Dear MNHQ please either moderate autism/disability posts or allow us to hide posters!

[IWonderWhereMySharkPantsWent]

Every time a thread is posted in one of the main boards about autism or disability posts, certain posters will come on posting ignorant rubbish, are unable to take on lived experiences and post really offensive crap about the children and parents.

MN has been slack at responding to these for years now. I know this has cropped up several times in my 15 years here.

I know offending people isn’t the worst thing in the world, but if you’re not going to moderate the ableist posts could you at least allow us to hide posters to make our lives just a smidge more pleasant?

I think it's difficult. I've wrote things about autism that other posters don't agree with and have called me ableist for (my ds has profound autism). The reality is my lived experience of autism is completely different to that of others' lived experience of autism because of all the different presentations of autism. Debate is healthy and I'd rather have the conversations with people than be forced into accepting just one view of what autism looks like. You could always hide the thread if it gets too much for you.

Yes I think this is a significant part of the issue and especially when people are providing care and are impacted by a condition as a carer for example. They are going to feel profoundly different to the people who are experiencing the condition.

We have this with an extended family member with a degenerative condition and their carer. The carer is burnt out completely and can no longer provide the level of care required as the condition has declined, the sufferer from the condition is insistent that they want the person to provide them with the care they have been getting up until now.

Clearly this affects both parties in different ways. Discussions have the potential to offend both parties and both parties have the right to their individual experiences with the issues. Human discourse is complex.

Thanks to everyone who’s contributed to this thread. We know that some of the discussions can often feel deeply personal to some and it’s important to us that these posters feel listened to. We’re very aware that ableism and disablism are on the rise more broadly in society, and that this has a very real impact on many of our users. To be completely clear, we do not and will not tolerate posts that attack or demean anyone on the basis of disability. At the same time, Mumsnet is a space where users bring a wide range of experiences and views. We do allow people to share their personal circumstances and perspectives so long as they post within the Talk guidelines. Our moderation team reviews all reports and removes posts that break those rules.

We also want to address a claim made upthread by a poster who suggested they were banned for reporting ableism. That is not true. Their account was suspended after multiple and serious breaches of our guidelines. While we won’t go into detail here, we do want to be clear that spreading inaccurate information like this can chip away at trust, which helps no one.

As always, please continue to reports any posts you think we should see and please continue to share your feedback and perspectives on this thread as it all helps shape our moderation. Thanks.

It is true what i said and you have all repeatedly refused to properly discuss it with me.

the database can’t possibly track all the users by username. There has to be a user id number. Otherwise the db would not know all the usernames that belong to a single person.

if a user blocked another user, they wouldn’t be blocking that username, they would simply block that user id. All past and future under names would be blocked.

what would not be automatically blocked is if the person used a new email address and a new ip address to create a new account.

You’ve had over 40 posts deleted for breaking our guidelines and we have sent you several emails about it explaining why that was.

I understand it's upsetting to read thoughts, opinions and experiences that don't align with our own.

But I also believe people with thoughts/opinions that most people would consider downright ignorant, should not be prevented from posting them.

Personally, I've learned so much from these discussions on Mumsnet over many years and my opinions on so many things have changed as a result.

No, it's not the responsibility of other posters to educate people, but there are plenty who are still very happy to do it and long may it continue.

It's not nice to see some people getting upset, but I think the answer for them would be to hide the thread and let the discussion continue, as long as it's all within talk guidelines.

If Mumsnet became a heavily moderated echo chamber, I imagine most people wouldn't bother logging in.

Oh lovely, pointless word salad.

We need a block function. This forums on this site are prehistoric.

I think you’re dead wrong to pretend that they act on racist posts/threads. It’s entirely acceptable to be openly racist on MN. Don’t pretend that’s not true in an effort to support your own agenda.

Thank you. I appreciate your post.

We have many of the same issues and frustratons, as a result Black MN have also left the site. Posts which are in context for Black people have been reported and deleted. Bad actors continually pretend to be Black to try to create dissent or disrupt our conversions. Some White MN tell us our problems are not problems, our lived experiences count for nothing but theirs do because their mate's dog walker met a woman at a bus stop who knows a black person and they said it wasnt like that. They are defintely not racist though, its not them, it's us.

We are not looking for racism, it continues to find us in every aspect of our lives whilst we are minding our own business.

I have definitely noticed more crappy threads recently. MN isn't much fun at the minute.

Benefits bashing
Autism bashing
Trans bashing
Racism
Ableism
Zionism
And more

Refusal to implement a block function

Yeah this place is a cesspit.

Why on earth would you choose to be a member of a forum if you think it's a cesspit?

Genuine question btw.

So why don’t you go to a different site where you won’t find any of that… I know, Reddit!

And yet here you are.....

And yet here you are on a thread on MN, complaining about MN. Something we’re all entitled to do….

If I thought the place was a cesspit I'd leave and I'm not complaining about anything.

I’ve got no issues with people disagreeing with me but what I’ve seen in relation to disabled people, recently is pure hate speech by a lot of people who don’t actually know anything about disabilities. Tbf my experience has been that MNHQ do take most of it down.

And I do also agree that the same should apply to fat people. But disability is a protected characteristic.

I’m really sorry to hear this.