"Name changed as so outing"

[GlitteringUnicorn]

I see this often.
Is it a real thing?
Has anyone ever been recognised on a website this massive?
Even worse has anyone joined a thread to give their counter argument if they recognise themselves being malligned?!

I have 😳I'd name changed too....

99/100 there's not a single outing thing in their post

I've recognised 2 people in the 12 years I've been posting.

i have, there are some very odd people around.

I’ve been on here for about 12 years and have recognised 4 people.

I think the point is that one post may not be recognisable, but different information shared across different threads could be if put together.

It's because they don't want it linked to their other posts!

I've recognised someone on here before and they were posting about a very sensitive topic!

I've recognised 2 or 3 people I know.

I name change a lot even though I give relatively little personal information about myself. Without name changing I think there would be enough information for someone to recognise me and I don't want that.

I sometimes talk about my job but do that under a different username too.

Yes. Unfortunately my ex-husband's incredibly insecure wife keeps finding me on here and "pretending" to be someone she's not!
So sad. I feel for her 😞

It will be outing because the OP’s DH has a hobby that would be instantly recognisable.

It’s always cycling.

One of my friends recognised me on here. I've recognised one person and have suspicions about another.

I've not done a name change as I've never started a thread about something very personal. But if I was gong to then I would name change

I recognised someone, the moment I did I stopped reading the thread.

I do post pretty outing stuff. I've recognised people on here. I've also seen MN threads rehashed in the papers and spread over Twitter. Mn has been sued by people who cite individual posting names. Individuals have been outed by the media in political campaigns - one got visited by the Prime Minister.

I think anyone who takes the public nature of this site seriously in matters affecting their own lives is being very sensible.

I was recognised on here. It was very specific circumstances.

Yep, I recognised someone from my.NCT group

I've been recognised. I was mortified. The woman actually messaged me separately to pick up the conversation in real life.

Yes I recognised two friends, one from a Facebook post she then posted about on here and another because I knew her well enough to recognise her writing style plus her situation. People NC for potentially outing threads so if they do get recognised it doesn't link to the rest of their posts and people can't nosy about in all the things they post on mumsnet.

No,I think people probably think they know people on here and they do not.

Does anybody remember the thread where 2 women were arguing as they knew each other literally we could all read it! Can't even remember the topic but ohhh my!

If someone is posting something potentially identifiable about a particular incident, at school say, or some sort of event, and it is a unique set of circumstances that other people involved could recognise immediately, then of course you are going to name change to post it. Otherwise folks are going to search your username and maybe find out about your wedding in Hawaii, your approximate age and those of your kids, the last time you moved house, the fall-out with your friend, what your cat looks like, and your and your dp's occupations. So the people who recognise the situation will then be able to identify you personally. They then might also find out about your dp's peccadilloes in the bedroom, the fact that you are nc with your parents, your embarrassing medical condition, whatever.

Why take that risk?

90% of the time they’ve name changed because it’s outing that their husband golfs at the weekend 🙄

But how on earth does she recognise you?

I’ve been here 15 years and never recognised anyone.

now I’m paranoid that people may have recognised me! What is it that gives the game away? 😳

Nothing to hide. Even if yes, not bothered at all because no one I knows mentions mumsnet in real life

Not in here but on a different forum which doesn't exist now, someone was recognised by their boss and lost their job over what they had posted. The forum had to create a code to go through all the thousands of threads and remove completely every last post the person had made.

My off line tribe are old fashioned continental women. Who on earth from modern English ladies will be even interested in me