Concerns about racism

[PandoraSocks]

Hi there Mumsnet HQ

Many of us are concerned about the uptick of hatred, xenophobia and racism on the site over the past couple of weeks. Most of the bigotry is focused on asylum seekers. MNHQ will of course delete racism etc. if reported, but this has gone way beyond a few hateful posts.

Links below to three examples of threads which have descended into real nastiness.

Cheers.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/in_the_news/5385273-civil-unrest-whats-really-going-on?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5385914-do-you-believe-there-will-be-a-civil-war?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5386073-to-be-so-fed-up-amd-disheartened-with-all-the-xenophobia?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

Worth a look. Thanks.

I’ve looked at that thread properly now. That’s proper odd, right? Like, wtaf odd

It has actually provided a bit of light relief tbh, which was greatly needed tonight. WTAF indeed.

I'll be scared of wearing pink now, in case someone mistakes me for a fascist!

Oh, no I meant the deletions but you’re not wrong about the thread! Some good old fashioned entertainment

Oh sorry. I was just so bemused by the OP's vision of a pink army of joyful flag-waving fascists. It's one of the most dystopian things that I've ever read!

The extreme far right have always advocated race war but 40years ago it was newspaper sales, leaflets and stickers.
Now these organisations can reach a wider audience of the disaffected and the thick and stupid who believe Britain is being taken over , British way of life being eroded.
The name's of these organisations change but the message is always the same.

‘Pussy hats are back, and now they’re RACIST’

Does Mumsnet tell you if your posts are deleted?

The only time one of mine was I was gleefully told by the person who reported it and I had to check! I rarely look at notifications though.

Utterly bizarre. There’s something very odd going on at MNHQ at the moment. The poster who’s been deleted is so measured and sensible.

I've just been reading that thread. I feel rather sick.

That’s what I was thinking about wearing pink. But luckily the colour of my face means I won’t be mistaken as one of them!

Np they don't usually.

And there it is, the one about the civil (race) war gets to page 39 and up pops one about a teacher getting sack for saying nowt. And it all starts again.

And no teacher would have been fired for the one tweet mentioned!!! It’s really hard to fire teachers.

The article posted to blow the whistle does in fact explain quite clearly but not the excerpt they chose to show, nor the title of the thread. Funny that.

Exactly! And pointing that out isn’t going well. No teacher would be fired for that one tweet. It’s not possible. That one tweet isn’t gross misconduct.

The civil (race war)unrest is straight out of the extreme far right manual they've been at that for over 40 years.
I recognise the language used as certain words, phrases, usernames show where their allegiance lies.

This is the issue. The tropes and language of the far right is being allowed to stand because it isn’t explicit even though everyone knows what’s being said. It’s disgusting. The thread about helping Gazan children was full of Great Replacement Theory nonsense. I genuinely believe that the moderators need more training in this area.
However, I will say I’m also disgusted at what’s allowed to stand on anti-vax threads as well (at a time when the almost gone Measles is returning). It’s like the editorial balance nonsense on the BBC, actually not all opinions are equally valid and people being allowed to post repeatedly about vaccines causing autism without any official intervention (even a statement from MNHQ) really isn’t on.

I’m not engaging with today’s version. If Mumsnet can’t see it for what it is they are either startlingly naive or complicit.

The tropes and language of the far right is being allowed to stand because it isn’t explicit even though everyone knows what’s being said

To be fair the 'pink thread' hasn't been reported to Night Watch and any Reports directly to MNHQ won't be looked at until later this morning - so it will be interesting to see what [if anything] happens to that thread

Is reporting to night watch a different thing from the usual reporting? I reported quite a few posts on there last night.

They must know. Realistically, how could they not?

I've just had a look to remind myself what the talk guidelines actually say to see if I can try to understand their approach better, but unfortunately, it has made me understand their approach even less.

The guidelines say:

No personal attacks. No posts that break the law, including hate speech of any kind. No trolling, misleading or deliberately inflammatory behaviour. No trollhunting.

so, no hate speech of any kind...but there are certain kinds of hate speech that clearly are permitted because they are left to stand despite having been reported, so I would be interested to see what their definition of "hate speech" actually is.

No trolling...well, again, it would be good to see their definition of "trolling" to understand where they're coming from on this.

No misleading behaviour... well, the site is full of misinformation and disinformation, so it would appear that they have just completely given up on this one.

And no deliberately inflammatory behaviour....well...hollow laugh.

@BeckyAMumsnet it's really hard to see how MN moderators are adhering to their own guidelines here. Would you perhaps be willing to share some more information about what training is currently provided to your moderators and how they are taught to identify hate speech, trolling, misleading and inflammatory behaviour etc.

Is MN still relying on volunteers overnight? I really think on a site this size that proper 24 hour moderation is required.

I've just looked at that thread - completely baffled.
Not adding to it though. It doesn't need the oxygen.
Glad to see others pushing back though.
OP talking in riddles. People are thanking a poster for being calm and reasonable and for "trying to humanise refugees" but they all seem to be deleted.
Why on earth would posts like that be deleted?
Did anyone see what they said? (Without reposting of course as don't want them deleted again)

Yes. It was a really interesting post from someone who works with refugees, pointing out their human side and why people take such risks to get away from their homeland.