Some people on here are ridiculously gullible

Agree. It always amazes me to see genuinely empathetic replies to a clearly invented OP.

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I don't mean to be snarky but sometimes people are a bit superior about their amazing troll spotting abilities

Yes. Smug posts like the OP’s make me cringe. Thinking she has special skills whilst the plebs all flounder in their gullibility. Literally every thread here could be fiction, yet I am sure she laps other posts up in their entirety.

Yes, I agree.

Ive responded to people I largely suspect were trolls because I was bored at the time, laid up from an operation, and fancied participating in a lively discussion.

I am not going to be losing any sleep at night because the scenario might be fake and I dont need your pity OP 🤣

Ive also been sometimes accused of being "angry" or "dramatic" about things ive posted in a completely calm manner so I suspect people arent actually that good at reading intentions online either!

some threads are obviously goady (98% of the time a dig at working mums). I think its worth calling those out for what they are, for the benefit of new mums, showing them that this is not what most people think.

Lol. This thread reminds me of one on Next Door when someone did a big strop and said they were leaving because it was all fake. First response was something like " Wait what are all those cats not lost? And what about the ones that are found?" Made me spit my tea out laughing.
I used to love Nextdoor, this fella posted about his cat being lazy and asked people, on the Internet, to condemn the cat! The responses were hilarious, fella also made the mistake of posting a picture of the cat.
Ive no idea if any or all of the posts on social media are made up but many are highly enjoyable.

I agree with this.
I doubt many people who respond give it much thought outside of their time on MN. People are responding for their own entertainment. They aren't going above and beyond to help people or worrying about them. It's just online chat to pass some time. It doesn't matter if it is true or not.

I've been here since my dc were little - some 20 years ago. MN has definitely changed from the informative and helpful forum it used to be.

Some threads these days are down right ridiculous but I suppose that's simply a reflection on modern life, many other platforms seem to attract the worst kind of people who must have so much time on their hands - I truly wish I had that much time to play at being silly buggers.

I couldn't agree more. There's a particularly ridiculous one trending at the moment.
It isn't entertaining or helpful.
I find it overall embarrassing and it downgrades the MN experience. OK, people need to 'self sooth' but surely there are better ways of doing that.

Its not always self soothing though- some of us just like arguing 🤭🤣

The stock responses get me. You know - overbearing MIL, horrible holiday companion, bad husband/partner, etc.

Just say no
LTB
Go to GP
That's NOT for A+E, die first
Get your ducks in a row
Get your paperwork
And so on....

At this stage most of us could write the responses to certain scenarios by now.

I don't see any digs at working mums. I see the digs at MILs.

💯.
I've been here around 13 years and there's a vast difference in this place from then to now. And not always for the better.

This is a good summary.

The House Keeper and the dentist saga.......that had to be a piss take.

I first came to MN when I was struggling to toilet train DS2, so more than 20 years ago. It was very helpful to me then, but even then there was a level of spitefulness.

No I didn’t miss the point. You didn’t mention that you will also be earnestly replying to some fictitious posts. You suggested that it was others being oh so gullible and should question what they read. You will have been taken in too.

Unlike you, I don’t care if posts are made up, anyway. I reply and enjoy the bigger discussion.

Do you mean you think the whole of MN is just for fun?

Because I strongly take issue with that, especially having seen 2 threads in the night where the OP's are clearly suicidal. And some of the threads, particularly involving OP's dealing with DC's with extremely challenging physical and mental conditions,are truly heartbreaking.

I think some threads, definitely in increasing numbers, are quite clearly from early on are made up. With others it only becomes apparent after a few pages of replies . They infuriate me because the OPs are making fools of those who take time to offer support and advice. But more importantly they do such a disservice to genuine OPs because it's encouraging pps to treat genuine threads as though they are fakes and the attitude of some pp is really very poor because they are scathing and unsupportive of the OP just because they assume, without any concrete reason, that the thread is made up.

I remember this one where this woman had this awful argument with her husband who had been unfaithful and she was hysterical sitting on the floor of her bedroom while the guy was banging on the door. I was gobsmacked people were believing it! She was posting regularly, her spelling and use of paragraphs was the best I´ve seen on here, for someone who was "hysterically crying" it was a master class. It was a right novel! I still remember when I had a small car accident and messaged my husband, reread it later, full of typos and not my usual style, I was high on adrenaline and it showed! I wanted to comment, but with all this troll hunting bans I just let it go.

I know what you mean. But I also know there are things that have happened to me or in my life and I've never told anyone, even when I could have done with support because I thought no one in their right mind would believe it. And, if I'm honest, if it had happened to someone else and they'd told me, I'm not sure I'd have believed them either.

And, if I told you all of them, you'd assume I was a complete fantasist because those things couldn't possibly have happened to one person. Or that I must have had a part to play in them because no one could be that unlucky, so many times, with so many different people.

Some stories on here are obviously made up but some people are just really unlucky!

I would point you all to what Abraham Lincoln said in 1850 - "Not everything you read on the Internet is true".

Many people read stuff they want to and share it if it confirms their belief.
John Cleese has reposted a lot of stuff that is fake, misinformation etc but he wants to believe. A lot of it is at Diane Abbot, Lenny Henry, Trump,,Putin and Islam

He reads the posts, and requotes it and shares, even though it is fake or misinformation

It's confirmation bias

😂

“downgrades the MN experience”???

But your experience and my experience and the OP’s experience of MN, views on MN and usage of MN will all be entirely different.

MN isn’t a noble public service, it’s a business the purpose of which is to make money for the owners.

Now, it might also provide entertainment, or consumer advice or information or solace or wisdom or a place for political activism but those are side benefits.

And yes, I agree there are no doubt better or healthier ways to self soothe, but this one is free, accessible 24/7 and (mostly) safe.