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 don't get it either OP. I got sucked into reading Tattle and then got banned for defending a woman who, regardless of being relatively famous, did not deserve the vitriol that was written especially when she was very newly into motherhood and very clearly suffering from PND (which she later admitted). GOMI (the original) is equally vile and there are people there dancing on the proverbial grave of Dooce, a blogger who recently killed herself. You're a blogger getting a divorce? The pitchforks are waiting. It's gross.

I vote with my likes and shares. If I don't like something, I just unfollow and then they cease to exist in my life and I'm not part of how they make their money. IT really isn't that hard!

Tattle is clearly full of jealousy.
its a shame, because there does need to be a discussion around the ethics if influencing, especially the use of children.
however, throwing personal insults does nothing for sensible discussion. It just makes the writer look nasty and distracts from the real issue.
I’ve no idea why folk don’t learn to just scroll on.

That’s awful @EconomyClassRockstar. As for defending someone, on one thread I saw a poster was told off for posting something vaguely nice about Stacey Solomon because that particular thread was only for negative points about her. Definitely not a balanced or nuanced discussion that one. I was flabbergasted by that. I’ve never heard of GOMI. Is it more US based?

This!!

Personally I love tattle. I think mumsnet is a lot more bitchy than tattle.
All tattle is calling out influencers etc on their bullshit, non disclosure of ads, lies, hypocrisy etc..
The tattle people on tattle all seem to be nice to each other. Believe it or not it's a much nicer place than Mumsnet you really don't get the same kind of one upmanship or bitchiness toward each other on there that you do on here. 😂

My undergraduate (creative writing) dissertation explored the relationship between the reader and writer of online gossip forums. During the research stage I used Tattle myself and posting trolling comments online completely changed my mood and behaviour.

You start to become what you write...

I'm still proud of my dissertation, if a little ashamed of what I found. The internet is a place where anyone can have a platform and it grows when there is a readership...

I got banned for defending someone too and before that was constantly being accused of being x influencer or y influencer because I made a point of only ever saying positive things. I think maybe it started out with the intention of 'calling out' poor/shady behaviour but it has evolved to be something really gross. The level of stalking and conjecture is off the wall.

I used to be a prolific poster on tattle until I one day got a 'fatal error message' that I've never been able to put right so I just read and lurk but am not able to post anymore

What I will say is that yes sometimes comments are near to the mark but most likely are used to call out people who put their entire private lives on there and invite scrutiny (Molly-Mae, Marcus Mitchell, Katie Hayes, Lauryn Goodman to name just a few)

However the big difference is that unlike on here there doesn't seem to be the mentality of gleefully tearing other posters to bits on a regular basis. Luckily I've had no personal attacks so far but seriously did you mean to be so rude?

Dress it up with all the head tilts and tinkly laughs that you like but this place is a bitchy cesspit most of the time compared to tattle

Ah come on that is bollocks. I just had a quick five minute browse there and saw people laughing at an influencers 'saggy tits', a post saying that someone looks like a 'fat disabled person', another calling someone an 'ugly cunt', one calling someones child 'a funny looking thing with a weird headshape', one calling someone a vile, disgusting animal.

The 'glee' as you put it is clearly in tearing into influencers, the personal attacks are aimed at the influencers and no it isn't all just about 'holding them to account'. Have you tried disagreeing with them there? I have, and yup I have been torn into because I didn't agree that post after post talking about how 'gross' a new mums 'saggy tits' were was appropriate. I've been banned from posting there because I called out shitty comments. I really don't know how you can say that things like saying someone looks like 'a fat disabled person' and about 20 likes on that post with no one saying hang on are 'near to the mark' but mumsnet is a bitchy cesspit.

@FuppingEll well I've never seen anything at all like that on any of the threads I read... not to say they don't exist and ok if so it's uncalled for but my comments were relating to how posters treat each other... especially when posters on here ask for advice about their own lives and are not influencers or in the public eye but still seem to attract a level of passive aggressive replies I've yet to see elsewhere

And yes I have tried to disagree with them. I got banned previously trying to stop the vaccine conspiracy comments - still tame compared to here

@catsoop pretty much just copied your post in a lot more words but I totally agree! I actually 'met' people on there who I speak to outside of tattle and have been a great support to me over the years

It is interesting that those people who say they get involved with these forums feel comfortable with the comments they read/write about these public figures and feel confident they aren’t doing anything wrong or nasty. From browsing I have seen lots of comments like @FuppingEll mentioned and lots of people egging them on to do it. Even the thread titles are not pleasant. Any dissent from the insults seems to be shut down instantly. So really you are only part of the gang until you disagree with them.

