Banned for calling out dogwhistling posts

[DebbieHurry]

Yesterday, there was yet another dogwhistlng, vague post on the lines of " Should I send my kids back to school in September? Social media warns of a terrorist attack". This is about the 5th such post in the last 10 days. All by posters spreading panic and fear. I have reported in the past and MN has ignored it. Posts continue to mushroom.

Yesterday, I posted telling people not to get news from Tiktok and pointed out that there have been a spate of such posts.
My posts were deleted, and then my account was banned. My previous username was @KateMiskin.

Could @MN please explain why they allow blatant scaremongering and dogwhistling on a parenting site when the police commissioner has urged people not to spread rumours? And why my account was deleted? I said nothing offensive or that broke the rules. I have been a member for over 20 years.

I agree. It's common knowledge that chat forums are used for this purpose and Mumsnet have a responsibility to plan for it and tackle it

Those bloody faux naive 'I'm worried about sending my kids to school in September in light of all the awful rumours, anyone else?'. Then you get people going 'what rumours hun?' And then it begins. Any pushback is met with 'I'm just a concerned mum'.

As for 'not engaging', MNHQ literally tell you to engage when you report.

So you didn't read the email before presuming you'd been banned and starting this thread. I has the same 24 hour suspension recently. It's irrelevant that you've "been posting 20 years". That doesn't preclude you from being sanctioned for troll hunting.

I agree with you OP. Some nasty reactionaries around Mumsnet these days. Bots too.

is MNet going to comment on the way they're handling (d)isinformation like those threads the OP got suspended for highlighting?

Why are they being allowed to remain when they're clearly rumours with no basis and posted purely for the reason of scaremongering? It's all well and good asking us to report them, but if they don't break the current talk guidelines, then it's time for a review on them.. they shouldn't be allowed to stand.

Yes, how is boosting these threads by engaging in them a sensible strategy? If obviously faux naive posts "aren't breaking talk guidelines" maybe it's time to review your guidelines.

If MNHQ don’t realise that they have a serious problem after tonight then honestly this site is in trouble!
2 painted roundabout flag posts! Full of misogyny as well as bloody racism!
1 my husband has right wing views but I don’t know much about politics faux naive!
Another School lock down thread
Immigrants in hotels give me your thoughts faux naive!

it’s been a horrible site tonight & not somewhere I actually want to spend my time!

honestly maybe the new app has algorithms that are bringing these into my feed but I’ve honestly never known anything like it!
I was here through the whole Brexit Referendum and it was no where near as bad as this!
It is vile!

I reported a definite troll in the last few days - and if not a troll then a horrible attack on the character of all people who are not members of Britain First. MNHQ said they're 'taking a look'. Hmmm

I think the posts come under ‘deliberately inflammatory behaviour’ in mumsnet’s talk guidelines. It’s very obvious what the OPs of these posts intentions are, and it’s a shame MNHQ actually believe they’re genuine, or are so desperate for posts that they allow it. I know of people who have deregistered due to the increasing number of racist posts being allowed and plenty of others who are using the site less and less. If we challenge them, we get banned for troll hunting or another bollocks reason, yet these racist arseholes get to stay. Mumsnet are losing their sensible posters to those with an agenda and it’s ruining the site. If they don’t listen to their users, shame on them, it won’t pay eventually and they will have added to the growing hatred and division within society.

We should be able to say that someone is whipping up hatred without being suspended for troll hunting.

Oh, just seen your username. 🙄

I'm absolutely fed up with it. The problem is, they tend to be ignored except by those with an agenda and become echochambers. It's very obvious that MN has been targeted and these posters are just repeating the same stuff over and over again despite being given the facts. There's a tsunami of disinformation which isn't being taken down.

Yes, I’m noticing the same words, phrasing, writing style, even the same spelling and punctuation mistakes on many of the posts. It’s a group targeting mumsnet and they’ll always find racist people to join in. I have been ignoring them because challenging them seems to mean a suspension or ban for calling out their racist bollocks.

