Page 2 | The vile posting on MN last night

MarsScarlet · 03/02/2025 23:42

GreenApplesRedApplesYellowApples · 03/02/2025 23:00

So it was a coordinated cyber attack then.

Mumsnet has had so many of them over the years, you would think they would have a more robust security system by now. The police ought to be involved, at least I assume they are now.

I hope FREE counselling is being offered to overnight moderators. Surprised to hear they are volunteers. Really! But that explains why overnight moderation has consistently been poor and late to react to previous incidences of spamming, with reports not being heeded and posts removed to many hours later in the morning.

This sort of thing does not encourage people to do paid subscription. Where is the money being reinvested?

I'm someone that accesses MN during the timeframe the Nightwatchers are on due to time zones and my own schedule. This means any reports I make are rarely actioned quickly, and I do see I lot of weird stuff.

Hoardasurass · 03/02/2025 23:52

This is exactly what the tras did to JKRs twitter thread for kids drawings. They're sick and I hope the police find them and for once the crts throw the book at them/him

PickAChew · 03/02/2025 23:54

GreenApplesRedApplesYellowApples · 03/02/2025 23:00

So it was a coordinated cyber attack then.

Mumsnet has had so many of them over the years, you would think they would have a more robust security system by now. The police ought to be involved, at least I assume they are now.

I hope FREE counselling is being offered to overnight moderators. Surprised to hear they are volunteers. Really! But that explains why overnight moderation has consistently been poor and late to react to previous incidences of spamming, with reports not being heeded and posts removed to many hours later in the morning.

This sort of thing does not encourage people to do paid subscription. Where is the money being reinvested?

The nightwatch doesn't even get the reports from the report button.

NextRinny · 04/02/2025 00:40

Someone tried to burn the witch for telling the truth and now the witch has to apologise for others witnessing her violation?

Never!

MN has functioned brilliantly well with the unpaid labour because women don't tend to get involved with csa or other criminally abusive nastiness. Possible but statistically less occurrences than in the world of men. Furthermore, very few people actually pay to use mn. And anyway are we implying it's OK for someone to have to sift through that awfulness if they are paid for it???

Men should grovel and apologise for one of their own trying to stop women having their own space yet again instead.

Hopefully there will be a criminal investigation and my thanks to the night watch for battling against what is most likely a bot farm through the night.

frenchnoodle · 04/02/2025 00:49

This isn't the first time something like this has happened, MNHQ could have put night moderation in place when it happened previously with graphic images of murders, the worst of it is they have a bunch of people they know they can employ at night to do it but they won't.

MakeYourOwnMusicStartYourOwnDance · 04/02/2025 00:55

I didn't see anything, must have missed some drama somewhere! always the case so not sure what this is relating to.

I've been here absolute years and I agree it does seem to be more hostile lately on here (the site in general)

I've noticed more aggressive posting on MN the last few years, more men (I suspect from posting style

This argument though is always ridiculous, that if you're posting "too aggressively" you must be a man 🙄

MakeYourOwnMusicStartYourOwnDance · 04/02/2025 00:59

crowgift · 03/02/2025 22:45

There was a flood of Category A child sexual assault images @Sneezeless and they remained up for quite a long time. I hope that MN HQ will make a statement that appears at the top of the site as it will have affected many people.

That's horrific, just seen your post - so glad I didn't see that.
You'd think there'd be more moderation on a night and more "power" for the Night Watch.

TempestTost · 04/02/2025 01:39

You would think that with the nature of the internet it would be easy to hire some overnight moderation in a different time zone?

Toseland · 04/02/2025 06:56

Why is this thread on FWR?

IllustratedDictionaryOfTheDoldrums · 04/02/2025 07:21

Toseland · 04/02/2025 06:56

Why is this thread on FWR?

My first thought was how so many posters say they now don't feel safe to use the site, it feels like a deliberate way to taint what is generally a safe online space for adult women.
I've noticed more aggressive posting on MN the last few years, more men (I suspect from posting styles) attacking posters, gaslighting victims, victim blaming, throwing thread off course etc.

Above from the OP. It is very likely MN was targeted because it is predominantly female. The person who posted the images was almost certainly male and hoping to upset and disturb women. It fits male patterns of abuse towards women and children.
Why would a thread on it not be on FWR?

Maaate · 04/02/2025 07:41

Effectively unlocking the doors and leaving them on the latch overnight was only ever going to result in something like this happening. Surprised it took this long if I'm honest 🤷🏼‍♀️

Toseland · 04/02/2025 08:30

IllustratedDictionaryOfTheDoldrums · 04/02/2025 07:21

My first thought was how so many posters say they now don't feel safe to use the site, it feels like a deliberate way to taint what is generally a safe online space for adult women.
I've noticed more aggressive posting on MN the last few years, more men (I suspect from posting styles) attacking posters, gaslighting victims, victim blaming, throwing thread off course etc.

Above from the OP. It is very likely MN was targeted because it is predominantly female. The person who posted the images was almost certainly male and hoping to upset and disturb women. It fits male patterns of abuse towards women and children.
Why would a thread on it not be on FWR?

Show quote history

This board is specifically to discuss sex and gender though?

PickAChew · 04/02/2025 08:58

Toseland · 04/02/2025 08:30

This board is specifically to discuss sex and gender though?

Show quote history

So maybe it should be in FWR chat then. What difference does it make to you? Read a different thread if that's not what you're here for.