I just googled Tattle and to part time working mummy because she’s been mentioned here a fair bit. You can’t tell me that the main focus of this thread title is about holding her to account for potentially stealing money?

I think anyone who exploits their children to avoid getting a job is fair game.

Yeah no. I don't believe you have never seen anything like I posted. Like @Kingsparkle shows it's even in the thread titles. You know as well as i do that there is a competition each time to get the bitchiest thread title in there.

@Clymene well said

@FuppingEll i note you ignored the part of my post about how posters treat each other

I don't agree with posting horrible comments about influencers but this is the double edged sword with social media. You put your life out there as content and you will open yourself up for comment good and bad.
I strongly disagree with influencers and celebrities posting their children and using them for advertising and content - they have not consented to this and it will be online forever.

@DontBeBitterGlitter2023 - I know I am not the poster you asked but I did address that point a bit in my posts. From what I’ve seen the camaraderie between posters on the gossip sites is very much built around a united hatred of the influencer. As soon as someone breaks ranks and has a dissenting opinion they are turned on and blocked as some posters here attest to. This isn’t about MN being better, as I’ve said I daren’t go on a Harry and Meghan thread for example. It’s about why people feel justified to tear apart a person online that they’ve never met because they don’t agree with their life choices.

I don’t agree with lots of parenting I see for example but I wouldn’t start calling someone a stupid hag with saggy tits out in public because I don’t think they are making the best decisions for their children. That’s basically what people are doing but from behind the safety of a screen.

That is a terrible thread title @Kingsparkle A lot of Tattlers would agree though I'm sure. There are posts, and areas, that are known cesspits, quite frankly.

I don't believe you'd get an actual ban for defending a celebrity? Though you might be strongly disagreed with, depending on the celebrity in question and the context.

I had my eyes opened to influencers who weren't being entirely open or clear about ads, etc. Kat Farmer was one (does my bum look 40) and I now no longer follow her. Jack Monroe another.

There are nasty people who go too far, but that's no different to here in some respects.

@Kingsparkle well no I don't agree with that, and I can honestly say that I've never participated in that sort of thing when I used to post. I would however call out someone who edits themselves to be half their real size on Instagram etc as I think it's such a bad example (especially as someone who used to suffer disordered eating). That's not, for example, calling someone fat but is pointing out their real size is bigger than they'd have you believe

I don't agree that anyone disagreeing is automatically jumped on, there is room for some debate, and some threads are worse than others for 'groupthink'. But for example the advice threads are a much kinder place than what you will find on here, despite this being a forum set up entirely for giving advice

Please someone invite me to tattle

would however call out someone who edits themselves to be half their real size on Instagram etc as I think it's such a bad example (especially as someone who used to suffer disordered eating). That's not, for example, calling someone fat but is pointing out their real size is bigger than they'd have you believe

Agree with this. Also the filters used, people will expose those by posting photos taken by others at the same event. It's not just slight enhancement but they can look like different people.

@everilla have you come across Katie Hayes!? Biggest catfish on earth - she has an excellent wiki over on tattle (you don't need to be a member to read)

I like a subtle filter not going to lie but I've never edited my body in any of my pics ever

@everilla - I picked the first one I saw, they were all pretty bad. I agree there are plenty of questionable influencers and they should be held to account for deceiving followers. I have no issue with people looking into scams/misleading ads etc. I still don’t think it justifies the levels people go to though. The obsessive hating on someone’s appearance, insulting their children, friends and family, calling up schools and social services and I think those sorts of threads foster an environment of trolling and bullying. I saw a statement from Noah Cyrus (Miley’s sister) yesterday about how people online had been commenting on her appearance since she 7-8 yrs old and how comments can drive people to suicide. I really don’t think there is an excuse for it.

I don’t agree with lots of parenting I see for example but I wouldn’t start calling someone a stupid hag with saggy tits out in public because I don’t think they are making the best decisions for their children

I agree with comments about (real) photos but you are using very careful language when you ‘don’t make the best decisions for their children* when people like the Saccone Jolys make their living by whoring out their children on every platform they can find.

What the bloggers are doing is far more harmful to their children than what other adults are saying about them.