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?

That people fail to grasp the scale of it and that your dilemma may easily end up on Daily Mail side bar of shame.

How in a committed relationship if there's an unplanned pregnancy even though the female is using contraception mumsnetters are up in arms that the male should have been wearing a condom and definitely not ejaculating inside the female. I've only ever doubled up with a new partner before STD tests etc, no one I know doubles up in a long term rship.

Maybe it’s more depressing than odd but the competitive underestimate claims on any food related thread. So if the OP ate 400 calories for lunch, poster 2 has to say they only had 200, and the poster 3 pipes up with how they haven’t eaten lunch since 2003.

As though there is something to be gained from impressing a load of strangers on the internet. I imagine a fair few of the claims on these threads are blatant lies anyway. Now, any time I see a thread descend into competitive undereating claims I just image all the posters typing with one hand and eating chocolate eclairs with the other hand,

Why so many people are apparently happy to broadcast the details of their sex lives or intimate bodily problems. Yes some will be trolls, but it baffles me why posters are willing to respond.

The contrast between posts where people fall over themselves to demonstrate how right on they are and definitely never discriminate against anyone and the outright prejudice.
'3yr old Dc has a disabled black Muslim friend with a gay parent, how can I make them feel welcomed on a play date'
'Oh, aren't you lovely to be so considerate op, we moved to a bungalow, converted to Islam and played Kylie, but hoping someone will come along with more tips so I can show how not prejudiced I am.
Erm, if you weren't actually discriminating you'd just feed them crap and let them make a mess like any other child.

Compared to 'my black best friend thinks golliwogs and institutional racism are perfectly ok and it's pc gone mad if you think either are a problem'
'Oh yes op, people need to stop playing the discrimination card and realise white privilege doesn't exist'

The amount of people who are screamed at, shrieked at or terrified.

Also how many people appear to hate everything about MN but still post regularly.

How many people seem to hate everyone else.

Baby name recommendations that you never ever hear in RL - not Balonz

Ottilie, always Ottilie.

Those who think anyone who says they earn more than £100k a year are outright lying. There are plenty of people who earn 100k, especially in London!

Yes, Ottilie. And bloody Margot

The posters that honestly think changing their username to "dailymailarewankers" or writing "fuck off daily mail" is an actual legal deterrent that will prevent any random news source from reprinting their comment if they ran the story.

You don't actually see it so much now but it used to be all over the place a few years ago. Same with "changed name because outing but pombears, poo cubes...other random references to MN classics to assure posters I am a Long Standing MNer and not some random interloper." And as other pps have said, the story is hardly ever "outing" anyway!

And also the posters whose names crop up on every.single.thread. how on earth do they have the time!

How many bright, insightful and witty women post with sage advice.

Where the fuck do they all come from?

It's amazing. Mysterious.

The self-improvement/good ideas type of threads are the only thing I really like on here, I wish there was a separate board for them. It always makes me smile though when innumerable posters cite 'deleting social media' as something that has improved their lives. Very much what they call 'selfawarewolves' on Reddit

A thread where literally hundreds of posters stated that they do laundry on Christmas Day

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

@GlumyGloomer

The number of people who are boiling to death if the thermostat goes over 17° in winter. What on earth do they do in summer when it hits 30°?

Wilt. Itch. Whinge. Can't bear it over about 25 degrees, and even that is uncomfortable - I couldn't go for a walk, for example, at that temperature without feeling very itchy and uncomfortable. If I'm sitting in the shade then it's just about bearable, assuming I can shower and change clothes frequently - I seem to react to my own sweat!

Aah blocking posters would be great.

That when I accidentally bookmark a comment (I have no idea what that even does!) I can't remove it.

Oh yes, and how everything is "outing" such as which hobby you do, because of course you're the only one that does it. lol.

I get unduly irritated when posters sweep onto the thread, stridently give their opinion and say ‘ignore all the other responses on this thread OP, they’re being ridiculous’ or some such. It’s so bloody arrogant and dismissive. We’re allowed different opinions and it pisses me off when someone tries to dictate what other people can say / suggests everyone else’s view is totally irrelevant!

The absolute shit some women put up with from their DP/DH. Not talking about abuse but just useless / unpleasant/ selfish partners. People settle for far too little. But - on the flip side, people shrieking that the OP should ltb over something relatively minor or clearly resolvable - as if it’s that simple (or necessary!) to just up and leave without a second thought.

Questions about going to A&E (which in themselves are inadvisable) and the screeching responses to either ‘go immediately!! What the fuck are you doing On mumsnet ffs’ or ‘don’t be ridiculous, that’s such a misuse of resources, it’s only a severed leg ffs’

The abbreviations aren’t a MN thing, people use DH, DS etc on loads of other forums and not just parenting ones either.

What always surprises me on here is the amount of hypochondria (which I didn’t even know had been renamed health anxiety until I came on here), and how people just seem to take it as a fact of life rather than fighting it. It’s a much different attitude compared to other mental health problems I think.

What always surprises me on here is the amount of hypochondria (which I didn’t even know had been renamed health anxiety until I came on here)

I raise an eyebrow at people taking their ordinarily fit and healthy children to the GP for a cough, vomiting bug etc - It passes. If they have no concerning symptoms or underlying health conditions they don't need a doctor. What an absolute waste of time. The doctor can't cure them.

The helplessness. Adult women asking if they can eat something over its best by date or left out for a few hours. Asking can I go to the beach/cinema/meal alone. I said this to someone, is that ok? A friend texted me, what does it mean???@
And yes, all the anxiety. But perhaps people with anxiety, and a need for so much guidance and validation are drawn to sites like this.

@Sparklingbrook

That people join MN and within days are whining about it not being the same as every single other site they use. Moaning about the lack of a like button, edit function, the format is all wrong and they don't like the moderating or the 'D' in front of things. Saying that other sites are way better. Good job there's choice eh?

I agree with this.

And as pp have said, edit functions would allow trolls to change their comments. Like buttons would allow people to start massive pile ons if someone tells an op, “you’re clearly an idiot” (or something worse) and it gets 100s of likes.

The overenthusiastic troll hunters. Where someone posts and their responses are gleefully picked apart when apparent discrepancies occur; "Ah HA!! You said it was a RED apple Sharon, not a GREEN one! Which is it then, huh? HUH?" When reading the post overall you can tell that the OP is stressed and generally trying to reply quickly or without going into too much detail because they're worried a post will be too long. Pulling someone apart to show how clever you have been in detecting their 'troll mask' slipping when most people would just read it and apply common sense and/ or basic kindness.

It just baffles me.

The oddest thing I find about it? The obsession about class. Rarely does a day go by without another thread asking for opinions. Middle class cheese? Find out about it here.

@Yellow85

Maybe I’m just missing how to do it, but the fact you can’t unbookmark. You have no idea how many times I hit that by mistake when scrolling.

It's so annoying.

I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure years ago when I first started here there was no “quote” post or tagging users easily - I quite like that update.

I don’t like how big a pile on things get. Especially when I see something obviously either get taken out of context or just be completely invented! Some posters read way more into an OPs posts than they’ve actually written, invent a whole extra bunch of information in their heads and take it as absolute gospel that their assumptions mist be true. I do find that very odd - especially as other posters also start taking it as truth.

See for example nowadays you’ll get someone to inevitably declare that a Mumsnetter once suggested putting cheese in tea instead of milk (gasp, how ridiculous of her) when that’s not what actually happened at all!
Here nuance dies!