Has anyone on here ever made you cry?

I came back here after a long break and it's got a million percent meaner! - and more MORAL. I particularly smh at the inevitable "why have you allowed this to happen to you?" to posters in need... There are people who just use nastiness to strangers on here as an outlet for whatever unrelated poison they've built up over the day.

Well that's the sort of example I'm talking about when I say most posters are idiots. I'm often the outlier on a thread and this is why!!!

Not cried but things have played on my mind.
Someone told me i was a bit wet when i was trying to emd a toxic and emotionally abusive 5 year relationship. It really really affected my already tiny bit of confidence i had remaning

Not cry but angry, yes.

My son is disabled and I've had some awful comments about him on here.

That's just awful,sorry you went through that. Why was it wrong to drive yourself?

Have a think about what? It's not unusual not to cry at stuff you read on MN. I have empathy and think it's sad but nothing I read on the Internet moves me to tears.

You have to remember that your biggest mistake is assuming people who are abusive on here are on the same level of intelligence.

Often, they are just painfully stupid. Practice saying "you poor thing" in your head before you mentally draft a reply, it helps.

No, I feel too sorry for the very bitter and frankly disturbed posters who are so aggressive. To be so violent, they must be so ugly and lonely, it's disturbing to imagine them gathering so much bile and only finding MN to spill it out because they are so meek in real life.

What made me laugh however, is when faced with some truly nasty posters, I made an equally nasty but sarcastic answer to their post, and the shock and outrage they express faced to their level. Its' quite funny, and they don't get it.

Not made me cry but the only thread that ever upset me was one where I spoke about my DP's struggles in public loos as a masculine presenting woman. So many people accused me of hiding the fact that she was trans, and it made me so upset, because 1) I wouldn't ever date a transwoman 2)transwomen tend to present as feminine and that's so far removed from anything I was asking and 3) I really did think, on a feminist-informed board, that I would have helpful replies and people on here were accepting of lesbianism and that women don't have to be 'skirt and high heels' to be of value and be female.

I did have some helpful replies of course, but the vitriol was something I hadn't experienced on here.

I wouldn’t say I have ever cried but I have been upset
on a couple of occasions when I bad 6 or 8 people ganging up on me and name calling. I’m all for debate - I enjoy it - but only when they disagree by posting facts and evidence, not when their response is to tell me I’m ‘full of shit’.

Somebody did actually make me cry with laughter though. They told me I knew nothing about autism and it was down to idiots like me spreading misinformation on autism. I took great delight in telling them that I am autistic!

I cried following responses to a thread I made. My dad had recently passed away and there were circumstances around the funeral so I asked- how bad would it be if I drove myself to the funeral?
The vitriol against my question was savage.
It was an un wise decision to post but at the time I couldn’t get an un biased opinion.

In real life yes. On here, no. Sadly many posters are trolls, I've seen so many on here over the years, that's it's sensible to not get that involved in someone's online life. There was a man posting about his dying wife over a long period of time and it turned out to be made up nonsense.

None of that means I don't feel empathy, and sadness, for posters, but I'd never get invested enough in the life of someone online I don't know (and who might not actually exist) to cry.

Never due to nastiness, and I’ve had a few thread go off in the wrong direction, but I have cried a few times over the last 20ish years here.

Sometimes replying to posts about losing or missing a parent.

Some made me cry as posters were very kind when my dog was in vet hospital and then we had to let him go while under GA without a chance to say goodbye.

Yes, I cried at the responses I got to my first post

I was upset because I’d had a traumatic birth and my (useless) partner at the time left the hospital asap. I was really laughed at and ridiculed, “what did you want him to do, watch you sleep 😂” was the one that sticks out. I wanted him to make sure I was ok, to have some vague care or concern after hours of hell. Apparently that made me pretty pathetic

for context I was 19, looking back I was a kid. Having adult women pile on me like that was the last thing I needed. For those saying it never used to be this bad this was 16 years ago

I’ll never understand pile ons or being spiteful when someone needs support, you’d have to be a solid gold piece of shit to kick anyone when they’re down

What others think of you is none of your business

Someone very wise told me that years ago, and its changed how I feel about unkindness directed towards me.

I think it's easy enough to avoid (and report) the very obviously nasty posters. But there are some on Mumsnet who seem to be just about polite enough but know how to get to someones weak spot, like a PP said questioning their parenting ability at a time when they already felt vulnerable about it.
I do find Mumsnet unusual in that over time, most moderated places online that I see have become stricter about online bullying or things like racism, whereas Mumsnet seems to tolerate it more. I don't know if that's intentional or just because of the size of the site/number of moderators.

And the worst part about it, was that I was then blocked from the site. I can only guess it's because the mods listened to some people saying it was a fake sob story. No email no nothing I thought it was an accident so after a while when I wanted to come back on the site I just used a different email address and joined. Now randomly I get blocked for "the previous blocking" ie I'm a troll or something. I don't care if someone reports this or mumsnet picks this up and blocks me again because frankly, apart from the few lovely kind people on this site the atmosphere is toxic and at times the staff are no better.

I dont know why people dont just ignore these types though?

These people are nothing to you. I dont even notice posters names, I could be responding to myself for all I know!!

I had to stop responding to someone today on another thread because they were talking utter shite, I just stop responding, takes away their oxygen.

I decided to take a break from MN because I didn't like the person those nasty posters had turned me into - being argumentative and sarcastic.
Then I thought, that's silly, it's down to me to rise above things and be less sensitive.
It is a big of a vipers' nest here sometimes though..

Not cried but I have actually thought what on earth am I doing conversing with complete strangers on the internet. Especially when they then come for you so ferociously and quickly with a personal attack when all you were discussing was Dairylea or something.

I compare it to when you’re walking through town and there’s a drunk scary woman with no teeth screaming at passers by. I wouldn’t care what she said to me and if I choose to stop get into a debate with her then more fool me.

Yes, when some poster said I was an unfit mother who shouldn't have had kids. This was because an ex had commented to me that my kids were my life/wanted to see me more. I posted because I couldn't balance the two. I got a real battering. The reality was id left a truly abusive relationship years earlier with two babies, only dated years later. I had family as childcare, and my partner never stayed over. But just the fact that I was trying to please everyone made a poster make some horrible comments.

I wrote a post similar to this a few weeks back. As I was so shocked with all the spiteful, shaming comments I was reading on posts. However of course I had a line of warriors sat on their sofas ready to call me everything for creating such a post, so of course I deleted it.
Social media really is toxic at the best of times.

No. Sometimes people are nasty but they don't even know me and if we did know each other, I doubt I'd like them, so their opinions really aren't worth shit to me anyway.

As for sad stories, again, a lot of them aren't real. They're made up clickbait or trolls. Don't get emotionally invested.

Had the same when posting about an elderly parent on the Dementia board.

One Poster was an absolute bully, never went back to my own thread and probably will never start another, some
posters love to kick people when they are struggling.

I'm starting to get less polite and stand up for myself on social media. Why should I be the bigger person when it just leaves me feeling too nice and weak. I grow colder the older I get