Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Have you ever recognised or been recognised on MN?

167 replies

Spidey66 · 21/02/2021 13:22

This thread is inspired by people "namechanging because this is outing'"

Have you ever recognised or been recognised by someone on MN? Have you ever thought "that's my friend/sister/mum/colleague" because of something posted here? Or had someone in real life say they recognised a post here as being you?

OP posts:
AveEldon · 21/02/2021 14:11

Yes many times!

justanotherneighinparadise · 21/02/2021 14:11

Yep! I’m sure they still follow me around the site and I quite enjoy telling some tall tales occasionally for my own entertainment.

TheFairyCaravan · 21/02/2021 14:13

I was recognised under an old name. It got nasty in my real life, I had to have all my old posts deleted and the police were involved. Some people are really unhinged.

Sparklingbrook · 21/02/2021 14:15

No, I've never recognised anyone I know on here, if anyone has recognised me they've not said but it wouldn't bother me if anyone did.
I've never discussed MN in RL so not sure if anyone I know is on here.

BikeRunSki · 21/02/2021 14:15

I’ve recognised a friend on here. I emailed her to let her know, in case she wanted to name change permanently.

funnyday · 21/02/2021 14:15

Yes, I've been recognised when I posted about something quite specific and my username was also something relating to my life. A friend texted me and said "that's you, isn't it?" It wasn't too personal, so didn't matter, but I change names frequently now, just for privacy, because sometimes I post about things like health matters, relationship details or things about my dcs that they won't want the whole world to trace back to them. And I don't like the idea that if someone happened to recognise me from one post, they could search the username and see other things I might have written about my life that I wouldn't necessarily want to share with them. I've never recognised anyone I know irl.

GreenWheat · 21/02/2021 14:19

I have only ever recognised one person on here. She is a mum from school who commented a couple of times mentioning our very small local school by name on the local threads. She also, that same day quoted a Nextdoor spat, again, very specific that I had seen her be involved in. It's definitely her! Same writing style as well.

Notthisnotthat · 21/02/2021 14:28

I recognised someone from my antenatal group, we were Facebook friends but have never met up since in real life since the class ended. Her posts are so funny, intelligent and witty. She either left or name changed and has also locked down her Twitter account but I do wish i had got to know her better in real life.

RevolutionRadio · 21/02/2021 14:29

I recognised some one asking for baby name suggestions throughout the thread they gave: their initials, DH initials, DS name, location, dog's name.

Was easy enough for me to know who it was, along with the anecdotal stuff in their posts.

DobbyTheHouseElk · 21/02/2021 14:33

I recognised someone, I didn’t say anything. I think they name changed so I wondered if they recognised me too. They haven’t posted for a long while in that name. So I don’t know if they are still here.

If they are

Masterpieceontheshelf · 21/02/2021 14:33

I've only recognised an old colleague on here.
Her username was pretty much the same as her (very public-facing) business she had set up, and she posted a link to her rightmove listing as she was selling her home and wanted opinions.
I'd never been to her house in real life, and I had a quick look at the link, but nothing further as I respect her privacy even though we don't know each other anymore.

I frequently change usernames, particularly if I'm going to start a thread. I would hate someone in real life to go through all my posts, which seems to be becoming more of a thing on here to try and trip the op up.
I also change details like age/children etc which don't make any difference to my dilemma, but hopefully gives me more privacy just in case.

ilikebooksandplants · 21/02/2021 14:34

Not sure if I have ever been recognised but I recognised someone posting about a work matter and narrowed it down to someone who works in the same organisation as me. I never figured out who it was though because they had named changed for that post, and it was something that affected our whole company. Made me laugh at the time and if I had sussed out who it was I would never have said anything in a million years!

Mycomfyplacetochill · 21/02/2021 14:36

I've recognised my SIL on here and one of her comments would cause a massive family argument if I told her I knew what she'd done because of the post.

I won't ever say anything but I view her very differently now

MargaretThursday · 21/02/2021 14:42

I recognised a friend of a friend on facebook because they put the same thing as their fb status (which our mutual friend had replied to) and on here.
I didn't say anything, and didn't look at the username so I don't know if they're still around.

