Things you find a bit odd about Mumsnet

[valerianroot]

Let me start by saying this is 100% lighthearted and fueled by being a bit bored in my last hour before weekend officially begins.

Anyway, I ventured onto the Royals board recently and found it a bit weird that people refer to Kate Middleton as Catherine. Now, I know that's her full first name (well I assume it is) but I've never heard anyone IRL refer to her as anything but Kate. Maybe I'm behind the times as my Royals knowledge isn't very up to date (as you'll notice by calling Kate Middleton.)

I'm sure I'll regret starting this but anyone else have anything?

The threads that basically encourage eating disorders. Still not quite sure how they’re allowed. I’m sure one day they will be more controlled, like with other mental health threads.

The anti-American feeling - anything remotely celebratory is deemed an American import that brings down the elegance of Great Britain - it's like the dowager from Downton is on here. In particular, gender reveal parties.

See also SEX. NOT GENDER - nobody gives a fuck. It's just a term used to describe a party.

I'm amazed by the number of people on MN who cannot possibly divulge any details of their (or their family member's) "hobby" for fear of being outted. What? Your running club/Zumba class/rowing team is that identifiable? Whatever. You're really not that important.

Posts where people ignore the actual issue jusy to have a dig. For example the fact that “just leave Facebook” is said so often as a response to anything someone else does.

There was one a while back where a relative was positing photos of an adopted child with a troubled family and said family member tagged them in places, had 2000 friends and zero privacy settings.

The slew of “just leave FB”, “I never used FB” and “I quit FB in October and life is better for it” posts totally ignored the actual issue.

That and “move house” being thrown out as if it’s just easy to do that.

The double standards when it comes to snooping round hubby’s phone, iPad etc. if it was the other way around there’d be uproar!

The weirdly aggressive gender/sex people - how about live and let live?

The number of people who can’t spell “lose” (or “nice”…)

The way that people act like a wedding invite is a summons to eat your own shit! In real life everyone loves a good wedding!

The aversion to ensuite bathrooms.

The obsessive showering, towel/bedding washing etc.

As for the comments that you don't know so many anxious people or whatever in RL, surely that's the whole point of an anonymous forum? You can say this stuff and no one in your own life will need to know about it.

I know, you'd think this should be obvious but the number of posters who repeat this like it's some sort of 'Aha! It means no one irl is actually like this' is quite shocking for a site of supposedly intelligent people. Goes to show, eh.

Obviously, one of the 'perks' of online and anonymity is to admit to things you may not be able to irl.

The app is shite. UX Design needs tons of work.

For example, swiping right to go back. Didn't think it was a thing at all on the app because your finger has to touch the other side of the screen to catch it.

The "active" section is really limited so you barely see anything, so you might as well just go to the topics.

Changing your name is a PITA because it doesn't show you a list of your previous names, even in the settings.

There are more but I can't be bothered to sit and list them all. Those are my main annoyances.

@LizBennet

Aah blocking posters would be great.

An edit button and the ability to completely block certain boards and posters would make the site better, I think.

Blocking posters would be great. I've no one I'd like to block now but in the past, it would've been great to virtually make some people shut the hell up.

The people who constantly drone on about namechangers, trolls, sockpuppets, etc are usually the ones who're sinister with their name-changing. One (from another site) was making a big deal about trolls and sockpuppets with different accounts and ended up being one of the biggest sockpuppets on the forum. Got banned afterwards.

Another one was caught here on a thread due to a namechange fail after throwing a huge tantrum about namechangers. Hasn't been heard from since - must have namechanged🤣

I cba with who's a troll, sockpuppet, etc as long as they aren't causing any actual harm to anyone. It's their time being wasted, not mine.

@Chestnut23

The double standards when it comes to snooping round hubby’s phone, iPad etc. if it was the other way around there’d be uproar!

The weirdly aggressive gender/sex people - how about live and let live?

The number of people who can’t spell “lose” (or “nice”…)

To be fair the “naice” spelling is deliberate - as if it’s an affected posh way of saying it

To be fair the “naice” spelling is deliberate - as if it’s an affected posh way of saying it
It still sounds ridiculous though. Funny, maybe 15 years ago thereabours when it first appeared. Cringeworthy ever since!🤣

@nordica

People who care about threads started in the "wrong" topic. I saw someone complain a thread was cluttering AIBU yesterday as if it matters with hundreds of threads every day.

