Influencer/celeb gossip forums

[Kingsparkle]

I follow a woman on social media, mainly because I like her aesthetic and she gives me ideas of brands etc to look at. One of her children has a genetic condition and she raises money for an organisation supporting young people with this condition. She recently posted about it and I wanted to read more about it so I googled her and up popped a Reddit thread.

It was full of people calling her narcissistic and an alcoholic, insulting her children’s appearance and claiming they have no friends. Claiming she’s a terrible mother etc. People were picking apart anything she’d posted, analysing her friends and family’s demeanour towards her. Someone had even looked up financial information about her.

I knew that people on SM often got a hard time but I honestly didn’t realise it was this bad. Why? Why do people feel the need to do this? If you are part of these forums what do you get out of it. I am genuinely curious what motivates people to be this vicious, particularly towards someone they’ve never met.

I found tattle a while ago. I was very shocked at the absolute vile things people were posting on there about celebrities. One even used to drive past this one celebrity's house to see if she had her gates shut or not!. How intrusive. They also find out her court dates and details. Discuss the welfare of her kids. They literally think they are in some sort of crusade to bring this person down.

They really need to get a life!.

I don't get it either. In a way they are fans of the person they're slagging off because they're following everything they do and then taking time to post about it. They're probably bored people with nothing else going on.

It is so easy to ignore an influencer. Yet people will watch all their videos, follow their every moment, even follow their friends and family, pick apart everything to do with them, say they dislike them - and I'm like "well if you dislike them why are you spending so much of your life obsessed with them?" I don't get it at all.

I know, it’s awful. There’s an influencer who gets absolutely ripped to shreds on Tattle and she must be aware, it must be awful to know so many people think so badly of you and think you hate one of your children, etc.

These people (and there are so many of them!) watch vlogs literally the minute they’re uploaded just to find something to pick apart and bitch about, its not normal or healthy.

But also hats off to the influencers who continue to make great content despite the vitriol because if I’d read stuff like that about myself I’d probably never come out from under my duvet ever again!

I agree I couldn’t do it! They are like obsessed fans in a way as a PP said. It’s like they feel they are doing a public service by “exposing” these influencers but it does just come across as bullying.

Don’t forget that some of them are on there themselves, either fanning the flames on their own threads or slagging off the competition.

Mother of daughters was one who
got caught out doing both!

Do you use these forums @putthatdownsteve ? I don’t know who Mother of daughters is but I can’t blame her for trolling the trolls if that’s what she was doing.

I think it's fine to have a place to discuss this kind of thing - especially when some are grifters (eg Jack Monroe...) and putting your kids all over the Internet for your own personal gain is pretty grim anyway and definitely not above criticism.

No, I don’t use them. But I used to be associated with a lot of big influencers.

Mother of daughters was a huge influencer. And she wasn’t “trolling the trolls”. She was being vile about about other influencers who she pretended to be friends with in real life, and stoking the fire on her own thread for attention. It’s really not uncommon.

It’s all social cohesion - the group feels safe uniting against the one.

Busy people, getting on with their own things, would not have time for cultivating such negativity in their own lives.

I wasn't much aware of her tbh. I do know she was on Tattle bitching about other influencers and her husband under a fake name.

Tattle drives me insane although I do read it, mainly the Jack Monroe threads which can be very funny. Other threads are nasty, I don't find the JM ones to be so.

Calling out influencers who lie and lie and lie again isn't nasty. Some of them need calling out.

I’m on Tattle. I don’t comment much, mainly read and the only thread I take an interest in is Part Time Working Mummy’s. She’s another grifter who took masses of money from her followers and didn’t spent it how she insinuated she was going to (towards victims of DA).

Oh I see @putthatdownsteve - I thought she was on her own boards.

I understand there have been issues with Part time working mummy as I’ve read about that on here before, but I still don’t think it excuses the sheer vitriol these people receive. Particularly insults about their appearance or unsolicited rumours about drinking habits because they have posted with a glass of wine before.

I was taken a back by the hate levelled towards the influencer which sparked this thread, and especially towards her kids. I don’t accept that if you put yourself and your kids out there it’s fair game. I am not a fan of kids on social media but that doesn’t mean I post nasty comments about people who do show their kids on SM though.

They don't just "put their kids on social media" though. They use them as content, generally without consent, to generate themselves revenue. Their children are being used as unpaid workers.

I’m not saying it’s right for people to comment on children.

But these children are being put out there, to thousands of strangers on a daily basis. You know what schools they go to, their bedtime routines, their health issues. They are used to advertise products.

These influencers can’t have it both ways. They can’t put their entire lives and the lives of their children out there for profit and expect everyone to love them, or not to speak out when they have done something that people don’t like.

