Dear MNHQ, I didn't see all the problems kick off over poor Revjustabout...

[georgimama]

but I would be grateful if you could tell me that you have at least given serious consideration to banning the posters who were harrassing her.

Thank you.

Well I suspect it had been discussed on Moldies, Firepile and they'd worked themselves in a frenzy of suspicion - doesn't mean they didn't genuinely believe in their suspicions though - ie deluded rather than malicious.

"why I am the only objector to be singled out here"

That's a bit worrying.

justine it could just have easily have happened on FB, email, MSN

(discussion, I mean. if that is the case)

Ok, I think I understand mumsnet's position on this...

As long as no one accuses me of not being a penguin, I can post on whatever topics I like. If anyone shouts troll though and mumsnet hq verifies that I am a penguin then, although I can post on any topic I like with the name Gloriamumble, I can't start a topic about fish recipes lest I be deemed to be holding myself out as the "mumsnet resident expert penguin".

I can however post fish recipes under any other name (non penguin related) and I can also tell everyone that I am a flightless seabird in the content of those threads.

Sounds like a silly policy to me.

And, IMHO, the timing of rev's name change matters not a jot - if the reason it was suggested was as a result of her being unjustifiably hounded then that is pandering to bullies. It would still be wrong even if rev had waited to change name and no one else connected the two; the rev would know and the bullies would know.

I agree with you, Justine (and Dittany).

But isn't that one of the aspects of Modiegate that people were concerned about (ie people being discussed in secret with no right to reply)?

I suppose at least this sorry saga has given the Rev an opportunity to know the kinds of things that are being said about her in private (and to show them to be false). It goes without saying that others who are slagged off discussed on Moldies don't have that privilege.

(My first post on Moldies btw. Let's hope it's the last)

Bundle - are you trying to have a fight? I was just surprised that you were addressing your comments to me as if I was the only person who was questioning MNHQ's decision. That's all.

Justine 'deluded rather than malicious.'

Do you really think so?

I think both.

Yes I'm sure thier emails to you were put in reasonable concerned lanaguage, but thier public posts on MN most certainly were not .

As you well know.

They came on Mn only to attack Rev, for no other reason, their comments ranged from snidey to vicious, and I think can most certainly be descroibed as malicious. They most certainly were not polite, if testing, questions from concerned individuals who then contacted MNHQ.

Why are you trying to put a postive spin on this revolying behaviour?

Why have you decided to focus on what Rev to cuase such unplaesntnessrather than the unpleasntness itself?

I am sure the individuals concerened are perfectly decent women most of the time, but on this occasion thier actios were certainly not decent. I'm sure it wasn't a moldie arranged attack, just an attack arranged by a couple of moldies. Subtle difference.

I'm afraid Justine that I find your statements about these incidents such as 'deluded not malicious' to be very (wait for it).............disingenuous. Sorry, but I do. No other word (I can think of right now).

Bundle, MNHQ have explained themselves, I and others think thier reasoning is poor and thier decesion and focus very wrong, and I was under the inpression I was free to say so. As much as i liked.

They may well have the last word, but I can comment as much as I like on the last word. Stick around I'll get bored of repeating myself eventually.
Just not yet.

Look, if no one has yet said it, let me...

pph no one has accused you of contacting the rev in her private life.

you are a lawyer, although you haven't given me proof yet, so surely you know the score.

now if anyone were to ask my opinion, i would say that you are being a wee precious requesting post deletions and whatever else. get over yourself.

now off to read the next 800 posts.

some people are tiring.

Okaay, just caught up.
MNHQ have explained their reasons for Rev changing her name, it's sad it has to be, but I do understand their reasons.

People have always piled in to arguments discussions en masse, I suspect through MSN/facebook/email, now I guess Moldies too. When I was a newbie and green to all of this forum malarkey I used to think it was amazing they were so in tune with each other . With all the furore over Moldies, this was bound to end up as a Moldie issue.

