Some people on here are ridiculously gullible

Are you really saying that people with no family, no friends, no car don’t exist? 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

It must be nice to live a life where that just doesn’t exist

I think we also have our own ideas of what's far fetched based on our personal experiences.
I have no trouble at all in believing some of the more bizarre accounts of human behaviour on here, the strange relationship dynamics and inexplicable things people do and have done to them. There are some unusual people out here.
What I never believe are the blatant political propaganda posts, or as someone described them propaganecdotes. The "The baby girls at my mother and baby group are all in hijabs" or "My sister claims £5k a month in benefits despite running marathons" nonsense. But i doubt anyone is so naive not to see what they're about, so people tend to join just to push the same agenda or to call it out.

Perhaps watch I Daniel Blake sometime?

Please give your head a wobble @CardboardScott .
Obviously we all have different experiences and I thought it was taken for granted that posters are giving their own opinion, not other people's.

I don't see your point either about MN being a business.Plenty of businesses also have worthwhile aims. I have always thought of MN as a place which was intended to offer advice and support. I go to MN to find out how other people live IRL.
If you want to read bad literature, Im sure there are plenty of other places to do that on the internet.
The reason I say that MN is downgraded if viewed as an entertainment site for fictional situations and problems is that people will then give farcical advice. Then the person with the real difficulty/dilemma will get treated to the same farcical advice and might even be vulnerable enough to take it.
For example, look at all the LTBs over minor problems.
This is just my personal opinion. And no, I'm not expecting MN to be a version of the BBC c 1950s!😂

Attention, dopamine hit I suppose.

I've posted threads with ideas I've thought about and been accused of trolling or trying to wind people up when in fact neither was true. I just wanted to discuss a different way of doing things. So while I'm sure some posts are fake/lying there aren't always.

I think that seems a very sensible approach.

I've learnt a lot of useful stuff on MN.
And I have read some genuinely hilarious threads on the site - threads that were intentionally designed to be funny and entertaining . These are generally in Chat or sometimes AIBU.
I don't read the Relationship board or other boards that are primarily meant for serious advice and discussion with a view to being entertained or have a laugh. Because although there are the fake threads there are a lot of posters with genuine problems on these boards and they deserve to be taken seriously.

I find the harmless ones quite entertaining but generally cba to read past the first few replies. It’s more the ingenuity of the OP that’s entertaining and it’s not nice watching people being taken in.

The ones that distress me are the political ones, by people who are blatantly either appointed or self-appointed to advance this or that political point on behalf of this or that country or party. They post the same thing (always follows a formula) once every few days. Always tugging on heart strings, always picking at what they consider “woke” people to believe in, always instantly out with threats and insults the second anyone challenges their OP. MN is being used for political
propaganda by people who have a vote, and has become a forum where people
give their compassion more freely than they deploy their critical thinking or analytical skills. what those OPs are after are not money or sympathy or attention, but posters’ votes. It’s serious stuff and makes MN no longer the space for a bit of harmless fun or serious advice that it’s previously been.

I have been a consultant psychiatrist for 30 years. I have met a few fantasists. I have heard far more ‘unrealistic’ true stories that would blow many people’s minds.

Presume you're talking about that you scary story one. Don't care I loved it. It's not compulsory to post or read any of the threads on here in fact it's not compulsory to be on Mumsnet, if you don't like it go somewhere else. 🫠

I agree. Some posters have pointed out that there's fake threads on here and people respond asking why they care, that they're entertaining etc.

I find them frustrating, I don't want to give my thoughts, time, concern and attention to fiction.

I'm dubious about a more and more that I online in general now. Especially here and on Facebook.

Yes I see loads that I'm pretty sure are men using AI to make up stupid stories and they sit back and watch the women give advice. It definitely comes in waves.

MN doesn’t have to be just used for one thing though.

I can read a thread for entertainment and view it like a soap opera, But that doesn't mean that if I choose to post I don’t give sensible, considered advice.

I don’t get overly invested or emotional about threads but I have used advice I’ve read here, bought products recommended, read books or articles linked to and learned a great about a variety of political and social viewpoints.

My favourite thing about MN is that it gives me access to the views/experiences and lives of people I would never ever meet in my day to day life, helps me to avoid echo chamber politics and thinking.

It can be both entertaining and supportive at the same time.

Agree. I nearly reported a thread I thought was nonsense. But I didn't bother.

I voted yabu because life can at time be stranger than fiction.

I agree the begging threads are a scam, but having worked with homeless people, it is very true that they often find themselves in that situation because they have no one.

My DS got himself in a terrible mess when he was away at University. He came home. I honestly don't know what would have happened to him if he hadn't been able to do that. His story was very similar to the homeless men I met. The only difference was he had someone to catch him when he fell. He'd had some friends but none who were going to stick around and offer the kind of support he needed at that time.

What examples do you have of fake posts?

Someone who does have similar issues might be real and the advice still helps if they read it?

You're not allowed to troll hunt, it'll get you banned?

It's funny?

If you disbelieved one thing why engage with any of it. Why believe a word anyone online says ever? Isn't it better to assume things are genuine but with a big pinch of salt?

The begging thread posters NEVER have friends or family, why is that? I'm sure most people, even the most unlikable ones, have at least one person they vaguely know who could bung them a tenner until payday. I sometimes wonder how much they make and if it's worth me starting a thread claiming to be skint ready for Christmas shopping.

A large part of what is posted on this site is utter bovine but entertaining all the same. .

This is true. So often people post “if this is all you have to worry about then your you’re lucky”.

Failing to realise that people can be desperately worried about a seriously ill family member and global warming at the same time as being annoyed that the same child gets star of the week every week in their child’s y1 class.

Engagement. There are compulsive liars IRL. As they say on MN "you can be who you want on here".

I posted about a personal issue recently under a different username and got reported for being fake. It was entirely true. We really should try to keep an open mind, and just because we can't imagine something happening doesn't mean it isn't.

Well yes I am reacting to your original comment. And from what you say here your comment was specifically made for that purpose.

If you had said that you do take some threads seriously and engage with them as such then of course my reaction to your post would have been different. But you chose to give the impression you thought the whole MN site was just entertainment. You were deliberately misleading just to try and score points off other pp and I don't think that is something to be proud of.