To think there are a lot of nasty people on Mumsnet?

There are nasty people everywhere, OP. They're in all walks of life and on all areas of the internet.

They don't just miraculously find their way to one specific site.

Mumsnet has been around for many years, and for about the past two decades a variation on the theme of this thread has appeared with predictable regularity. It's no better or worse now than it was then.

Discussion-board style forums are almost universally mild, meek and positively namby-pamby compared with the live chat-rooms of old. You'd need asbestos steel body armour, a stomach and balls of steel to navigate some of the truly disturbed shit (and disturbed people) who used to kick off in those.

Mumsnet vipers? In comparison with the above, they're like a bunch of Mary Poppinses.

A lot of people on here act as if they are holier than thou. It really does my head in.
People can be so rude, unkind and abrupt. Even on threads where you'd think a little more compassion would be needed.
I can't think of much of a reason for it.. apart from maybe they feel like they don't need to be nice as it's over the internet and not as "real" as face to face.

There are some marvellous posters on here too.

I try to avoid the obvious troll posts or those who froth post under a new name.

There are certain words and phrases that will make me swerve a thread. I’m never sure if they are pure troll or have used other means to help compose their post(s) but once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

If you feel that something is breaching talk guidelines then report it.

There are clearly plenty of women on here being pretty nasty, but I suspect a disproportionate number of the bitchy replies are from men flexing their misogyny under cover.

haha - go back to Reddit then? Some of the subreddits I've seen are absolutely bloody atrocious, and i am not a fainting violet.

It is a site that is open to any-one and anonymous. Of course you will get a percentage of mean people but no higher than the percentage of bullies in a class.

Started a thread in Relationships and was trying to make some sort of sense of what happened to me. Some of the replies were unbelievably mean.

Given that I was mentally in a very bad way at the time, I was shocked that people could be so harsh.

MN has reactive modding. You can report all the nasty posts.

I've been online since the dawn of the internet age. There have always been twats. There have always been helpful people.
Netiquette used to be a thing.
This site does have rules, and it does have slightly different vibes depending where you post. AIBU and - i think? on some convos - S&B can be robust. Step-Parenting tends to have a lot of very polarised views and some really good advice inbetween them.

Chat can be patchy. etc etc.

It is very provocative to post this OP on AIBU because either you get robust (and sometimes screamingly hilarious) anwers and go "oh see, the vipers!" or you don't and it dies a death because you didn't get any bites.

Good point and another reason for them to be firmly discouraged, preferably banned.

My worry is always that it is NOT the poster in the photo.

Assuming to due to unhappiness with own life.

I also think a lot of people in here think their way is best and the only way. Insufferable.

You're not being exactly pleasant yourself here OP.

The "how old do I look?" threads are ridiculous and I have no idea what the OPs are hoping for, but they need to take some responsibility for being so daft as to do this. I don't comment on them (as far as I remember) but it is the Internet equivalent of putting yourself in the stocks.

YANBU.

Some people just enjoy dragging others down to feel better about themselves especially appearances.

Are you expected to simper and #bekind in real life?

I'm not.

@blackpanth yep, the rules for posting on here are very telling to the people who run its mindset imo

mumsnet is set up as a haven for women 40-70 and everything else outside of that falls to the wayside

This. I’ve seen really supportive ‘guess my age’ threads. The tone of it will really change the kind of replies you get. No one really likes a show off and some of them are clearly posting for people to tell them how amazing they are, and that kind of gets people’s backs up. I’ve seen one where she’s asking people to comment on her figure as she’s put on weight, and then posted 3 pics of her in a bikini, she looked like and instagram model and was clearly just fishing for attention. Those threads will never go well 🤷🏼‍♀️

I notice the bullies don't get banned. Its ridiculous.

This is about the only place where women aren't expected to 'be kind' and simper over each other so I'd rather that did not change if that's ok with you OP.

Yep. One poster this morning asked if a lady had a brain injury because she was holding a Harry Potter themed party for herself. Disgusting.

Tell me!

Attention seeking drivel!

Honestly, there is some nasty responses as there is all over the internet.

If someone posts a "Guess my age," thread, what are they looking to achieve from it? It's fairly predictable that some nasty posters will find the thread and make their predictably nasty comments. I would strongly advise against posting such threads or any pictures of yourself on here.

I think it's just the nature of the beast. If you're seeking genuine advice-avoid AIBU like the plague because many posters come on here for a bunfight and will say things just to get a reaction.

Although saying that those people who post asking for others to guess their age are twats in general so deserve some snark