Fascinationends · 21/02/2021 14:42

I did a search after a poster mentioned something specific to the area I'm from and she had a photo of herself on her profile - it was someone I grew up with 40 years ago. Guessing she doesn't mind being public as she had the photo, but still didn't feel it right to contact her.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 21/02/2021 14:43

Yes. My last user name was recognised by someone. Luckily I'd only just changed to it after an injudicious post in my longest serving username. So no harm done, but I've been much more careful since. No bitching or laughing about real people who know me!

The woman who recognised me told me in the middle of a network meeting, thought it was funny enough to tell the person I was exchanging business details with. It was very embarrassing and fairly obvious she hoped to sneak some business away from me. Fortunately the woman I was talking to thought she had displayed a lack of common sense and confidentiality, I still do quite a bit of work with her.

SpecialToffee · 21/02/2021 14:44

Yes, a long time ago I recognised a (not particularly close) Mum friend of mine who posted some very personal stuff about her marriage woes. I recognised some of the detail and searched up her other posts which confirmed my suspicions. I didn’t mention it though it because I thought she might think I was stalking/she’d be embarrassed about some of the stuff she’d posted.

A short while later a different friend told me she’d recognised me on here. I changed my name after that, and have carried on doing so every so often.

Canitbemagic · 21/02/2021 14:44

Twice I have recognised people. Both put indentical posts on MN and also on a FB group. Identical. In both cases they were so identical they identified them and I alerted them. In both cases -they disappeared or the thread did and they left the FB group.

I also recognised someone who had posted on a thread and then name changed and posted again -I alerted them to it and they vanished.

In both of the FB cases I was like 'Indentical post on MN here and copied the link ' alerting them. In once they answered and say 'not me' but it clearly was and then they deleted everything on both forums. I leave it far far too long between name changes.

BlackAmericanoNoSugar · 21/02/2021 14:45

I recognised someone, I can't remember how. She was getting a bit of a tough time from nit-pickers because she didn't understand how some of the MN shorthand worked. I told her that I had recognised her privately, but on her thread I corrected the misunderstanding and told the nit-pickers off for being deliberately obtuse. I don't know if she ever came back to MN a) because some of the posters were right cows to her when she was looking for advice, and b) because she was almost instantly recognised on one of her first posts.

Someone once thought they recognised me by adding up loads of details, but they got one slightly wrong so it wasn't me but clearly there is someone out there who has a very similar life in a location about 15km from me.

WasThereAplan · 21/02/2021 14:50

I’ve been on mn for about 12 years now I think
Used to post a LOT 😱 and overshared and relied on it as my only place for support/contact. But a lot of the time even with name changing I’d get outed within mn so a couple of years ago I pretty much stopped posting about my actual life and name change and keep it all simple now and not personal as I got too reliant on it all
Never recognised in rl but probably could have been.
I just had nowhere else for support at a bad time in my life but I think I frustrated people with my lack of willingness to make any effort to change myself

NoSuchThingAsTooMuch · 21/02/2021 14:50

Yes, my boss. I've never said a word.

kirktonhouse · 21/02/2021 14:50

Anyone else off to namechange now?

onemouseplace · 21/02/2021 14:52

I've recognised a couple of people - generally from very local details posted (I remember one poster posting something about our area and I knew she must live on my road because of the very specific housing stock she was talking about!).

There is one poster I recognised though that amuses me no end (I'm 100% sure who they are and I've known them a very long time) who likes to alter details in her backstory to make herself sound posher than she is and like she comes from a far more privileged background. So funny.

KarensChoppyBob · 21/02/2021 14:53

Yes and yes.

WhitechapelFatberg · 21/02/2021 14:56

I think I've seen DH's mate's wife on here. The man does a pretty unusual job, and the ages of the three all DC match. I don't know her well enough to say something - I might see her in the pub every few years. I haven't made any effort to seek out further posts. That would be weird.

I name change every few months, and sometimes even change a small detail in posts, as I think with a bit of time and effort jigsaw identification of lots of posters would be quite easy.