Try the new 'support' reaction

[LizzyMumsnet]

Many of you told us that while you enjoy using the ‘Thank’, ‘Agree’, and ‘Love’ reactions, there are times when you want to show empathy or care, especially when someone’s going through something difficult, without it feeling like you’re “loving” their situation.Starting today, you’ll see a new reaction available on the site called ‘Support’, represented by a flower icon.Here’s how it works:

• Select the ‘React’ button underneath the OP or reply.
• Choose the ‘Support’ reaction (or any of the others) to show how you feel about the post.
• Reactions are private and only visible to the post owner.
• You can select one reaction per post.

The full range of reactions is currently available on the website only (not in the app). We hope this gives you another meaningful way to connect with others and show care when it’s most needed.

Let us know what you think or if you have any questions! We're actively looking in to the issues being reported regarding ads and pages freezing so please bear with us on that!

I guess a private laughing emoji doesn't generate the clicks that bring in advertising revenue in the same way that a public bunfight does.

It would be good if we could have the laughing emojis back with the option to disable them for those who don't like them. But I'm guessing that is technically a bit difficult to achieve.

I can see why you might assume this would be case - I was concerned about moving it too but we've tested it (and continue to monitor it closely) and the data shows moving the button hasn't made any difference to the number of posts reported.

I completely understand why you’d feel frustrated if you’ve seen posts like that stay up - none of those examples sound acceptable to me either. We rely on reports to review content, but moderation isn’t always instant and context matters, which can make things inconsistent at times.

The laughing emoji question isn’t really about it being “too much to bear” (and I didn't say it was vile) it’s about how it was being used. When something is deployed repeatedly to mock or belittle, especially in a hidden way, it can feel very unpleasant. Both things can be true: we should be faster at removing genuinely nasty comments, and we can still look critically at features that make piling-on easier.

That could just be because there are more offensive posts to report than ever, rather than everyone knowing where to find it.

As I said, it isn't really an issue for longstanding posters who know that the function exists, but newer posters won't necessarily find it. And over time, that is likely to drive down the number of posts being reported. Perhaps that was the intention, I'm not sure. With the increase in racism across society, I can imagine that the moderators are being kept busy. Perhaps the volume of reports is also impacting on the quality of their decision-making.

Me too!

Well we'll definitely be keeping an eye on that - tbh more reports are helpful. Nipping something/someone in the bud early saves a lot of bother later so we are very mindful of making sure new people know about the feature. Thanks

So make the reactions public, which is what most places do - to be honest what is the point of making them private?

Why did 'report' move back into the hidden menu? I dont bother to report as many now, as I do remember where it is, and then forget

I would add, I do like the new "support" reaction - this is useful. I just want the laughing face back as well.

They don't want it to be a popularity contest, as far as I understand it. Which I do understand.

😁😊🙂🤗😀😋😂😁

That’s a fair question, and it’s one we’ve talked about a lot internally. The idea behind keeping reactions private was to avoid threads turning into popularity contests or pile-ons, where people feel judged by how many reactions they get. We call the feature “hidden gratitude” - the aim is to keep Mumsnet distinctive and genuinely helpful, rather than a place where people are chasing likes.

Yeah, it's definitely more of a faff to report now. I will still do it for the really bad posts, but I've already stopped bothering for the spam/unauthorised advertising etc.

Justine

we get that, but it's like a whole class punishment. Just deal with the 'naughty kids'

I think you should treat your users as grown ups and bring the laugh reaction back.

Yes I take the point. That was our stance for quite a while - we asked people to report it and dealt with the culprits. But it became too widespread, and too many posters were simply hurt and left rather than reporting. We’re really not trying to punish anyone, just to find a balance that keeps conversation lively but respectful. And I know it's not quite the same but we do have the clap, thumbs up and love emojis...

@JustineMumsnet Out of interest, how do you know that people left because of this if they didn't actually report it?

I deleted my original account a while ago, after having been on MN for many years, because I was increasingly upset about the site's failure to tackle racism effectively and I realised it was impacting negatively on my mental health. I'm back now after a break, but nobody asked me at the time why I was deleting the account.

A few routes - Trustpilot, other people telling us - which made us think there could be quite a few more who left without us knowing about it...

Thank you for responding.

MN’s solution to racism is scroll on by if you don’t like it

That’s really not the case. We remove racist content when it’s reported, and always have. We also encourage users to report anything they think crosses the line rather than just scrolling past. Mumsnet’s always aimed to be a space for robust debate, but never for racism or personal attacks - and if you think we’ve got it wrong, we’re always happy to take another look.

No. It's "feel free to challenge on the thread but we will delete your challenge if you dare to actually call someone a racist because that is a personal attack and it breaks our talk guidelines".

I miss the laughing emoji too ( though sometimes people did misuse it on the CITME board to express that they were mocking your comment). Overall though, I would rather have it and put up with people using it incorrectly.

I like the new flower emoji to show support. I have been using the heart emoji for that but the heart emoji also gets used as a replacement for the laughing emoji so sometimes I worry people will think I'm laughing at their comment instead of showing sympathy!

Yes, I also don't like using the heart in case people think I'm using it to say that I love the fact that they have been exposed to something horrible. I welcome the flower emoji for that reason.

The heart is definitely being used in a passive aggressive or sarcastic way by some posters. I can't pretend that I'm bothered by them, but I don't see a massive difference between this and the misuse of the laughing emoji.