be me taking my experiences personally.

There’s definitely some of that going on. Unfortunately it’s a perennial problem.

I guess having over 30,000 posts per day can make moderation hard, and there will be a massive uptick when there is a huge, traumatic event.

Recognising what is racist is perhaps a personal bar and I guess it is hard for MNHQ to draw where the line has been crossed?

I might see something as racist, MNHQ might see it as a robust viewpoint or something. The outright in your face racism is easy to spot. It is the insidious racism that can fly under the radar. But even then, there are words and phrases that are used which flag it up for what it really is. There have been a lot of those phrases used over the past few days!

Well I care, for one. I reported a thread which I was concerned could seriously prejudice any future trial, and which included speculation about the suspect as well as a
presumption of guilt. I received a reply from HQ informing me they were taking a look.

Nothing further. That thread is still up.

Yes, I think there is an increasing number of posts that are deliberately worded in such a way as to avoid moderation while still making their racist points. They know how to play the game.

I just feel that what they're doing is so incredibly obvious and I really don't understand why MN doesn't just shut them down and ban those posters when they show what they're here for. I'm all in favour of a lively and robust debate - indeed, that is one of the things that I have always loved about MN - but you can't debate with hate because it isn't about evidence or logic.

I have no doubt that moderating these boards is a difficult job and I suppose they may be doing it in the way they think best. I did feel really sorry for them when things really started kicking off the other night as there were so many threads at once. I suppose I just feel constantly disappointed that they don't adopt more of a zero tolerance approach.

Was that the one speculating about possible motives? I reported that one as well for the same reasons, and was surprised to see it was still up today.

Nope.

And what a disingenuous post.

I guess it is what they want, to be martyrs who are silenced. To pretend there is a ‘two tier’ system that unfairly penalises them and lets ‘far left’ material stand.

What the fuck are they even doing here? Do they think women are like turkeys voting for Thanksgiving and Christmas? Yeah sure, we’d all love a return to good old fashioned nuclear family values and homophobia.

Yes to this.

MN is definitely being targeted.

Some of the agitation is crude and some has a little more sophistication.

But it's all generating clicks.

THIS!

Especially at night.

Agree.

I'd say disinformation in general though.

Certainly MN needs to wake up to the fact that the spreading of disinformation is a concerted operation.

Are MN still relying on volunteers for the night watch? That's surprising given the size of the site and the amount of revenue that it must generate, but it might explain quite a lot. I wonder what training and guidance is provided.

Thats why I was wondering about an "I believe you" type strategy. We could talk about common racist myths and agree they aren't welcome here.

It would be more work for the mods though and maybe times have changed

but you can't debate with hate because it isn't about evidence or logic.

👏

I remember feeling a similar simmering intent in 2016 (around the time Jo Cox was murdered)

I posted on a thread at the time that I felt I was 'swimming in a sea of hatred'

I received many replies (and DM's) that I was 'Over Reacting' as well as posts telling me to get off the Internet / stop watching the news / see a shrink / get help for my 'Anxiety' along with the usual 'You're a left wing loony' rhetoric.

I'm still here. I refuse to fade away. Yes, there have been times I've wanted to leave MN (I left Facebook around the same time. 2016 was a toxic year) but I feel strongly that my voice should be heard. I know I'm not alone. I know that the Far Right will always shout louder. I know that they will tell me that I haven't got a clue, that I don't understand, that the Far Left are just as bad. That they aren't heard. That is absolute bullshit. We've been 'hearing' this far right shit all through the lead up to the Referendum, Brexit, UKIP, The Brexit Party, Reform. The agitators know what they are doing, and they rejoice in it.

It Is Hatred. Pure and Simple.

The thing that pisses me off most is that those who are far right assume that anyone who disagrees with them is far left. It's a lazy argument.

Those people who have rioted in recent days have absolutely taken away from the cause of this atrocity. From the grief the parents have endured. They are selfish and I don't buy for a minute that they care about children. They care about themselves. They are selfish and utterly fueled by hatred.

They've just zapped a thread now within minutes of it appearing. Quite impressive.

And a new one popped up, assuming you meant a KS thread

Surely only bots can be that organised and quick?

Maybe the warning about social media responsibility has had some effect.

And it's gone, well done

If we stop feeding them will they go away?

Idk. I've tried and it doesn't seem to work.
Increasingly I think we need to find a way to apply the paper based laws developed over millenia to the Internet

This is such a good post. Thank you.❤️

"We've been 'hearing' this far right shit all through the lead up to the Referendum, Brexit, UKIP, The Brexit Party, Reform."

Are you saying that you consider Brexit, ukip, The Brexit Party and Reform to be Far Right?

Where there’s a will there’s a way.