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Original poster

Do you have a MN friend in real life?

27 replies

betsisherman · 03/05/2024 04:24

Has anyone ever got to a stage when they wanted to meet another MN fellow in person, after bonding with them through a chat, then arranged to see each other in the 'wild', and stayed in touch / became best friends since?

OP posts:
ineedtostopbeingdramaticfirst · 03/05/2024 06:05

I joined a what's app group where we all chatted. There was talk of meeting up but a few were resistant.

I'm not in the group anymore but still chat to a few of them

Eastmidlands · 03/05/2024 06:13

Yes, I would definitely consider them good friends possibly not my best friend but definitely friends for life.

ZeroFucksGivenToday · 03/05/2024 06:16

Oh gosh, yes. We were all in a postnatal group together. Moved to a closed FB group around 6 months pregnant.

our children are around 10 now, loads of us have met up, stayed at each others houses etc. they're a fabulous bunch of women I'm proud to call my friends.

Hoglet70 · 03/05/2024 06:17

I've got a couple of Mumsnet friends from my real life but we don't know who we are on here, we just know we are on here. I'm careful what I say!!

blackcurrantqueen · 03/05/2024 06:18

I have made friends through both TTC and birth groups. Met up with a couple and consider them fabulous friends!

Perputuallyperplexed · 03/05/2024 06:19

Same as @ZeroFucksGivenToday an absolutely wonderful bunch of humans who are always there if needed

Neveralonewithaclone · 03/05/2024 06:22

YES!!! Several and they are very good friends who I'm in touch with daily. And meet up with IRL.

marriednotdead · 03/05/2024 06:25

Yes, have kept in touch with a couple of people from the days where MN had meet ups.
Became good friends with someone through a support thread, sadly she’s no longer here.

Another person from the same thread I would regard as one of my closest friends. She lives hundreds of miles away so we have never met in person but we have been speaking on the phone at least once or twice a week for over a decade and get on like a house on fire.

ControlShiftDelete · 03/05/2024 07:00

I feel like I missed the best part of mumsnet. I joined 6 years ago. I heard a few people who were witnesses for registry office marriages for fellow mumsnetters.

Original poster
betsisherman · 03/05/2024 18:19

Really interesting. I didn't think there will be so many. I'm not talking about knowing people that are MN's users, that's different. Chances are you hang out with like-minded people so they either know of MN or are users. I was curious to know if the social network extends outwards and connections grow beyond cyber space and it seems that they do!

Personally I would like to keep my conversations virtual. After all anonymity is the main enabler for the level of sharing in this space (for me anyway).

OP posts:
Bigearringsbigsmile · 03/05/2024 18:21

Yes. I have been here a very long time and a bunch of us oldies keep in touch and chat and meet up in real life.

PossumintheHouse · 03/05/2024 18:26

Not from Mumsnet, but I used to frequent another forum and met a few people from that. Overall, a good experience, and one person has remained a close friend. Had one awful experience with a bonkers bloke when we met at uni. I'd meet up if I bonded with a fellow MNetter.

OpusGiemuJavlo · 03/05/2024 18:31

Yes but not exactly like getting to know eachother here first - it was more like me posting something like "help I am desperate and not coping at all with being a toddlermum does anyone live near me" and someone lovely replied and we met up and became really good friends. We both name change regularly though so I don't know her current username.

Also part of a meetup group that still gets together about twice a year.

AhBiscuits · 03/05/2024 18:34

I've met several that were on threads for the months my children were born. I'm still in a FB group with them and see some from time to time.

AhBiscuits · 03/05/2024 18:39

I was on a weight watchers forum 20 years ago and became close friends with several women. We still go on holiday together once a year.

TheFormidableMrsC · 03/05/2024 18:42

Yes there's a group of us who have a WhatsApp chat. I've had one lovely MN'er stay at my house multiple times. Friends for life, I hope, they saw me through a very dark time of my life

MissAmbrosia · 03/05/2024 19:26

Yes - a few. The closest more via a FB group that was started via MN, and I am still FB friends with quite a few more that I met at meet ups back in the day. Everyone is quite far spread so I don't see people very often in person, but we chat lots. I put someone up in an emergency situation once and we are still firm friends 12/13 years+ on. I would not even consider doing that these days.

Crankyfeminist · 03/05/2024 19:46

Yes, a group that came out of a TV-programme specific thread. There is a small group of us now who talk every day online, and meet up when we're in each other's part of the country.

NotAgainWilson · 03/05/2024 19:49

Yes! But from the times when Mumsnet was so small you could post on all the threads before going to bed and when there were official Mumsnet’s get togethers away.

One lovely mumsnetter came to spend the day with me the weekend after my marriage ended and kept in touch for 15 years.

We also had the first foreign language speaking thread, which led to long standing friendships and a couple of mumsnetters weekends away with our families… the hubbies got along brilliantly, us… we talked until the Sun came out! 🙂

Helplessandheartbroke · 03/05/2024 19:50

Yes here. I'm In 2 WhatsApp groups, met 1 irl and speak to one daily she's a very good friend now x

LindorDoubleChoc · 03/05/2024 19:50

Not best friends, but yes a few.

NotAgainWilson · 03/05/2024 19:51

Ah, forgot another one… a spin off the OLD threads, we had a separate space in Facebook, it was lovely. I have met one of them in
person and are still in sporadic contact with the rest in Facebook.

Metrictum · 03/05/2024 19:54

Not me but my sister has made a group of five friends via MN that’s been going about ten years or more now.

They don’t live in the same area but meet up quite regularly such that I’ve actually met a few of them as they came to her 40th bday! they met on the antenatal board.

TakeTen · 03/05/2024 19:59

Not me, but I know someone who did meet up with someone on here as their kids had the same disability and they’ve stayed friends. It was years ago when the site was smaller.

I used to chat to a woman on here who decided to meet up with a man from here. All seemed ok at first but his true colours soon showed and he was a total creep. She doesn’t use mumsnet anymore but he’s still here with the same username pretending to be a good guy. 🤢

TotalDramarama24 · 03/05/2024 20:02

I went to one MN meet up many years ago in London when there used to be regular meet ups arranged in various locations. It was fun but I didn't keep in touch with anyone and don't think I would go again as I can barely be bothered meeting up with friends and family nowadays.

There are two people I have recognised on MN from real life but I would never mention it to them.

There were a couple of posters from the old days I would have loved to meet in real life, not to be friends but just to find out wtf was going on in their heads.

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