Have you ever recognised someone on here?

[HowdenMinster]

I've spotted a colleague, and oh my gosh it's compulsive entertainment. She has given enough away to make her hugely identifiable and yet paints a very very rosy version of her life. I used to quite like her (other colleagues warned me she wasn't pleasant), but the embellishments on here and the snotty, comments she leaves on people's posts have made me change my opinion. It's taking all my might not to comment with or on all her posts.

Have you ever realised who someone is, and did you say anything to them? Or did you, like me, just get the popcorn in?

Popcorn instincts here, especially if I don't like them.

I was outed once (real life identity). That wasn't nice.

3 people I spotted. #1 old friend who denied it (but ruddy obvious to me), #2 gal who turned out to be a compulsive liar IRL quite sad because she had a young child. #3 posted a few things that somewhat contradicted what her RL friends said about her, but it was stuff in realm of opinion not factual. Mutual friends also mentioned #3 had severe MH problems which #3 didn't mention on MN as context for lots of things she did talk about on MN she should be allowed her privacy, obviously.

[quote ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba]@HowdenMinster

yes! she's a lovely friend.[/quote]
Ah, that's nice.

I recognised somebody who posted very specific details about some issues she was having with the local school.

The same one that I was chair of governors of.

I haven't! I am surprised though. There have been occasions where I thought I recognised someone and then they'd say something else and I wasn't sure.

I wouldn't like to be recognised, so I name change fairly frequently and also try not to give out too much personal info.

Do you know I also don't know if anyone I know irl is even on MN? I expect some of them are at least.

I did recognise a friend. I nodded and agreed with what she said, then realised from her username and some details who she was. I never said anything to her though.

@HiHoSylvie

Do you know I also don't know if anyone I know irl is even on MN? I expect some of them are at least.

I am pretty sure I saw mn on my bosses phone!

Yes, I once found a friend’s sister. Their mum had breast cancer at the time and she posted some very specific details which I recognised as my friend had been talking to me about it that same day. I advanced search the sister and she had posted enough other identifying information (such as close age gap of her sons, country they’d grown up in (not UK), on a baby names thread saying her son’s name etc) that I was able to confirm it was her. I had never actually met the sister but admit I then became a bit invested in reading the sisters post history and checking for bee posts - she and friend didn’t always have a good relationship and she posted some threads about her which I think was what kept me interested. The sister then name-changed but she had a somewhat distinctive posting style and had kept part of her username (Eg: changed from BuntingBonanza to BuntingBleakness) so when she popped up on another thread a while later I recognised her and admit I carried on following all of her posts for quite a while (at least a number of months) although lost interest somewhere along the way. I have since met the sister at friends wedding (several years after I found her on Mumsnet) and did feel a bit guilty that I had quite an insight into her private life whilst she had no idea but obviously didn’t say anything and I never mentioned it to friend either.

@ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba was that me? 🙈

I recognised a poster just this week who lives in the same small town as me. No idea who they are, but they definitely live near me.

I was recognised and the person sent a message asking if it was me, I then changed my name and now if I post I'm vague or change details slightly.

It's a shame though because sometimes I'd really like to ask advice or opinion about personal stuff but don't want to be outed, I also think if people then trawl through my posting history they'll spot discrepancies and think I'm not genuine.

[quote WhiteVixen]@ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba was that me? 🙈

I recognised a poster just this week who lives in the same small town as me. No idea who they are, but they definitely live near me. [/quote]
you never said anything!😁

my friend lives about 1.5hr drive away from me.
I can not remember her MN name

I think work colleagues may have recognised me at some point
A couple of times I repeated thoughts about something that I had already posted on here & I’m sure I saw an exchanged look.
I NC frequently in terror.

I have been spotted in a FB group as I'd posted about the same issue, to get wide opinions. And also spotted a colleague on a different thread. I change my name fairly regularly now.

@WhiteVixen

and it was 8 y ago when I announced here that I was pg again - so she was sworn to secrecy as we hadn't told a soul IR at that point!

I have never recognised anybody but i dread being recognised. Im too honest, overshare online, never fudge or embellish, just the facts so yeh id be easy to spot if you knew me.
So i name change regularly.

Oh god, paranoid.

[quote ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba]@WhiteVixen

and it was 8 y ago when I announced here that I was pg again - so she was sworn to secrecy as we hadn't told a soul IR at that point![/quote]
Oh not me then. I remember referring to you as Zing when you first added me to the Yarnies group and you told me off for outing you 🙈 not seen you on fb for a while btw, hope you're ok. I'm still working on that blanket. ❤️ it's getting there.

An acquaintance, Yes, which was fine. Normal stuff, nothing other than mundane.

Then she posted about a horrible issue/secret she has and I can’t tell her I know it’s her or that I know she has this problem and I really don’t know what to do about it.

Oh and I recognised someone from another fb group I'm in as she put a thread up on here about something (that actually made it into the trending thread email they send out), and then posted about the exact same thing in a fb group we were both in. Can't remember exactly what the thread was about now, something to do with a bra.

Yes, a colleague's daughter was bitching about him and his wife and the way she'd been treated in her youth. To be fair, I already knew her mum was hard work but I was shocked by the details - the mother was a very religious woman and belonged to some sort of cult. My colleague came across reasonably well but I knew he'd be mortified if I ever mentioned this to him. I think the poster has passed away now.

I recognised a colleague literally today. I name change frequently as would hale anyone to recognise me.

I recognised the scenario in a recent thread, it was concern about a friend & something that happened in her marriage. The poster clearly was friends with my friend (who it was about). Unless it was an absolute coincidence...

A couple of people. Both have name changed and I've spotted them because of the things they post about.

One is someone local who cannot resist recommending our local area whenever anyone posts about moving. One is someone I've known for many years - this one amuses me the most as she definitely edits her past to fit her lifestyle now, not how it was growing up.

I've spotted people across forums as well who just post the same question, word for word. Or even have the same username.

I saw a username pop up only yesterday that seemed very distinctive and could be a colleague. Their post was very interesting....I’m watching 👀

As for someone recognising me.... the name says it all 🥸 although I’m regularly on my soap box in real life just like on here

🤣😂

Yep the wife of an old friend. To be fair she came across as nice on here, as she is in real life. Never told her