Vipers' nest? Come counter our hissy rep with your stories of Mumsnet Niceness

All the people who talked to me calmly and kindly when my mum became ill and couldn't eat - CMOT told me of sip feeds, which kept her going and gave her pleasure.

All the people who were wonderful and kind when mum died, and then my brother died, and then my dd (then 10) went off the rails emotionally.

All the people who helped with suggestions, information and support, when MIL became so demented and sFIL was behaving like an arse (still is) so no one cleaned her or fed her and she was living on biscuits and sherry.

I could go on - been here a while.

All the support and help, kindness and patience given freely to women (and sometimes men) whose partners are horribly abusive. Building up enough confidence for them to seek help, to help them see that they and their children are not worthless and of no value. I goes on and on and on; there are so many.

The bereavement threads, the emotional abuse support threads, the simple straightforward kindness that is on display here in spades if you just look a bit beyond AIBU.

MN has enhanced my life immeasurably, and I know I'm not alone in that.

The threads that stand out most for me are the ones that could not be linked or published- women suffering abuse who receive the support, advice and encouragement for as long as they need it.

Others that come to mind:
I remember the ectopic pregnancy one.

The one where the OP had to look after an exclusively bf baby unexpectedly- it was late at night, her own children were in bedand she had no bottles/formula etc and no one she could call on. There was loads of advice and suggestions, but also offers of help.

A thread where the OP was typing incoherently and seemed to be in a bad way- I don't remember what happened in the end, it may even have been a troll. But people responded with great concern and compassion.

I've seen a lot of threads about unexpected pregnancies where the op is given reassurance that things will be ok in the end, whatever they decide.

In general MN is place that makes me laugh / angry / happy / sad in equal measure, it also reminds me that I'm only human and that I'm not alone...!

Recently I discovered a support thread about chronic fatigue, having been diagnosed with a really rare type of anemia and bone farrow failure, this thread gave me a chance to say all the things I haven't been able to say aloud and for that I am truly grateful.

The lovely, knowledgeable MN'ers who made me see there was something amiss with DS's development when every health-care professional I saw was fobbing me off - and who pointed me in the direction of the intervention which would help him (ABA).
DS is now 6, happily integarted in MS school with good friends and doing great academically. I can state categorically this would not be the case without the advice and guidance these women gave me at a crucial time. If any of them are reading this - Peachy, saintly, pagwatch, moondog and others - I'd like them to know what they did and how much I owe them.

"The reality is though, if we were all 'vipers' ready to shred people to bits all the time, MN wouldn't be so successful anyway."

this^^

who goes onto a site to simply get annihilated?

The thing is the help you get from MN isn't always present just in one thread.

It's reading other people stories that have made a huge difference to me when the dcs were little. I learnt about all sort of different approach on parenting (including attachment parenting and AK that I had never heard about before). I might not have posted on these threads at the time or asked a specific question but they helped A LOT.

In the same way I learnt about autism and asperger (both of which I then realized apply to my ds and my DH) and this had been a life saver.

The reality is though, if we were all 'vipers' ready to shred people to bits all the time, MN wouldn't be so successful anyway.

you know how people 'google' things for answers,

well in this house we 'mumsnet it' dh and (grown) kids frequently say "ask mumsnet - they'll know"

You're always there to tell me my boss is a twat - which is most appreciated

All the amazing kindness mentioned above and also the HUMOR.

We all need to laugh, it's so good for one & I have laughed until needing a Tena Lady on here.

A poster had a pregnant cat turn up at her house. She took it in and it had kittens in her cupboard. She couldn't afford the vets bills so we had a whip round and sent Supermarket vouchers so she could use the food money to pay the vet.

It's funny. I've always see MN as a nice place to go for support and advice. There are, of course, the bitchiness, like there is in RL. However, social media loves a "nasty" story to bring in readership. There's nothing interesting about MNetters out there being an online advocate, friend, knitting blankets, bereavement support, doing charity work etc.

So even though some people have a negative view of MN, the good definitely outweighs the bad.

I rememer asking about cooking

i couldnt cook for shit, and was asking about it - and mumsnetters started sending me cooking books!! i still have them - and would use them if my cooker were not broken

a mumsentter sent me a camera once - i think i mentioned that mine had bollocksed up and they sent it to me at no cost - just cos its a nice thing to do

DS1 goes to school by coach 12 miles away. My big worry was the snow, and had nightmares about getting marooned at school. A Mnetter who lives by his school and has an appropriate vehicle said she would pick him up and bring him home if need be. I didn't have to take her up on the offer but I would have, and it was such a relief to think she would have done it.

It would have been an interesting call to the school.

mn meets are also v, awesome and saved my sanity when i moved to a new part of the country

i got sent a parcel of coffee and chocolate from a couple of mumsnetters who knew i was down.

also, i have been at the recieving end of Xmas parcels when my kids were younger and i was skint

mumsnet literally saved xmas twice. so i try and do that for other mumsentter now i am in a position to.

a few months ago i had been on facebook and noticed that a friend of my daughters had lost her 11 week old puppy, he got out of her garden, then i came into mumsnet and on dog lost there was a poster whos daughter had found a puppy in halifax i managed to connect the two ladies and the puppy was my daughters friends so one lost pup and one distraught owner reunited only a small thing but shows the connection of mumsnet to the rest of the internet

LucindaE and her unstinting support for all the people suffering from Hyperemesis. She just starts another thread when the last one fills up. She checks in on everyone, giving great advice. Links to info on the drugs. And basically great support. I don't know what I would have done without her for my 10 weeks of HG. The woman deserves a medal

The wise advice people give on the relationships threads. It's a joke to say LTB, but there have been some threads where this is what has happened and its the best thing for that woman. I find that sort of support is wonderful.

Mumsnet is like a little window into the world of other people's lives. Some are traumatic, some make me jealous (200 quid handbag anyone?) some make me grateful for what I have. There's a lot of love out there.

And it's really funny seeing a 'viper' get pulled to pieces- they never get let off lightly!

And on a crappy day I look for a mumsnet classics thread to cheer me up. I actually pulled a muscle in my stomach laughing so much one day.

Thank god for the day I found Mumsnet, my life is better for it.