Missing in Action

[frogintheTyne]

Where is the bewilderness?

I miss her!

And Maryz?! Good god, MN, have a word with yourselves.

I am stunned to read that the bewilderness has been banned. What on earth for? Are there other, hidden banning criteria, apart from those included in "Mumsnet statement on moderation of trans rights and gender critical issues"? Now I'm really worried that there must be, because the bewilderness was so careful to follow all the new rules and yet it seems she has been banned? That is really dark and scary.

Who else has been banned? How can we tell, if women are just shut off from posting without having a chance to say goodbye? We can't even find out what they did wrong to avoid doing it ourselves.

I've experienced abuse before, and this feeling is nauseatingly familiar. Walking on eggshells, erasing yourself to appease, unable to predict what will trigger the next blow, and with no way of influencing the ever changing rules. Am I just being paranoid, or are the gender critical wise women being picked off one by one?

The thing about the bannings from that particular thread is that that was not the result of reports from outsiders.

Maybe it didn’t work out for Emma at CAMRA...

Following Penny Mordant's comment that the govt consutation on gender self-id started with 'transwomen are women' OP Pratchet wrote June 3rd 2018:
" A woman is an adult female human
Of the sex whose reproductive role is to gestate and bear young.

Let's just say this while we still can. Because it's true, and however many people try to make us lie about it, or remain silent, it will always be true.

In times of universal deceit, speaking the truth is a revolutionary act.

It hurts MY feelings to see 'transwomen are women'. It damages MY mental health to see that, it makes ME feel erased and MY identity feel destroyed. I have a voice and I deserve that voice. WE deserve it.

I am Spartacus. A woman is an adult female human. Sex is binary, immutable and defined by reproductive role.

If you report me, or get me banned you shoot the messenger. Because this is true and will always be true. And this day, this day of a lie, I WILL say it."
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3295603-A-woman-is-an-adult-female-human

Justine Roberts' responded:

"Hi all,

I’ve had lots of contact about about yesterday’s thread which has now maxed out so thought I’d put a response here.

First of all our guidelines absolutely do allow people to discuss biology and science. And we absolutely see why some of Penny Mordaunt’s words yesterday would raise concerns amongst those with a gender critical POV - so maybe it wasn’t, in retrospect, the best moment to make a point. Nonetheless we do believe that as a rule Spartacus-type threads are not conducive to a constructive debate and that trans people would be likely to feel attacked and/or excluded by them.

To state the obvious and as I’ve said before, this is an extremely polarised debate in which even the most basic terms are disputed, so if we’re going to have it here we’re in danger of being attacked from all sides (which we are in actual fact). Nonetheless, we think it’s important, so we’ll keep at it and we’ll keep trying to moderate it to make it as open and civil as we possibly can.

You should also know that I’m due to meet soon with Penny Mordaunt to discuss “any ideas you may have on the women and equalities agenda’' and I will of course reflect the strong opinion of many Mumsnetters wrt to this issue and ask her to do a webchat too.

Thanks, as ever, for your input."
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/site_stuff/3297067-Mumsnet-moderation-response-to-yesterdays-feedback

It seems to me that MN needs to have some kind of standard on how the mods behave, because there appears to be a huge discrepancy in how some mods deal with a post versus how others would.

I'm surprised there isn't more consistency. That's really bad practice.

I wonder how many people per week get banned? Is there really no process to ensure that the grounds on which posters get banned/ suspended, are consistent irrespective of who is doing the moderating that day?

That just seems a bit amateurish at this stage of MN's life?

as someone who also got banned for a week after the Stella Creasy Unpleasantness I can confirm that a consistent approach would be helpful.

I'm really sorry to hear about the way you've been treated Maryz. Among site users at least, you're MN Royalty.

Is there really no process to ensure that the grounds on which posters get banned/ suspended, are consistent irrespective of who is doing the moderating that day?

They won't even respond to explain how the rules were broken when they do ban people.

Some posters didn't even get an email telling them they had been permanently banned. The contempt they have been shown is atrocious.

I found I'd been logged out & that my password no longer worked. I had to email twice before I got an explanation.

That Maryz and the Bewilderness have been banned is shocking.

I feel like we are on the slippery slope to a facist society where speaking the truth is outlawed.

Maryz I know you from here and from another topic under a different name (the one Lilka used to post in ) and I want to say how much you'll be missed and how wrong I think this is.

Are they really going to keep it up? Is there really no wiggle room?

Just letting you know that, like bewilderness, I am in touch via Facebook with busyboysmum who presumes she was permanently banned after the Stella Cressy thread

However despite several emails to mumsnet hq she's never had an explanation. Again she didn't actually break any guidelines and despite being here 10 years with not a single suspension, no warnings, no "strikes".

Also no right of reply, no discussion by email, just bang, gone.

She's now extremely active on Twitter and in real life. Just seen a photo of her out leafletting with Fair Play for Women.

Maryz banned??? WTF??!!

ah, busyboysmum too?

i had hoped she was back but under a name change

Right
So
Thebewilderness
Maryz
Pratchet
BusyBoysMum

Who else?

Maryz banned??? WTF??!!

Yeah. That.

Thebewilderness
Maryz
Pratchet
BusyBoysMum
TheUterati

I liked those posters. Bewilderness in particular. You're throwing star players off the pitch MN.

Also: "It's for your own good?" WTF? Just be honest and tell people why they're banned instead of that mealy mouthed nonsense.

Don't forget Posie.

Spontaneousgiventime was banned.

Shrodinger's Sturdy Pyjamas

MN needs to have some kind of standard on how the mods behave, because there appears to be a huge discrepancy in how some mods deal with a post versus how others would.

I'm surprised there isn't more consistency. That's really bad practice.

I wonder how many people per week get banned? Is there really no process to ensure that the grounds on which posters get banned/ suspended, are consistent irrespective of who is doing the moderating that day?

If women who have supported mumsnet for many years providing masses of valuable content are being banned, despite not having broken any of the new moderation rules, and given no avenue to appeal, then none of us are safe.

Surely it isn't too much to ask that the banning system is made transparent. With notification of when and why women have been banned, so that the rest of us have a chance learn what is and isn't allowed?

Could we request that someone higher up at mumsnet looks at who is handing out these bans, to ensure that they aren't being inflicted by a handful of people acting in accordance with their own nefarious agenda?

We've all noticed how TRAs target key positions and then misuse their influence. How can we be sure this isn't happening at mumsnet now that respected long time posters are being disappeared in secret?

That whole Stella Creasy guest post thread seemed to operate in a very weird way. I don't know what happened there - other than it being blindingly obvious there were cosmic levels of pissed offness going on - but it certainly didn't proceed under the usual mod norms, did it?

I wish MNHQ would do a Super(wo)man, fly backwards around the world, and get us back to where we were before it began.