REGISTRATION FEE - WOULD YOU OBJECT?

[HRHSaintMamazon]

just seen that yet another troll has gotten in and caused one of the more prolific and well loved members of the site to leave.

This is getting to be more than just an occasional annoyance.
we seem to have become victims of our own sucess. we are all so fabulouse we are attracted a much wider audience, thoguh sadly as we become more popular we appear on teh radar of a few nutballs too.

How would we feel about the possibility of a 50p joining fee.
obviously this would have to be paid either via card or paypal so there would be some kind of verification of the persons ID.
it would mean that if trollery was supsected MN would find it easier to investigate, if the poster seemed to be in trouble MN qould be in a position to help organise real help.

but mostly it would deter the 14 year olds joing to post about pube's or incest or whatever.

The fee would be minimal so that its not too restrictive.

What do you think? woudl it work? would it be workable from MNHQ perspective or would it cause other red tape type problems?

I just really think we need to do something before the site implodes.

I'd pay. But I agree mumsnet needs to be free. And largely uncensored.

I think thay must be better ways of tackle trolls.

(from behind with a large fucking net springs to mind)

i don't think 50p is enough to put off the trolls, i think maybe you ought to have to provide credit card details to register so the mnhq could confirm you were who you said you were before being allowed on the site

the namechanging thing is a bit of a red herring really. if yo namechange to cause troubel then although WE don't know who you are MNHQ do.

I do feel that is someone namechanges in order to be spitefull or vindictive then MNHQ should change their name back top their usual posting name so that we can all see just who it is.

then ban them,.

I don't think that this would work because it would have to be a significant amount of money to make a difference to trolling and nutters who are being personal would pay anyhow. Also mn is dependent on the large amount of traffic for advertising revenue.

Perhaps we should go back to having a few - mods - a few trusted posters who are usually entirely unobstrusive but can step in if needed in this sort of instance. I value MN's unmoderatedness/self-moderation very highly and that should absolutely be kept as far as possible but what has happened is possibly indicative of a change in the way MN is that we need to react to.

I think it would be better to do something with the name change thing - I don't think unlimited name changes is a good thing.

I've posted on lots of forums where people post "delicate" matters - under the same name as they post everything else. Doesn't seem to be an issue elsewhere.

Or perhaps a limited name change facility?

i think instead of more moderation that namechanging should be ended full stop unless it's a situation where teh OP needs to change because of a delicate or unpleasant situation.

a lot easier to police, i hope, too.

Restricting the name changes will make no difference. I have 2 registrations with 2 different email addresses.

Can't we just have a big brother style vote out?

indeed, it does take MnHQ quite a long time to react at times.

It wouldn't be too difficult to enlist the help of a few reguklars who post at varying times of the day.

some are her mostly mornings, others afternoons and others are night owls.
pick say 2 from each time span so that there is almost always someone around in case things kick off

Yes, but what good does it do if MNHQ knows if we dont?

I would imagine that any regular would be put off trolling if they knew that MNHQ would post a "troll warning saying something like : "The poster who is currently trashing benefits receivers on this thread is in fact our own dear MAMAZON/QS/LAPIN etc...."

(sorry, names are totally randomly quoted, and has never to my knowledge trolled)

"unless it's a situation where teh OP needs to change because of a delicate or unpleasant situation."

And how do you propose that working? The OP has to email MNHQ and explain why they want a namechange???

A fee so low wouldn't deter trolls.

Taking away name changing takes away a big part of the fun of the site. Lots of us name change very often, but only for fun. I've had about 8 names in the last week but I can assure you I am not a troll.

I do think MNHQ need to look again at their troll and deletion policies.

Possibly they could bring in some way of freezing a thread to new posts until they have had time to investigate.

If someone uses different email addresses & a variable IP address then all MNHQ will say is that there is no immediate evidence of trolling, although I think maybe they should at least acknowledge that when more than one poster reports something as an attack, that maybe we know what we are talking about and not just brush it off.

i don't really think it's about trolling necessarily.....more about being able to identify nutcases if things get as nasty as they obviously have for cod.

What about having to email mumsnet to reuqest a name change and give reasons why you wish to change? It would also stop the funny trolls though.

i feel under suspicion a bit as ive gone on about my hundreds of namechanges... tis all an identity crisis, not a vindictive bone in me body, honest guv!

yes agree scottishmummy

the troll thread the other week went on for ages until hq deleted it. really they should be more perceprive

posters have different personalities/issues and some will affected this is unavoidable

if you over censor you lose candour and a vibrancy. occasionally people will get a pasting esp on AIBU. also people are supportive and kind. imo the self regulation works

don't know about any shenanigans impacting on RL.

At Netmums you have to email them a request to post as "Anon".

But is the name changing thing a red herring?

There have been plenty of threads I've seen where someone has obviously name changed - but as they're not malicious/personal attack type posts they remain. I've seen threads that obviously have a namechanger answering/agreeing with themselves or fueling a debate.

It's also obvious (the EC thing) that trolls could use the "regular but namechanged" thing to their advantage. There was a LOT of hurt caused when it was thought that they really were a regular that had name changed - obviously MNHQ clarified later than it was a lie - but the damage had already been done.

It won't stop anything.

don't object to a registration fee in principle, but not convinced it would have the hoped effect on trolls etc.

"but mostly it would deter the 14 year olds joing to post about pube's or incest or whatever", unfortunately, this type of trolling is not the type that does the damage

plus, what has happened with cod seems like (from what's been said on the other thread) to partly involve her blog, not just mn.

I think that rather than charging people to join people shouldn't be allowed to namechange so freely.

I really do believe the vast majority of trolls are regulars, but there is no way of knowing because of confidentiality.

I also think that when you post a lot of personal information about yourself on the internet you lay yourself open to being identified. If you don't want to be identified then don't post so much personal info.

Also, and I realize that this is not going to make me very popular, how do we know this person was a troll? How do we know that whatever information they claimed to have wasn't real? Just because someone is well liked on a website, doesn't make them a saint in rl. And IMO to deregister and have all one's posts deleted the other person must have something pretty damning.

I think we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that people on here aren't necessarily all they claim to be.