Why is an obvious troll being permitted to disrupt the Consumer Rights board today? (29 October 2022

Manxman_in_exile

[Redacted by Forum Team] has singlehandedly managed to get (at least) two threads shut down today and is causing havoc by posting nonsense.

I'm sure they must have been reported because the threads have been closed, but why isn't more urgent and effective action being taken?

Pollycat

Maybe because it's the weekend...?

cymruchris

I've refrained from making any comments about the said user - as no doubt I'd be reported for trying to constructively tell them to improve their postings and to be less abrasive. I imagine the people that can 'push the button' are only around on weekdays - which could suggest that they may need to have rotational cover on weekends to manage such challenges.

MattMattMattUK

I would view it as serious flaw in moderation if a troll can have free reign from 15:00 on a Friday and continue to be incredibly disruptive for the whole weekend. This creates a further issue as the troll is no doubt aware of this,  so there is nothing to stop them creating a new account every Friday afternoon and repeating the same disruptive behaviour. 

shiraz99

Eight closed threads and counting. I imagine the OPs who created those threads must be extremely frustrated.

Pollycat

shiraz99 said:

Eight closed threads and counting. I imagine the OPs who created those threads must be extremely frustrated.

If the mods don't work over the weekend (and I don't know that for sure - was just speculating) who is closing these threads?

Has anyone actually reported the user rather than marking his/her posts as 'spam'?
TBH, I've not taken much notice of the threads in question.

MattMattMattUK

As far as I am aware the mods do not work, but Forum Ambassadors are often around at weekends and they are able to close individual threads, but not block/ban users. I imagine an Ambassador has been attempting to fire fight over the weekend, unfortunately with limited success due to the relentless posting of the troll and the issue being as soon as they manage to get one thread closed down they immediately start trolling several more.

Yes I and I am sure others, from their comments, have reported the troll, I notice that some of their posts have been auto-deleted due to reaching the spam flag threshold, unfortunately that does not stop them posting again.

cymruchris

On a positive note - the named user appears for whatever reason to no longer be with us. (At least under that username) 

So someone somewhere has pushed the button today - but as outlined, I wonder what's in place to prevent a repetition every weekend going forwards?

MSE_JC

Hi all,

Thank you for the feedback. As mentioned in our FAQs, the Forum Team works Monday to Friday, 9 to 5. Outside of these hours, there are measures in place to minimise the impact of any abusive, disruptive or otherwise rule breaking behaviour.

This includes (but is not limited to) the Spam button that some of you have already mentioned, and the Ignore function. Our Forum Ambassadors are also able to close threads if they believe it is necessary. All of our measures are regularly reviewed to make sure the Forum remains a safe and friendly space while allowing Forumites the freedom to discuss MoneySaving matters.

At present, we're looking at rolling out even more powerful under-the-hood functions to further reduce unpleasant conduct regardless of the day or time. In the meantime, we'd like to thank our users for continuing to use our Report and Spam buttons as required when they see inappropriate posts.

(As a quick side note, we've redacted a username that appeared at the start of this thread. While we appreciate feedback, we ask that you refrain from publicly discussing moderation issues involving specific individual users.)

Thanks,

MSE JC