MNHQ - please help

[Thegreatestoftheseislove]

New Year’s best wishes to all of those in charge at @MNHQ and do their best to herd cats. Please could I respectfully request that, in line with other religious boards, Christian Mumsnetters does not appear on Active Discussions?

I have spent some time reporting several disruptive posts on a particular thread today … I’ve lost the will to report them all. A number of participants are unwilling to take notice of the statement at the top of the Christian Mumsnetters’ board and are simply using it as their own personal extension of the Philosophy and Religion board. A number of members, Christians and non-believers alike have politely asked them to desist, but, well, clearly they do not want to.

Herding cats is a challenging and thankless task at times. Please could the Christians amongst ask that you help in keeping our meeting place free from disrespectful disruption. It is not, or should not be the place to discuss whether or not God exists or if Jesus is Divine, as there are other places to take those arguments and discussions.

They are doing an online version of bursting into a church mid-meeting and shouting ‘it’s all a load of rubbish!’ It is rude, disrespectful and disruptive. They are entitled to their opinion, but there is a time and a place: Christian Mumsnetters is not it.

Thank you 💐🙏

I echo @Funnywonder, well said.

I've been toying with the idea of attending church again, I haven't been for years. I've just looked on thread as it came up and nothing on there makes me want to explore my faith again! I think some posters should have a long hard look at themselves and remind themselves about forgiveness.

@ChristmasStars
"Do you accept that some people who don't share the Christian faith are being unkind or do you just think the Christians are guilty of this?"

I think they are sometimes inappropriate, ignorant and rude. And I agree that the Christian board is not a place theological or historiographical discussion.

However I have not seen non Christians rejecting what appear to be sincere apologies. The behaviour on that thread is shocking.

The behaviour is shocking. It would be a shame to suggest it's just the Christians though. Also a shame not to understand their frustration.

I'm very sorry to hear that @inanutshelll. I remember the board being created for Jewish mumsnetters and the circumstances around its being required.

@ChristmasStars "The behaviour is shocking. It would be a shame to suggest it's just the Christians though. Also a shame not to understand their frustration"

It's perfectly clear that I suggest neither.

But anyway, I think that thread should go.

I joined the contentious thread to 'lurk' (I am an agnostic) as I thought the question posed by the OP was extremely interesting, and was something I had pondered myself. It was seriously derailed by posts denying the existence/divine status of Jesus, which I thought was wholly inappropriate and disrespectful on the Christian Mumsnetters board.

It also went off track over posts describing an 'unconventional' Christian faith, which had been worded in a way offensive to some, leading to replies that were quite judgemental; overall quite an upsetting discussion to read, but we're all human and it's easy on the internet to misread tone/intention and that holds true on any board, whether faith-based or not.

It boils down rather prosaically to threads being derailed by posts that are off-topic. I am not sure that would be solved by taking it out of active - people with bad intent; i.e. non-believers seeking to be deliberately goady, are just as likely to seek out a faith board to target by going to it directly; and it won't prevent differences of opinion/interpretation amongst followers of the same broad faith who will be following the board anyway.

FWIW I think it's fair enough to request that the boards for people of various religious faiths be removed from Active Discussions.

On a somewhat related note, is the Christian MNers board open to all people who consider themselves Christian? Or is it meant for people with a particular interpretation of Christianity? I read the contentious thread and many Christians would strongly disagree with some of the statements that were presented categorically as "facts" on that thread.

I hope so otherwise it could end up being one person only as we all have differences on various points of faith.

I am not sure that would be solved by taking it out of active - people with bad intent; i.e. non-believers seeking to be deliberately goady, are just as likely to seek out a faith board to target by going to it directly;

It would make it clearer that a goady poster had gone looking for threads to disrupt.
I'm not a Christian any more but find some discussions about religion interesting . A couple of days ago I saw one in active that piqued my interest, and it would have been quite easy to jump in without noticing the board title. As it was, I desisted (but felt a wee bit miffed that it wasn't on the general religion and philosophy board!)

So, yes I agree with the op - better all round to keep the boards which aren't intended to be inclusive out of Active (and certainly not trending).

AFAIK it's for anyone who considers themself to be a Christian. I'm a Christian and disagree with a lot of the 'facts' on that thread.

@LawrenceSMarlowforPresident " I read the contentious thread and many Christians would strongly disagree with some of the statements that were presented categorically as "facts" on that thread."

I'm so glad to hear that- I know many Christians who would be horrified to find themselves represented by some of their co-religionists on that thread.

PS I hope you provide dry sherry for visitors during your campaign.....

I guess anyone who follows Jesus really and wants to be his disciple.

I support @Thegreatestoftheseislove original request, to not have the Christian MN board on Active. It can attract trouble makers. If people genuinely want to talk about Christianity in a respectful manner and not just to pick a fight they will either already be engaging in discussions on threads so will find the board easily, or they will go via the Talk menu.

Afternoon, everyone. Thanks for the feedback on this idea. We'll be discussing it this week and will update here as soon as there's any news.

Mumsnetters without children
MUMsnetters without children

I'm childless, but it does feel like peak entitlement to demand a board for childless women on a forum that's geared for... MUMs.

There already is one. So I'm not sure what your point is.

My point is that it was peak entitlement to ask for one, if that wasn't clear enough, which I think it was.

Edit: typo

In general terms I am uneasy with too many things being taken out of "active". It seems so completely out of the "spirit of Mumsnet" to me. Abusive posts should be swiftly reported and deleted of course.

But should the misogynistic, homophobic and racist posts on the part of the faithful be allowed to stand, unchallenged and unreported?

I kind of agree. I wouldn't have even known we had a Christian MNers board if it hadn't popped up in active.

Having thought about this - if the christians or muslims, or anyone else, want their own spaces, why does that space have to be on MN at all? There are definitely other faith specific online meeting places, where their faith will be respected in the way they want it to be. Of course none of us should be rude or abusive, but surely MN boards should be inclusive and welcoming?

Maybe religion boards just don't really belong in MN?

The Jewish board pertains to ethnicity. But the Xian and Mohammedist boards do not.