Really persistent troll

[wouldyouactuallydothat]

I’ve noticed a lot today.

They do have a certain MO. They will post very short messages but lots of them on a thread, one after another. They are often banned quite quickly but re register and return to the thread as if they are a new user. So an OP can feel as if several people are being disagreeable and unpleasant when it’s actually the same one. I think they’ve used five usernames today alone and they are the ones I’ve counted.

Probably a slightly obvious question but can’t this be addressed, through limiting registrations or something?

Is it still possible to return to the same thread with a different name? I name changed and a few days later when I returned to a long running thread, I had to use my old user name just for that thread.

No. They are banned and re register hence the different name; it is different accounts as opposed to name changing with the same account.

More than one I would say.

Hello @wouldyouactuallydothat we do have a few persistent returners and I think I know the one you mean here. We do ban them, but it would be very difficult to stop anyone determined to come back and this one seems to spend most of their days doing just that - they even did it when they were on holiday... trolling from the sun lounger. Baffles the mind. Luckily, they generally get reported very quickly so thanks to all who spot them and let us know.

Can registering with a proxy and suspicious IP numbers not be banned?
I am on a forum where no one is allowed to join using a proxie..
People who join and register their user name have to keep it....no swapping and changing. It cuts down on trolling.
Granted it's a much smaller forum.

That's a good point @NovemberMorn but in practice it probably wouldn't make much difference here. We do already have some similar measures in place wbut in truth the vast majority of trolls don't join via VPN or proxy anyway and it would mean that genuine Mumsnetters who use a proxy for completely innocent reasons would be affected.

Again, with the usernames, it is something that comes up from time to time, but lots of people use the name change facility in a completely genuine way to remain unidentifiable or just to post about different subjects, so it would be a shame to lose that because of a small handful of trolls. This is why we can't have nice things, eh?

Understood. God knows why trolls exist to make the forum lives of others difficult, sadly they do.

There are 3 trolls on one thread at the moment. They report every comment that they disagree with. I've reported them back but their comments dont get deleted which makes me think that they could be mods. Ridiculous.

I have been reading that thread having given up posting on it and I was struck by how much one of the posters writes just like one of the mods. Not saying it is but it’s funny that you posted this 😆

I'm glad I'm not hallucinating Jane! Pretty sure the one starting with G got me suspended as I disagreed with her opinion. All of my posts got deleted too. They are dedicated I'll tell you that. They are all over that thread like the police 😆

@hellomylov3 it’s not worth bothering with those people because they have ulterior motives and most certainly are not who they say they are. Let them rant away amongst themselves. They would only be delighted if you get banned. It’s like a game to them.

Absolutely @JaneJeffer, I see more people falling into the trap daily & try to warn them off but everything gets deleted in a matter of minutes! If a mod isn't amongst them I'll eat my hat 😉 take care x