They have thrust themselves, relentlessly into the public eye for monetary gain. No one forced them to start instagram accounts. No one asked to see photos of their children. If no one gossiped about anyone, there would be no newspapers or gossip magazines. It’s human nature and it comes with the territory.

If they don’t like it, then they can stop courting attention and take themselves offline, and make money a different way, it’s that simple.

Generally I'm in favour of influencers being held to account. They turn themselves (and less acceptably their children) into brands and then expect to be able to operate with no scrutiny. I don't use Tattle and I think they should have a strict moderation policy to stop the vitriol but generally I think if you become a business there will be scrutiny of you as a product.

I do agree with this. Of course people shouldn't be vile, but profiting off of your children and putting all of this info out them and their lives out there when they're not old enough to give informed consent and to understand the long term implications is gross and should be heavily monitored imo.

I agree that you shouldn’t be profiting off your children. I personally do not show my child on SM at all. But these boards aren’t saying - those poor children, they shouldn’t be on social media. Or saying I don’t think it’s right this influencer has not been transparent and I think to pretend that’s all they are trying to do is disingenuous.

They are saying things like that kid has “insert undiagnosed medical condition here”, look at the way their eyes look funny. Look at this influencer the ugly fat cow, she is so thick, bet her useless waste of a husband struggles to get it up- etc etc. I’ve also seen people post screen grabs of videos at unflattering angles and dissecting them.

To me these boards seem to mainly be an excuse for people to bully with no consequences to take someone down a peg or two.

The thing is though, in the case of PTWM, she lies. (A lot). And there’s proof. One lie being she used to state she didn’t drink at all because of the boys’ mum, yet is often seen with a drink. Why lie about it? No one would think anything of it if she hadn’t mentioned it to start with. But she did because she wanted to lay it on thick about how bad her life is/was.

I don’t necessarily agree with comments on appearance but when she’s flaunting Gucci and other expensive shit, as well as a face that’s hardly recognisable from the one she had a few years ago, and that were all likely paid for from the funds she takes from her followers under the guise of doing good, then I don’t blame people for having a dig.

She also states she’s trolled but never produces anything to prove that. I believe that’s because she’s not trolled, she just reads Tattle and says that’s trolling when it’s not. It’s people having an opinion.

As a PP says, a lot of these influencers sell their childrens’ childhoods without consent and if they didn’t, they’d have no content and then in a lot of cases, no money. There should be laws against selling your kids like this.

As I say, I only follow her thread so I can’t comment on the rest of Tattle as to whether that’s overly harsh.

@GreyRooted - You seem to know quite a bit about this influencer, do you know her personally or just from the internet? I don’t think calling out lying at all justifies the nasty comments. I don’t think anyone is “fair game” for personal insults just because they have a public persona. Unless you gave this influencer money for a specific cause and are trying to find out where it’s gone (fair enough) I don’t think it means you are justified in slagging them off on internet boards. That is trolling I’m afraid.

Actually trolling is when you take it to them directly. Not discussing them online in a place they have to seek out.

Nope, don’t know her personally. Nor would I say I know a lot about her. And the only reason I know what I do is from what she herself has put out there. You can’t be an influencer and put your life online and then be confused if people query or talk about that.

And yes, I did initially donate to her cause thinking I was doing good. More fool me for that. Like I said, I don’t really comment on Tattle (I have previously the odd time though not about appearance) - I usually just read because I’m always behind in the threads. And I haven’t commented on her appearance apart from to say it’s different from previously and those changes are likely funded by money she took on the premise of doing something else with it.

@GreyRooted Not to derail but actually trolling is just posting something online to purposefully cause upset to someone. It doesn’t have to be direct communication.

If you are comfortable with what you are reading then that’s up to you. Personally I do think these boards are going way, way too far and it actually does take away from any benefit they may have (e.g calling out potential scamming or exploitation of children). It’s clear to me that a lot of people just get a kick out of trolling (mostly women) online.

I agree. I don't think that people should be commenting directly on children on Tattle etc. But I think discussing the adults is fair game and surely they knew that when they chose this as an income stream. Other jobs (that don't involve exploiting your children) are available.

Wasn’t it Madonna who said something like “If you follow everything I do, bitch, you’re a fan!”

That always made me laugh.

I don’t follow tattle, if I have a problem with someone I tell them then don’t gossip behind them. Picking on people’s kids, who didn’t ask to be born, is a step too far.

It’s the whole “money for nothing, and your checks for free” for the 2020’s. Resentment and jealousy that other people got money for doing very little. I think the price they pay, such as bitching, lack of privacy etc is too high .

People today need to have a thick skin and rake nothing personally. Probably good for strength and discipline but terrible for mental health.

There was one influencer who got beaten up at her baby’s funeral and some of the comments were terrible.