Greyskybluesky · 04/02/2025 09:18

Toseland · 04/02/2025 08:30

This board is specifically to discuss sex and gender though?

Show quote history

As @IllustratedDictionaryOfTheDoldrums just said:
It is very likely MN was targeted because it is predominantly female. The person who posted the images was almost certainly male and hoping to upset and disturb women.

How is that not a matter of sex and gender?

It's also been pointed out on here before that many posters appreciate a feminist/women-centred view on certain issues. I agree with that.

There are lots of threads on Site Stuff about what happened if you feel you can make more of a contribution there.

Greyskybluesky · 04/02/2025 09:20

MakeYourOwnMusicStartYourOwnDance · 04/02/2025 00:55

I didn't see anything, must have missed some drama somewhere! always the case so not sure what this is relating to.

I've been here absolute years and I agree it does seem to be more hostile lately on here (the site in general)

I've noticed more aggressive posting on MN the last few years, more men (I suspect from posting style

This argument though is always ridiculous, that if you're posting "too aggressively" you must be a man 🙄

The site was targeted with CSA images by some sicko. Lots of threads on Site Stuff.

DeanElderberry · 04/02/2025 09:34

This board is specifically to discuss sex and gender though?

sex

sex abuse

this board needs this thread, sadly.

We have another current discussion on CSA in the context of PIE - relevant to this event. https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5246429-5246429-bbc-radio-4-series-this-week-about-pie-in-dark-corners

At the least if seems that MN, having users from all over the world, needs 24/7 professional moderation so that complaints are seen immediately and the police can be contacted without delay when necessary.

crowgift · 04/02/2025 09:34

Yes there's two problems 1. the flooding of images of child sexual abuse and 2. the issue with site safety as it's a site likely to be targeted by bad actors as experience shows, with mumsnet leaving themselves open to liability (Online Safety Act). Even more so if they don't have filters and only react to posts (and at night only via volunteers).
I wonder if the Internet Watch Foundation could advise Mumsnet on how to deal with this? I've had to have dealings with them in my work life (unfortunately) and they are excellent.

Maaate · 04/02/2025 09:38

Toseland · 04/02/2025 08:30

This board is specifically to discuss sex and gender though?

Show quote history

MN has been under attack from TRAs and MRAs for a long time. They have form for posting CSA images on other platforms in threads started by uppity women ( JKR's competition thread for children's drawings is one of many)

AIBU was used as it tends to be the busiest but I suspect this board in particular was a pretty big motivation for those things were posted.

themostspecialelfintheworkshop · 04/02/2025 10:00

IllustratedDictionaryOfTheDoldrums · 03/02/2025 22:07

Yes, agree. Pretty sure this was targeted attack because MN is so supportive of women and women's rights.
But also disappointed it took so long to take down and the nature of the night watch.
I'm going to try keep an open mind as I imagine this is a criminal investigation now and they're probably still trying to piece together the details but there are a lot of lessons to learn

Agree - and this site is also supportive of child safeguarding. Having women talking about how to stop sex crimes against children isn't on for some criminals.

From now on hopefully they'll have paid moderation but also the night watchers need to just call 999. Also just normal MNetters. They shouldn't stay up, it's exposing potentially large numbers of people to the images. The images are a crime and should be immediately reported to police - hopefully by lots of women which should help put pressure on for an appropriate response.

Is the ability to post pictures yet disabled? That seems a pretty basic first step.

I'm unimpressed by MN calling this 'trolling' in the site stuff thread - nope it's not trolling, it's a criminal act.

Maaate · 04/02/2025 10:06

Is the ability to post pictures yet disabled? That seems a pretty basic first step.

It is now for most users but that took well into yesterday to be done and even then they hadn't removed the ability from app users (don't know if that's been done yet?)

themostspecialelfintheworkshop · 04/02/2025 10:12

Maaate · 04/02/2025 10:06

Is the ability to post pictures yet disabled? That seems a pretty basic first step.

It is now for most users but that took well into yesterday to be done and even then they hadn't removed the ability from app users (don't know if that's been done yet?)

Thanks, good to hear it's been done to some extent. Couldn't obviously see any statement from MNHQ about it. Let's hope they deal with this on the app asap too. They could just disable the app until it's done?

SerendipityJane · 04/02/2025 10:25

crowgift · 03/02/2025 22:50

I am really surprised that there isn't some kind of rudimentary filter (AI could easily deal with it) to stop such images. The images were being posted all over on different innocent looking threads.

Maybe the whole incident was an over zealous sales pitch from an "AI" company ? There's a lot of it about.

Personally, I really wouldn't trust "AI" with anything grown up. But that's experience. If I knew less I might be tempted.

Maaate · 04/02/2025 10:36

I just can't get past the fact that for 10 hours this place was pretty much a free for all. No mods on duty and reliant on volunteers who don't have any power to do anything.

Shocking lapse of security that I can't believe wasn't seen as something that needed addressing a long long time ago.

crowgift · 04/02/2025 11:21

@SerendipityJane highly unlikely and even the most rudimentary (non-AI) software could have prevented this.
Precisely because mumsnet is targeted so often (incels etc) I'm shocked at the lack of filters and moderation.
I remember the spamming of graphic dead body images a long time ago and thought something would have changed.

SerendipityJane · 04/02/2025 11:30

highly unlikely and even the most rudimentary (non-AI) software could have prevented this.

Not really. But, if you want to believe that, then you set it up, and give the night watch the night off.