Some people on here are ridiculously gullible

Yes, I've had a couple of threads where peolle have been all "gotcha" and believed they were fiction when they weren't. Of course people chnage a few details, but that doesn't mean it's not true.

I think this is why troll hunting or doubting the veracity of the thread can get you deleted. It would be upsetting to have a predicament so awful people couldn't think it was real, for instance.

But sometimes you do see posters leaning in and fuelling what is obviously a made up thread and wonder why they are giving it fuel - though just as often I think what does it matter: if someone is so desperate for attention that they make up a thread, perhaps they really do need the attention!

My friend's birth mum was like that IRL. He's a triplet and she was so neglectful they were removed from her and put up for adoption.

To the contrary, some people have no concept of theory of mind and also no concept of the fact that not everyone's life is like theirs or that of their peers'.

I've had more than one thread where I've posted about a real situation and someone has told me I have made it up. It's quite disheartening to be honest. Sometimes those threads were quite lighthearted but other times they weren't and It's not nice being told you're lying when you are aware 100% that you're not.

On one such thread, I eventually posted (potentially quite outing!) photos to prove myself, I shouldn't feel that I have to do that.

Sure some threads are made up. But I suspect quite a lot of them that we might think are, are not.

I've not read all the posts on the thread but I am surprised at the number who seem to treat MN so lightly given the fact that for many women who don't have family, friends and a support system irl the site is a life line.

You have no idea of whether the majority of pp on this thread are men or women. You are assuming they are women. The pp I quoted specifically wanted us to know that he was a man enjoying using the site for his amusement. That doesnt mean to say other pp who express similar views are necessarily women.

I think this thread is pretty depressing and unpleasant and yet another reason for people with genuine problems NOT to bother starting a thread .

I think there is a creative writing course with a prize to the person who can achieve the most replies on MN.

I take posts at face value, I assume they were written in good faith and reply accordingly if it's something I am interested in or know something about. I don't get invested at all, if it's fake I have lost nothing, just a few minutes of my time that I had spare anyway. As pp said, its a form of entertainment, I have seen some great advice given on here, and had laughs along the way.

Clicks?

I'm so glad it's not just me who's noticing this more and more, and I find it helps to scan a thread before replying to see if the OP has returned. IME those on the more obvious ones rarely do, so it saves time

And if one vulnerable person is helped, does it matter how many troll posts there are?

Edited to add I agree with this too, @Vroomfondleswaistcoat, though it can be more a theory than a reality since the more sensible posters we see on here tend to avoid obviously made up threads

Exactly. The idea that you can tell whether some sequence of events has ever happened, with 100% accuracy, purely down to "what you reckon" is far more deluded than replying to a thread in case your reply is helpful to someone.

I don’t think people post about everyday things though unless something particularly out of the ordinary happens and then they need to talk about or ask advice about something pretty much once in a lifetime, no one is going to head to mumsnet to create a post to say today this pretty average thing happened.
Not saying I am gullible or believe everything I read but I do understand people are usually going through something quite outside of their comfort to have created a post about and discuss it.

Tbf, there are plenty of women saying the same and thats exactly what Mumsnet Classics is for!

@SkipperTheEyeChild agree ! are you referring to a recent thread? i was thinking that one late last night( hint...glass bottle) was fiction

That's what it comes down to.

I post brief comments as sometimes truth is stranger than fiction and real ot not i would say the same

But I dont get this intense long dramatic replies from epopl3 who take on whatever op as their own, and of course when they usually dramatically take the biased op side

This is a really well-put answer. That's exactly what it is like.

If I'm honest, I think if you factor in the reverses or the threads posted to scratch an itch about a friend who annoys them etc, very few are what they profess to be.

I knew this comment would make someone come frotthing to the comments section.

Perhaps it would come as a shock to you that I do also engage earnestly with many of the threads on here - it's reactionary people like you that make for the entertainment though.

How am I to take posts seriously when they're titled "Can I afford DC 3 when I only have 5k left over after paying bills & mortgage"?

It's a chat forum for entertainment.

Yes it can have a serious side and sometimes the support given to posters in genuine difficult situations is really wonderful to see.

However, a lot is for entertainment and a bit of gossip. I don't like the obviously ridiculous posters but I do quite enjoy a group gossip and a bit of opinion sharing.

Obviously some of it is bollocks. As are some of the replies. But the wider discussion can be interesting. And honestly I am fascinated by a few of the posters on here. Some of them are so belligerent, deluded and out of touch. I often scan through a thread and see a username pop up and find myself wondering what their lives are like, if they have any friends etc. Or if they hide the darkness in their souls in real life.

You can never really know what's true and what's made up. Some things that seem too incredible are probably true, and probably a lot of meh threads are completely fabricated.

A nice little drama with themselves in the middle of it. Attention.

Typical man thinking a woman centred forum is just there to provide him with entertainment.
After all women aren't important enough to be taken seriously are they?

I’m sure there are tons of fake threads but I wouldn’t know which ones necessarily are fake. Hopefully most of the ones about truly awful men that women put up with. Though I know a lot of intelligent women in real life who have stayed with abusive cheaters, so not really unbelievable.

Hopefully all the “I make 6 figures and send all my kids to private school but income tax is soooo unfair” are false, but I do know people who are genuinely that oblivious and selfish so also not unbelievable.

At the moment most things in real life are less believable than mumsnet (eg. Trump being president of the US, educated people genuinely unsure if men can change sex through the power of imagination and blusher, etc..) so it’s difficult to tell anymore.

OMG, yes. I think it was a different one but I remember that too.
Didn't she drive to pick her stuff up from the marital home, load the car, drive the car, do live MN updates (whilst driving said car) go to the airport and arrive back in the UK on a long haul.flight all in the space of about three hours?

While multiple posters didn't even try to hide the fact they were treating it like an episode of Eastenders. Then IIRC civil war broke out in the thread over who was rooting for the OP and supporting them more.

This is exactly how I see it.

It's the discussion of the issue I am drawn to. Not the original story that prompted it- I dont care if thats real or not.

The UK is guillable which explains Daily Mail circulation numbers.