"This could be outing"

I've tried ChatGPT with a few usernames. It has invented quotes that don't exist, said I started threads I didn't start and attributed quotes to me that belong to someone else. I can't stand it. This is our future. People pour garbage into this, get garbage back out and think they've won the argument.

Just did the ChatGPT thing...apparently I talk a lot about my favourite curries from supermarkets near me. Is that too outing 😥

I had someone comment on my style of posting and they said they knew who I was (am?).

Not in real life or anything interesting, they thought I was another poster. Another poster that was clearly far more interesting than me to make an impression.

I keep meaning to change my username because I'm just a blabbermouth. I don't really care to be honest.

I've been recognised on here before. I am now more careful about what I post and name change regularly.

Then surely someone will do a search on your posts and tell you you’re lying because e.g. two years ago you said you had twin boys and your husband works in finance but now you’re telling us that you’ve never married and have three daughters

This is what I do. I like to mix in some innocuous red herrings here and there, just in case someone I know starts thinking they recognise me 😂

I’m sure there’s thousands of streets that look similar to my street, but there wouldn’t be thousands of similar looking streets where the person in house A is also having a parking dispute with the neighbour in house B.

Plus, if they haven’t name changed for the thread with the diagram, there’s the whole advanced search thing. People share all sorts of personal information over multiple threads. The town they live in, the number and ages of their DC, their jobs, their ages, health conditions, DP’s jobs, pets, even DC’s names on baby name threads, and so on and so on.

You can ask the mods to delete a thread and they sometimes agree, but they are not obliged to. You have already consented to them keeping your posts forever.

Sometimes it is very important to avoid being identified and people worry for good reason. A diagram of your street plus the fact that you are allergic to cigarette smoke could identify you to anyone who knows you well. Or you quote a neighbour's unusual catch phrase in your thread.

I always find it a bit irritating when people say they have a ‘hobby that is outing’ and then I get derailed wondering if it’s naked paint balling or extreme Himalayan ironing.

But in general, I think it is possible to recognised because MN does post popular threads on its social media pages and if a person has given a lot of personal detail, it’s defo possible.

I’m a frequent name changer but also, I just don’t post a lot of personal detail. I have a complicated family and it’s possible some of them could be on here - it’s just smarter that no one makes the connection.

Interesting thread! Is there a reason why we can’t delete all out posts, if we wanted to? Or is there actually a way to do that?

I’ve just asked ChatGPT if two of my old user names and a third random user name were likely the same person. It’s compared all three including odd bits of information shared and the writing styles etc and has correctly suggested that two of my names are likely the same person and but the third is quite unlikely. Was also quite scary how much info it pulled from my two user names about my family, work history, life path etc. Someone who knew me could definitely work out that was me and I change user name regularly so I can post fairly freely. I know I’ve been identified by a friend on here before.

A previous poster mentioned about putting a mumsnet username into ChatGPT and it came back with loads of stuff. I just put one of my old names in and so much came up including their view on my personality, was very interesting !!

My ex husbands affair partner found me on here and used the PM facility to bully me when my marriage collapsed.

I’ve spotted two people I know on here. One is a close friend and we were having babies at the same time. Her tone/written style is quite distinctive! I never mentioned it because I didn’t want to embarrass her.

The second was my SIL. She posted some specific details about her life/our family which could have only been her. She then went to post some VERY personal stuff - things about her health/life choices she’d never want me to know. Again, I haven’t mentioned it to her or anyone else, but it’s quite weird I recognised her.

I know my sister and niece are on here and I’ve posted some fairly personal stuff they could probably recognise, not about them. I name change fairly regularly! They are also both smart enough to search around and compare posts too.

I've seen so many posters say "I've recognised people and it's so funny what they've changed"... well how do you know it's them, then??

I've never had a real life conversation involving Mumsnet so if you know me you'll think I don't post.

How are you so sure about everyone you know? That really doesn't sound like something anyone could possibly know

Although I think I recognised someone on here, there is no way of checking without asking the person involved.

I do wonder if some of the people are incorrectly identifying people. We don’t know which bits a poster has embellished or changed and yes there are some very specific threads but there are an awful lot that are reasonably generic and probably could enable multiple recognitions with different outcomes

I've seen several posters who could be me but they're not.

I recognised my sister once, but can't remember her username, nor did I bother to see what else she had posted, if I a) knew how to do it and b) didn’t have a life outside MN.

I think I’ve spotted my NDN on here. It was just a few things she mentioned in a couple of posts. But, i dunno.

I think people are right to be cautious. They shouldn't post anything they feel uncomfortable about.