when you engage with the trolls

[MitchiestInge]

. . . is it a personal thing (actually engaging emotionally) or are you communicating with a wider, more silent audience or are there other motivations?

I can't work out why more people don't ignore them, but every now and then the exchanges are unintentionally funny or interesting - although mostly it gets very dull very quickly. Wondering what's in it for them too.

carer it was me who noticed it and mentioned it here. It'd be difficult to say why I did that without MNHQ getting involved.

No, you haven't upset anyone, and I am sorry if it was a burden for you. Am sure AF is explaining it well in any event.

carer go right to the top of your screen

there is an envelope...it should have a red blob on it

click on that

report back if you get it

It just shaves the frontier of personal attack, but then cunningly reins itself in, doesn't it, that sort of posting.

I reckon MN will delete it if I report it but the poor things are probably worn out!

carer next to "log out" there is an "inbox" icon

you click the envelope and it takes you to your private messages

you haven't been used as cannon fodder, only Bob thinks that, and his agenda is clear

I reported that post to MNHQ hours ago. They are involved.

Well Bob, you're an entitled Nice Guy creep who has been posting about being desperate for sex, so it's not surprising that other members were concerned about your interest in getting into private messaging with a woman who is facing difficulties of her own in that area.

I wonder what MNHQ meant exactly by the West Wing analogy- not being a West Wing watcher myself. I think it means they move in very humorous ( so I hear), covert and mysterious ways. Very enigmatic!

Dunno about the West Wing thing but I understood:

Don't feed
Keep reporting

Hi Just to let you know that i have worked out the PM thing. I used to post on the MSE forums but thieir PM thing was a bit complicated so i wrongfully assumed this one would be similar.Entirely my fault. I should have looked properly. I have messaged you back. Thanks.

cheers, carer take care, I posted a link you might find helpful

good night

brilliant

I have as much right here as all of you. I'm not going anywhere because this is the only place I can discuss feminism without biased mods

Maybe we should have a sub-section we can only access with a password PMd you by another poster. How's that for self-moderation? Actually I think it's a horrible thought and instantly suggests cliques, but I'm grasping at solutions because I think there is a danger of this section being thoroughly derailed.

Disagreement is fine. Misunderstanding is fine. Passionate intelligent discussion is fine. Deliberately being obtuse is just rude and tedious. Deliberately being inflammatory is offensive. I don't take offence easily at anything TBH and have yet to be upset by anything posted here but neither do I wish to waste my time cutting through endless pages of crap in order to find a few insightful posts among the MRA v feminism 101 posts. This section is getting boring thanks to recent events.

I've learned some really useful things on here and had my perceptions challenged and sometimes changed. MN has been an absolutely wonderful springboard into feminism and it's one of MNs greatest strengths IMO. It's rapidly losing it though. We're just repeating old ground over and over and over. There's no room for a growing discussion because the basic premise has to be argued to the nth degree first. On every point. On every thread.

MNHQ, I know you dislike troll hunting and moderation, but if nothing is done you are in danger of losing one of the greatest assets of this site. The MN feminists (long before my time I hasten to add in case it sounds like I'm blowing my own trumpet here) have had a quiet presence throughout the site. If you recognise it you see it everywhere. I think these people will disappear if nothing is done. Some have already gone. I know I'm thinking of it. The only thing that keeps me here is the speed and frequency of posting, which is lacking on some of the dedicated feminist forums, and the fact that I like disagreement from non-feminists, just not deliberately obtuse/MRA-type disagreement.

It's a fine line though and it's in some quickly-shifting sand.

Slight overuse of the word 'petulant' there Bob. I'm afraid this thread is moving too fast for me- please could you tell me who they are in your post above?

How isvwarning someone that you're a bit of a creep and then PMing them, as AF did, throwing them under the bus.

If we're all such nasty people here, go and play somewhere else.