When the teachers were getting ripped apart in Covid times on here, teachers and others that supported them started spamming the threads with flowers emojis. Another example of a less important topic, but similar way of dealing with them, is people on dog hating threads now spam those threads with photos of dogs. Maybe we need to apply similar tactics here to show that we don’t want this shit but so that we don’t have to engage with these racist idiots.

Yes, last night was horrendous. Maybe a bank holiday effect. It feels like MN is going the same way that Twitter and Facebook have gone and that seems to be okay with MN. It has been horrendous before - after 9/11 and around Brexit. But they don't seem to learn that they are being targeted. Rage baiting seems to be what they want - not sure what some of the companies who advertise here will think about that.

I don't think it's just Mumsnet though, the bloody flags on roundabouts thing show that this is a conversation that certain people are trying to force on everyone right now.

I've definitely been making a conscious effort to be on here less lately as it's just becoming a more and more toxic place to be.
It's just shit stirring and nastiness towards minorities and lots of racism lately, and MN doesn't seem to give a shit.
I get that they don't want to stifle discussion, and I understand that, and also think it's important that people get to see alternative points of view and are challenged. It's a fine line though and the amount of scaremongering, general misinformation and sometimes outright hatred is awful and MN seems blind to it.

And the misogyny! I reported about 3 posts on one of the 2 Roundabout threads last night! It’s so depressing!>

@BeckyAMumsnet, what is MNHQ doing/thinking about all of this? I think it’s rather revealing that the only comment on this thread - which is, after all, on Site Stuff - is about an email sent to the OP.

You said in a Site Stuff thread earlier, about racism, that mis/disinformation wasn’t something that you’d allow:

We do (and have) deleted posts where we think the poster is using misinformation deliberately to inflame a discussion, for example or to otherwise cause harm.

And yet it’s happening so often these days. All these faux naive posts about flags or ‘illegal immigrants’ - all calculated to inflame.

Yes, the new, racist posters are coming from somewhere. One of them admitted as much a few days ago-that a particular thread had been targeted.

These questions about moderation have been raised with MNHQ before. Time and again, the disinformation and the racism/ablism etc is allowed to stand, even when it is reported. We are encouraged to "challenge on the thread" but then people get deleted, suspended or banned for challenging in the wrong way.

I really think MNHQ needs to rethink its priorities with regard to moderation. It is ridiculous when you look at which posts are left to stand and which are deleted - it's like MNHQ haven't caught up with the modern world, and they're still operating the same approach to moderation as they did 20 years ago. If they don't want to invest to the extent that they are actually able to remove disinformation and racism/ablism etc, then they should take a step back and stop moderating altogether. We have the worst of both worlds at the moment, where reasonable posts are deleted for trollhunting while the trash that those posters are highlighting is left untouched.

But maybe MNHQ likes it that way? Does the lack of moderation generate more clicks and therefore more advertising revenue?

Yes, I saw that. The poster basically said that they had followed a link from twitter.

I reported this post @SwedishEdith, because you are completely correct and I wanted to draw MN moderators attention- they appear to be having a bank holiday snooze - to the filth they are allowing to infiltrate the whole site and how repellent the majority of us find it. Your post speaks for many.

Actually, MNHQ has just deleted a whole series of racist posts. They probably only have a skeleton staff today.

MNHQ rely on people reporting posts for their moderation. But if reporting posts just ends up with a sniffy email saying 'doesn't break any guidelines, please challenge civilly on the thread' then people end up stop bothering reporting and the moderation system just falls apart.

I've found there's not much use reporting unless it's blatant rule breaking such as troll hunting or personal attacks.
You're usually just told to "challenge on the thread" or "we'll take a look" (which seems to be code for not going to do anything about it as if you get one of those messages it's nearly always left to stand)
What you seem to miss, MN, by just going on a post by post basis, is the whole wider context and conversation that it takes place in.

Exactly.