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Mumsnet's Talk Guidelines

Mumsnet Talk is an open forum. Our policy is to keep intervention to a minimum and let the conversation flow but in keeping with our mission to make parents' lives easier, where necessary, we will use our discretion to delete posts (or ban posters).

We do have a few forum rules to make sure we keep Talk a good place to hang out:

  • No personal attacks

  • No posts that break the law, including hate speech of any kind

  • No trolling, misleading or deliberately inflammatory behaviour

  • No trollhunting

  • No spamming

  • No multiple accounts

You can report any of the above to us using the report button below each post.

General Ps and Qs

We'd appreciate it if you could use the same courtesy when posting messages on Talk as you would use when speaking to someone face to face. Please do bear in mind how difficult this parenting business can be, and if there's one thing all of us could do with, it's some moral support.

As we mentioned, we like to let the conversation flow so we don't have too many hard and fast rules. This means our mods often make difficult decisions based on context, tone and circumstance - please respect their decisions and treat them civilly.

Post deletions

We'll remove posts we consider to contain personal attacks, to break the law and/or to be obscene, racist, sexist, disablist, ageist, homophobic or transphobic, once they are brought to our attention. We will also delete any posts that we think are just seriously unpleasant (please note that any subsequent posts repeating the words in the deleted post may be removed also).

If a whole thread is deleted, please don't start a new one repeating and/or rehashing everything. Most Mumsnetters consider that to be very bad manners - and, of course, it's highly likely that the new thread will be deleted, too.

Swearwords and offensive language

It's not our policy to delete swearwords (we're all adults, after all) but we do draw the line at obscenity, racist, ageist, disablist, homophobic or transphobic language, and wording that is truly grim.

Posting links and spamming

We have no problem with people posting the odd link to other sites/blogs that other posters might find useful or interesting. But we'll delete anyone's attempts to spam the boards with links, as a way of promoting their own product, services, survey or e-petition, as it annoys our members.

If you'd like to know more about promoting your product on Mumsnet, please read about our advertising opportunities. If you'd like folks to know about an e-petition, you can post on our Petitions Noticeboard. Non-members looking for MN users' input can post on our Non-member requests board for a £30 fee.

We don't allow ad blocking software. Mumsnet is free to use and funded by advertising, if you’re using ad blockers you’re free riding on the back of other users.

We only allow fundraising for registered charities to be promoted on our Talk boards - and these threads should be posted on the charities noticeboard. This is in the interest of protecting our users as we aren't able to vouch for or endorse individuals running crowdfunding campaigns or anything along those lines.

Thread deletions and editing your posts

We don't generally delete whole threads; it's frustrating for those who've taken the time to write responses to see them removed. That said, we're here to make people's lives easier, so if you have a pressing reason for wanting a thread you started to be deleted, please report it to us and we'll take a look.

If you’ve spotted a typo after you’ve posted, you’ll have a short period of time to edit the contents of your message. You should only edit a post where you’ve made a mistake. Changing the context of your post using the edit feature is not allowed and may result in your thread or post being removed completely. If you notice that someone has edited their post to change its context, you can report it to us using the report button on the post in question.

Trolls and troublemakers

As we hope you've already found out, the vast majority of Mumsnet discussions are genuinely informative, supportive and friendly (even when we all disagree) but, from time to time, we are visited by trolls, for whom friendly supportive chat is definitely not on the agenda.

If you suspect someone of being a troll, please don't trollhunt (accuse them publicly on the discussion thread). If you're wrong, you could cause untold hurt; if you're right, you'll merely be giving them the kind of attention they're after.

Instead, report your suspicions to us and we'll check them out.

Please bear in mind that we'd rather err on the side of being taken in, than to accuse a genuine poster who's in need of support of being a troll. For more on this, do have a read of our separate policy on trolls and troublemakers.

A note about disclosures of abuse

We urge all our members to point anyone disclosing abuse to the appropriate authorities and/or seek professional support and advice in real life. We have a directory of suitable organisations here. We may also, where appropriate, post on the relevant discussion thread and link to these resources ourselves.

As we set out in our privacy policy, we do not, as a rule, pass on any of the information you have registered with us, unless you specifically consent to us doing so or we are specifically required to by law. However, on rare occasions where there appears to be a clear need to safeguard the welfare of a Mumsnetter and/or his/her family, it may be necessary to contact relevant authorities about a clearly identifiable member and his/her posts on Mumsnet.

A note about sex and gender

Our statement on the moderation of sex and gender discussions is here.