Trolls and nastyness

Ames

Right, I'm sticking my head above the parapet because I'm worried about how quickly these forums have been going downhill lately.

Several long term members have left and trolls are getting nastier and more numerous. It's also taking much longer for them to be caught and PPR'd. There was one on DT who openly admitted to trolling and having several AE's over a period of years.

There also seems to be an increase in hostility. It's everywhere - from constant benefit bashing on DT, to very judgemental and insulting people on DFW. I don't spend much time on other parts of the site, but I can't imagine it's just those two forums that are getting nastier.

I know a lot of people will say 'but that's what DT's about' or 'DFW is too huggy and needs to harden up', but it's getting beyond that now.

A lot of very respected posters were on the brink of leaving a few months ago but I can't see them staying much longer.

These forums are so great precisely because of the knowledge and experience of members who share that for free and little thanks. If that disappears then a great resource will be lost and a lot of people will be at the mercy of the banks, DCA's etc.

I don't have any quick fixes, but surely it can't be just me noticing this? Surely there's an answer out there somewhere?

BeenieCat

Good post.

In Niddy's case a lot of the trolling was via PM i think, no idea how that could be targeted because the very nature of his threads are going to upset DCA's and they want him gone.

He did say he reported certain people a LOT before anything got done... I've heard this a lot. Why does it take so long to get these people banned? Yes i know it's a busy forum etc but this abuse shouldn't be allowed to go on for so long Why can't bpard guides have more powers? Why does every other forum allow moderation, couldn't they also be sued? I don't get it.

Sunnylooloo

Well said Ames and BeenieCat.

Hope a solution is found, but it is sad that so many people hide behind their PC's and bully....

skint-student-nurse

i had a spell away from MSE as i was caught up in doing other things but in the 2-3 weeks or so since ive been back on here, i have just found it really hard to comprehend the attitude of some posters. maybe MSE can block the ISP numbers of serial trolls?

Ames

I think one of the problems with Niddy was people using a very similar username (capitals in different places) to PM people. They were pretending to be him and were being particularly vile. Now surely that's something that can easily be dealt with by making usernames case insensitive?

fantasia322

Ames wrote: »

Right, I'm sticking my head above the parapet because I'm worried about how quickly these forums have been going downhill lately.

Several long term members have left and trolls are getting nastier and more numerous. It's also taking much longer for them to be caught and PPR'd. There was one on DT who openly admitted to trolling and having several AE's over a period of years.

There also seems to be an increase in hostility. It's everywhere - from constant benefit bashing on DT, to very judgemental and insulting people on DFW. I don't spend much time on other parts of the site, but I can't imagine it's just those two forums that are getting nastier.

I know a lot of people will say 'but that's what DT's about' or 'DFW is too huggy and needs to harden up', but it's getting beyond that now.

A lot of very respected posters were on the brink of leaving a few months ago but I can't see them staying much longer.

These forums are so great precisely because of the knowledge and experience of members who share that for free and little thanks. If that disappears then a great resource will be lost and a lot of people will be at the mercy of the banks, DCA's etc.

I don't have any quick fixes, but surely it can't be just me noticing this? Surely there's an answer out there somewhere?

Nail on the head springs to mind on reading this. Ok this place is unmoderated and there is several bits in various places about treating people with respect and dignity etc., but it isnt happening.
Board guides have limited powers, and this place seems to have its own forum police from what I've read, people who take it upon themselves to take exception to what other people have to say and get rather verbal with their keyboards to the point of being vitriolic.
Other forums have mods, maybe MSE is too big, I dont know, but at what point is it acceptable to have someone driven out because of trolls and their carp. Board guides do a good job from what I can see, but they simply cant be here all the time. The incident that prompted this has foreseen a sad loss to some of the users of MSE.
Its not fair, its not right and it downright, should'nt be allowed

pippitypip_2

Thanks for starting this thread Ames. I do think it seems to take too long for trolls to be banned and yes I read that a lot of abuse went to NID by PM.

I'm sure there are certain restrictions that could be fairly imposed on newbies to help:

not being able to PM until 30 posts maybe
If 2 separate posts have been reported as abuse, (and validated as such) immediate ban
Great idea about banning ISPs from skint student nurse!

I can't think of anything else at the moment but it's not just regulars that get p'd off, if I were a newbie now it would put me off a lot too and so discourages new people from getting help.

Hopefully we can use this thread to make MSE a better place again. Sadly a little too (unpleasantly) representative of the real world at the moment

pippitypip

UnderPressure

Well I think it has all been said very well in this thread already, I am still quite new hear so dont want to appear to have too much of an opinion just yet........

I would like to add though that the "legal" problem with moderation is quite frankly a lame excuse, MSE is a big community but nowhere near the biggest and all the others have STRICT moderation that is how you keep a community this size in check, the legal thing is a lame way of saving money I think anyhow............................

On a side note "most" mods offer their times freely so finances need not come into it.

Apart from this I would just like to say +1

Butti

Can we have a response from the Ivory Towers of why they can't just remove and ban the relevant ISPs, and why it is taking them SO SO long to abuse reports.

B

poorly_scammo

pippitypip wrote: »

If 2 separate posts have been reported as abuse, (and validated as such) immediate ban

Don't know about the NID thing but the problem with banning all posters if the above occurs is that some people are reported as part of a vendetta to get rid of them and if the above was introduced then those eejits who took particular exception to someone would have even more power to get rid of people.

mandi

Hi

One of the reasons for the " benefit bashing" in DT is simply because the threads are posted in the benefit section , not asking for advice so are moved to DT.

If this thread IS read by the mods . PLEASE please please can we have a benefit sub section just for chat .

I would also say that I have been a member of MSE since 2004 , have never wanted to leave , simply because I can choose what I read & post on including troll threads