Update from MNHQ addressing the recent images posted on the site

[JustineMumsnet]

Hi all,
There have been a number of threads discussing what happened re the posting of CSA images on site and so I want to be absolutely clear: we would never seek to shut down reasonable criticism and we're taking on board all the feedback and will be carefully considering how we can improve our procedures and moderation to prevent this happening again.

As a temporary measure, we have suspended all image posting and will soon be implementing AI filters to flag illegal/disturbing images before they appear on the site. We’re also liaising with external specialists to see if there are any further tools we can employ to help us prevent this from happening again in the future. We reported it to the police first thing the morning after the attack and we have a follow up meeting with them tomorrow.

It's also pretty clear from what we can see behind the scenes that there is an ongoing, coordinated effort from trolls to further inflame these discussions, and cause as much disruption as possible. We are taking steps to remove bad faith actors, but we know this can be frustrating for those who just want to express your views about what happened. If you come across any posts that seem designed to stir up more conflict rather than contribute constructively, please do report them - your reports really help us to act swiftly. Many thanks for your patience while we work to sort this out.

The poster's been banned by Nightwatch.

But only after 25 minutes and 15 vile posts.

Also, the Nightwatchers don't have the capacity to delete the user name, just the post.

So I guess it'll have to stay on the boards until MNHQ start work.

It appears that no lessons have been learned then.

No, sadly.

Why is a business that makes money using volunteers for an important business need?

If one was still showing then it was purely because I hadn't got to it. Each post has to be individually deleted so in tonight's case when there were about 20 posts it takes time to get to each one

I wasn't intending to criticise you and your response @ANightwatcher and I don't think anyone else here was. Thank you for sorting this. I do think though that you shouldn't have to, and that anyone dealing with these 'bad faith actors', to use Justine's term, should have more powers than seems to be the case for the Night Watch.

Yes, that's what I meant. You were clearly on the case but didn't have a button that says "hide all posts by this user", which is ridiculous. Clearly you should have that option! It must be quite stressful for you too, trying to get them as quickly as possible.

agreed

Were you struggling on your own last night? - there used to be at least 2 night-watchers - ?plus access to the day-time moderator instituted the last time round - or was that only a temporary thing?

'The poster's been banned by Nightwatch. But only after 25 minutes and 15 vile posts.'

25 mins seems ok to me? Yes if it was 3 hours later you'd have a point so well done @Anightwatcher

By vile are we talking about images or just trolly posts?

The night watch need a "hide all posts by user" option, not good enough that they need to do this one by one.

It might be an idea to ban certain words from being allowed to be used in usernames?

It took 25mins. What is the problem?

Because a poster who was an obvious troll who posted multiple disgusting posts needed to be dealt with by an unpaid volunteer searching up their posts and deleting each of them individually. That's just stupid.

As soon as the account was flagged there should have been an option to 'ban and delete all posts'.

It's hardly uncommon for a troll to come on MN and sprinkle shite posts everywhere.

Why wouldn't you want to make it a much easier job for them? It would make far more sense all round to only have to do something once.

It isnt up to me to make their job easier for them, I'm sure they can all think for themselves.

Again, it took 25mins not 5 hours I can't see a problem tbh.

Spectacularly missing the point here! Never mind.

I see disgusting photos are still being posted. I thought MN had put a stop to them.

I'm not missing the point. A troll posted trolly crap and was deleted and banned within 25mins but some of you think it should have been quicker and easier. I'm sure nightwatchers feed back to tech with their ideas.

I’m biting my tongue here

Yes. I've not said what I'm thinking. Sitting on hands!

We completely understand how upsetting it is to encounter horrible trolls like the one last night, and we take these incidents very seriously. As with any large site, trolls are an unfortunate reality, but as a predominantly female site, we are often targeted by those intent on causing as much disruption and upset as they can. All 20 posts were removed in less than half an hour, thanks to Night Watch, and while no system can entirely stop determined trolls, we’ve invested significant effort into making it much harder for them to operate and are continually working on further improvements.

Hi @JaneJeffer could you let us know what you're referring to? The troll last night did not post images.

I've not seen them but thought it was messages rather than images, @JaneJeffer?

And aren't images supposed to be screened now before they actually appear (though I've no idea how effective that is)?

Is that not referring to people posting picture of their arse or whatever for 'medical advice'? I've seen thread titles recently that suggest explicit photos are contained within the thread even though MNHQ said that they weren't allowed anymore. (I don't open the threads so no idea what they contain).