I can't understand why these posters took such a dislike to Rev though, there were loads of MNers very vociferous over Moldiegate, Rev was pleasant and amusing, trying to diffuse the situation and bring some humour from what I could see.

I hope that we can all live together in "peace and love" without all this "not talking to a Moldie" and "there's always an argument on MN" (after trying their damnedest to cause one).

i think mnhq are in a very difficult situation these days...the moldies thing will be a mega pain for a long time i'm sure...they have to stay diplomatic....and from what i've seen that's exactly what they're being.

Actually I think MNHQ should have waited and put a decent amount of time and space between the attacks on the REv and suggesting she change her name (if they have valid separate concerns), to ensure that both the Rev and others did not interpret this as a response to the bullying which suggests (whether they intended that or not)some wrong doing onthe Revs part.

Otherwise I'm afraid it does very much look like, to many on here, that the victim has been scrutinised and targeted and not the bullies in this case.

Most unfortunate in my oinion.

Yes, Nantucket, it does seem that way, but didn't MNHQ ask that Rev wait a few weeks before dropping the "Rev" title? I'm sure I read that.
I can understand why Rev decided to do it sooner, but that was not MNHQ's suggestion.

This is the second time that the Rev's identity been questioned extensively intensively by some allegedly fungal posters.

the Rev addressed their claims, quite plainly, weeks ago.

Why did they need to approach her in the Gaza thread and question her identity and then her family's suffering in the Holocaust?

Correct me if I am stupid instead of foxy, but surely she only had to address the issue once to the same posters. to address it a second time, in the tone, place, manner and timing is what constitutes harassment.

I don't agree with negotiating her name change. It does leave the impression that MN is giving in to the bullies. But then, I am just foxy.

It is all about coming back ever so often to scent mark your territory, isn't it. I'm a fox. I know about that.

I don't know why there was such an "attack" levelled towards Rev, Foxy, I truly don't understand it.

i didn't know any of this was going on tbh...i saw rev on the moldie08 threads, i'd never heard of her before that...i guess if someone is being bullied due to their "profession" then a name change would be sensible....i don't see that as giving into bullies...just avoiding them maybe?

It doesn't matter HOW long MNHQ asked Rev to delay - all that means is that they were trying to hide the link. The fact is that she was asked to change her name in response to the hounding, regardless of whether it was meant to look like that.

Justine: you have STILL not corrected and confirmed that Rev is actually a reverend. You have STILL not condemned the behaviour that was directed at her. You are STILL off the planet if you think that vitriol was just misguided concern. At the VERY LEAST you should be slapping wrists and making a public announcement that concerns of trolls should be COMPLETELY off board and directed at you and NOT continually hounded across threads.

Instead by your pronouncements you have put the focus (and hence the onus) solidly on Rev, and yet you still cannot see how totally out of order that is.

Disclaimer: I am not anti-moldie, I am not moldie, I am an athiest, I have bothered to read Rev's posts before and she has not even given the slightest hint of setting up herself as an authority in any way, I am not a Duck.

I had more to say after reading everything that happened after I went to bed, but somehow OneBat answered exactly what I would have said every time

(Thanks Justine)

'I think this is to some extent a reflection of how much of a divide has grown between the two sides (moldies v mnet). No one who saw the Moldies posts for years honestly would think this badly of the Moldies as a group. Back me up on this other oldie non-moldie Mnetters please? They were a nice enough bunch.'

I'll definitely back you up on that one Justine

no firepile, i'm not

Posieflump and Justine, I agree.

Can we really try and just let these threads die a death as Mr and Justabout have asked?

just to reply to bundle - what you say about your priest can be applied to rev. My point exactly.

And MNHQ rev was in no way setting herself up as an expert. TBH i think the thing that fanned the flames on the Israel thread [but note this was after she had been called a fantasist for saying she'd lost relatives in the Holocaust] was MrJA coming onto defend her, it was a bit confusing for a minute, but this has nothing to do with rev and her name.