Hi all
Thanks for the convo here - The Night Watch is not all that well-known and can be useful when not enough people report (as can happen in the wee, small hours...)
Thanks to ANightWatcher too, and the other crew members, who work hard here. I personally don't mind it being a voluntary position, as there is no obligation to be "on duty" as it were.
Anyhoo, about the troll-hunting thing - the Night Watch has a remit to hide spam, and also what HQ calls "egregious trolls" - these are usually very obviously beyond the pale (things like hate speech, pornographic images).
NW actually shouldn't be making judgement calls on things like personal attacks, or troll hunting...but I do think its a fine line, so some personal attacks can be classed as hate speech, and there are trolls which may not post images but are very obviously porny/pervy.
I have been on MN yonks, and although I can spot a troll at 50 paces by now, I categorically do NOT troll-hunt (ahem)
. I do however use my red-button to Hide Threads so that HQ can check them out in the morning. I don't think anything I've hidden has even been reinstated though.
Just my two penn'orth 