What is this obsession by the Mumsnet police?

[TwwSunset]

I often find it amusing how many posters will do all they can to ‘expose’ a poster if they’ve posted more than once and NC. Why is this? The remarks are often catty, ‘are you going to keep posting,’ ‘are you the poster from this link...’, etc etc.

I never understand it. Why post or comment if this post isn’t of interest to you? Why not just hide it?

I’ve seen similar threads before and thought it must be the same poster but I’ve either provided what I hoped to be a supportive post or simply hid the thread if it irritated me!

[endofjune]

To be frank, MN advice is often shit.

There are posters who will cheerily admit to not having a clue but lambast you with advice anyway. There are times when you will have already done something but posters don’t bother to read so you get several posts telling you to do something you’ve already tried. I had this with a newborn baby struggling to breastfeed. Over and over and over ‘get him checked for a tongue tie’ when I already had and that information was included in my OP.

Then sometimes one bit of useless advice leads to fending off more and more stupid suggestions. ‘Get a taxi’ - ‘I can’t, I’m broke, I don’t get paid until next week.’ By page three you’re in an abusive relationship, should be entitled to claim UC and take in ironing.

In all seriousness the ridiculous uppity attitudes by a lot of posters when you politely won’t take their advice puts me off posting. I was a big fan of MN once but there are so many unpleasant posters now it’s just no longer much fun.

[WeAreTheHeroes]

Well I get what you're saying OP, but the thing that really pisses me off about the trolls is that they are lying and I can't stand being lied to. There was a poster earlier this year who posted about secretly leaving her abusive partner and she got hundreds of supportive posts and lots of advice and questions about her safety, all of which she dismissed or just didn't respond to. I stopped posting because it was clear she was only interested in the posts telling her how brave and clever she was. A couple of weeks later she posted under a different name, saying she was the same poster and there were so many inconsistencies I reported the thread. MNHQ took weeks to take the thread down. I do try not to troll hunt on a thread although I had pointed something out which the troll hadn't thought about and then tried to backtrack over.

Not only are trolls manipulative liars, they can and do piss people off and stop them from posting when someone genuinely is looking for help.

[endofjune]

The trolls piss everyone off but seriously, don’t worry about it.

It’s a bit annoying but I do think still dwelling on a stranger on the internet lying months down the line is a bit obsessive and peculiar.

[WeAreTheHeroes]

Recounting something you remember doesn't equal dwelling on something and being obsessive and peculiar though!

[SD1978]

Sometimes, if it's a really prolific poster who changes the story to try and get the validation they want, repeatedly, it gets boring, and they can be ,well known' for it. It's frustrating seeing people,changing the narrative for a response they want, when quite frankly, they are selfish, unreasonable, and slightly unhinged. When it's on insult someone like that, it's reasonable I feel to be pulled up, and not that hard sometimes. Deep diving or trawling, less so

[endofjune]

No but you have said ‘really pisses me off.’

[Generalpost]

If people think it's a troll or not genuine they should just report and leave it at that . Troll hunters don't seem to realise the damage they can cause to a genuine poster.

[SionnachRua]

@Schrutesbeets

Also can't stand the people who have name changed but prove they're long term posters by quoting MN classics... Cringe!

Yes, I never understood this one. Surely a troll just has to spend 5 mins poking about in classics and they know it all too? 'Pombears, elderly Korean lady, penis beaker' isn't top secret stuff.

[endofjune]

I can’t honestly say I’m really bothered by trolls or troll hunters.

People who don’t RTFT and then become irate with YOU for not taking helpful advice, I hope choke on an agony aunt column!

[WeAreTheHeroes]

@endofjune

No but you have said ‘really pisses me off.’

I said being lied to really pisses me off. Doesn't matter who or where, it's not on.

[BoredZelda]

Whenever I’ve seen it done, it is usually to point out holes in a story. Like toe woman who posted about her feckless husband the other day and had everyone telling her how hard done by she was, but conveniently left out that he had also been unwell as had the toddler he was looking after.

Or a story about a six year old doing something incredible, when last week she posted that her child was ten.

I don’t know who has decided it is frowned upon, surely that’s where the policing is. The only people who complain about it are usually the ones who have been caught out.

[BoredZelda]

If people think it's a troll or not genuine they should just report and leave it at that

Yeah, MN has a really good track record of dealing with trolls…🤔

[NeverDropYourMooncup]

I've done it before - there's one very unhappy poster with what sounds to be a severe ED who has a particular style of posting/tone (albeit that it sounds stilted, as though they're trying to not sound like it's them) and everytime they seem to be looking for posters to agree with them that something a doctor has said is nonsense and it's perfectly normal to be in the condition they/their friend is in and the medical staff don't know what they're talking about. Even when they stopped mentioning being treated for ED, every question, once seen through that lens, is clearly showing that they are extremely unwell.

So my answers may come across as troll hunting/thread police or not related to the seemingly innocuous questions, but it's because if it is the same person, it needs to be known or at least considered before 10 people weigh in with 'of course you know your body best, it's absolutely fine' and other such comments, which may be accurate for somebody of a particular build, but not for somebody with a diagnosed ED and possibly other MH diagnoses.