Also the way some posters talk about hating animals makes them sound like psychopaths. I've never known anyone hate cats and dogs like that in real life, even people who are not pet people.

I think it might help though if MNHQ moved threads into the various sections that might suit better.

Posters should be able to ask questions about concerns they have, but unfortunately because the site is trolled so much, the OP is immediately suspected of being the period/poo/ piss troll even if they have a genuine question.

I'm not saying that being in the section where they belong would help, but it might help a little. Some trolls might not realise that there are other areas of the site, apart from AIBU and Chat.

I still have no idea who/what the poo troll is/ was and I've been on Mumsnet forever!

Everyone has £8000 saved for a rainy day. Just me living off beans on toast til January payday then!

Everyone has £8000 saved for a rainy day. Just me living off beans on toast til January payday then!

Oh yes and have covered the cost of all childcare, school uniform and school trips for all potential children you might have, before ttc. Anyone unable or struggling to pay for branded school uniform or residential school trips is told in no uncertain terms they should have planned for this already!! (Presumably the plans should have also included marriage break ups, death, disability, SEN, multiple births, brexit, recessions and covid)

@shouldhavebeen

Website looks dated in it's design. Absolutely needs to let users Edit or Delete a post.

As long as it shows that the user has edited or deleted their post.

There's a really weird theme on the Relationships board whereby, if a poster is dumped in a really shitty way (usually by text) by a long-term partner, they MUST NOT respond to the text or be in contact with the dumper ever again. Asking for an explanation is equivalent to begging for attention, whereas keeping silent is "dignified". I don't agree, I think it's just letting the other person get away with their shit behaviour unchallenged and it's probably exactly what they were hoping for. I think that if you've been with someone for a long time and you weren't aware of any problems in the relationship, then you should at least be worth an honest conversation about why the other person wants it to end.

People who care about threads started in the "wrong" topic. I saw someone complain a thread was cluttering AIBU yesterday as if it matters with hundreds of threads every day.

Brexit was given its own board but you'd get lots of people title an AIBU thread as if it was about something else then bring Brexit up. It was bloody annoying as it was the same people with the same views and same insults, it was frankly boring.

@Tiredforfive45

How people that pay for the privilege can trawl through all your previous posts and find evidence that posters are lying about something, even if they have clearly just changed some details to protect their identity or their life has changed.

“Oh your SON did that, did they? Well on 12th March 2012 at 18.45 you clearly stated you have 2 daughters.”

@Tiredforfive45 you don't have to pay for the privilege of using Advanced Search - anyone can use it.

And it can be a very useful tool when it comes to spotting those who are trolling!

@Pythian

There's a really weird theme on the Relationships board whereby, if a poster is dumped in a really shitty way (usually by text) by a long-term partner, they MUST NOT respond to the text or be in contact with the dumper ever again. Asking for an explanation is equivalent to begging for attention, whereas keeping silent is "dignified". I don't agree, I think it's just letting the other person get away with their shit behaviour unchallenged and it's probably exactly what they were hoping for. I think that if you've been with someone for a long time and you weren't aware of any problems in the relationship, then you should at least be worth an honest conversation about why the other person wants it to end.

I think the best MN advice is to hide the Relationships board.

@LittleBearPad sorry I'm coming back late to this, I was busy. Your reply about an individual Labour politician doesn't translate into official labour policy and doesn't explain the hate about supposed women policies. Meanwhile, you have an actual Tory government inflicting deep pain on a significant number of women for the past 11 years.

With apologies to the OP who wanted to keep this light.

[quote LadyWithLapdog]@LittleBearPad sorry I'm coming back late to this, I was busy. Your reply about an individual Labour politician doesn't translate into official labour policy and doesn't explain the hate about supposed women policies. Meanwhile, you have an actual Tory government inflicting deep pain on a significant number of women for the past 11 years. [/quote]
He’s only an example. It’s a general problem but this thread has already been derailed enough.