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The night watch

Note: This topic is primarily for users to flag spam and glaringly obvious trolls to the Night Watch team. If there's a poster who's really worrying you, please do report it to MNHQ in the usual way.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Night Watch begins this evening

55 replies

RebeccaMumsnet · 04/03/2014 14:15

Hi all,

After months of discussion, the moment has finally arrived: the much-anticipated Night Watch will begin active service as of this evening

The Watch will initially be staffed by seven lovely volunteers, who tend to spend time on Mumsnet during the wee small hours and who have the ability to hide posts or threads of a spammy nature or posts that overtly break our Talk guidelines.

They will not see or respond to reports; they're simply equipped to deal with the sort of beyond the pale posts that you and - and they! - would normally report to us.

We've asked them to delete things like obvious spam and properly beyond-the-pale language and/or images. We're not asking them to make judgement calls on things like personal attacks, bunfights, troll-hunting and so on.

If you come across a thread that you feel needs urgent attention during the night, then you can start a thread or post on here. The Night Watchers aren't obliged to be around, so there's no guarantee that they'll spot it, but they when they are online they will look in this topic.

Night watchers do not have to identify themselves, and don't have access to personal data.

They're doing this out of the goodness of their hearts so we'd be really grateful if you could bear this in mind during the settling-in period.

Fingers crossed it will all go swimmingly but do keep letting us know how you feel it's going.

OP posts:
TunipTheUnconquerable · 04/03/2014 22:06

Do they have to wear black and never get married?

KatherinaMinola · 04/03/2014 22:12

Ah, I was hoping for a Sarah Waters topic .

MooncupGoddess · 04/03/2014 22:15

Oh no, this is disastrous news for my fake Rolex business! Not to mention my steamy webcam network. :(

ouryve · 04/03/2014 22:59

And Terry Pratchett fans will definitely open it,

That's not why I opened this thread at all. Oh no.

falaaalaaa · 04/03/2014 23:03

I thought Sarah Waters.

Good luck, Night Watchwomen everywhere.

fideline · 05/03/2014 01:11

Me too Katherina Sad

Going to have to buy the DVD now.

fideline · 05/03/2014 01:12

Are the Night Watch Women undercover? Or do they have names?

differentnameforthis · 05/03/2014 08:00

No, don't report as normal They will not see or respond to reports

Like Rebecca said, start a thread, or post on this one.

Sevensev · 05/03/2014 08:13

There was a thread a few months ago, where posters came on and said they were volunteering for nightwatch duty, so presumably most of the volunteers were on that list.

RebeccaMumsnet · 05/03/2014 10:03

@ParsingFancy

Ooh, that sounds clever.

So they can delete obvious spam & images?

And can hide other, more marginal dodgy stuff until the Day Crew turn up and investigate properly?

That's right Parsing, and they busted a spammer last night which is fab news.

As we said in the OP they are not around to make judgement calls or 'moderate', they are here to help to rid us of the really nasty/plain spammy stuff that sometimes happens in the wee small hours and can take MNHQ until the next morning to see.

OP posts:
Sparklingbrook · 05/03/2014 10:05

But RebeccaMN with there being a dedicated thread then all the reports are there for all to see, how can that be helpful.

RebeccaMumsnet · 05/03/2014 10:08

@differentnameforthis

No, don't report as normal They will not see or respond to reports

Like Rebecca said, start a thread, or post on this one.

Akshirley, please do continue to report but start a thread here too if it's a pressing issue.

We are around on and off and like to keep an air of mystery around exact hours because we don't want trolls to know and tbh, it does vary.

OP posts:
RebeccaMumsnet · 05/03/2014 10:17

@Sparklingbrook

But RebeccaMN with there being a dedicated thread then all the reports are there for all to see, how can that be helpful.

Hey Sparkling,

Well, we are very much in the suck-it-and-see phase of the Night Watch and we are sure that there will be issues along the way but we thought a topic for this would be a good idea for folks to flag up the really beyond the pale stuff, indecent images, porny stuff, mass spm etc
It is not for the 'this person is raising my spidey senses' type reports, it's really for the urgent stuff that needs to go really quickly.

Having the Night Watchers around does not guarantee that things will go pooof faster but we hope that it helps a lot to get rid of the extreme stuff that can crop up late at night.

Obviously, we will be reviewing it regularly to see if it's working and how we can improve it and once we have found our feet, we will probably be recruiting more overseas volunteers to help out.

We are open to any suggestions Sparkling and all...

OP posts:
Sparklingbrook · 05/03/2014 10:20

Thanks RebeccaMN, it just seemed at first glance as a complete opposite of TSSDNCOP IYKWIM. All a bit 'out in the open'.

But hopefully it will work, especially to get rid of the bonkers nocturnal trolls.

RebeccaMumsnet · 05/03/2014 10:21

@meditrina

Between what times (GMT) should we report to NightWatchers. And should we do ordinary reports too?

And will they be able to lock an iffy thread (so it drops off Active Convos) for review by MNHQ when they appear in the morning?

TSSDNCOP

and no re locking threads, that is not what the Night Watchers are about at the moment. Although we can recover any posts/threads that are hidden in error, we have asked them to err on the side of being lenient and only zap overt spam or vile stuff.

They are not here to make judgement calls on things like personal attacks, bunfights, troll-hunting and disputes.

OP posts:
RebeccaMumsnet · 05/03/2014 10:22

@Sparklingbrook

Thanks RebeccaMN, it just seemed at first glance as a complete opposite of TSSDNCOP IYKWIM. All a bit 'out in the open'.

But hopefully it will work, especially to get rid of the bonkers nocturnal trolls.

That, we hope, is the plan Grin

OP posts:
ExitPursuedTheRoyalPrude · 05/03/2014 13:20

Good luck to the night watch. Have they got a fire going in an old oil drum?

PlumpPartridge · 05/03/2014 13:42

Pratchetteer here and very disappointed.

TravelinColour · 11/03/2014 23:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TravelinColour · 11/03/2014 23:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

secretspy · 11/03/2014 23:53

Anywhere else while I'm here? Only found that one.

McPheezingMyButtOff · 11/03/2014 23:59

This is just so HQ can all get pissed on a school night isn't it Wink

EmpressOfJurisfiction · 12/03/2014 00:01

Good deleting but it came up with the standard deletion message. Can't we have a Night Watch one?

secretspy · 12/03/2014 00:10

TSSDNCOP
Grin

EmpressOfJurisfiction · 12/03/2014 00:36

Olivia! You're back in disguise!!!

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