MN now feels too outing to post.

[Chaiilatte]

Does anyone else feel like they can't post on here anymore as it's way too outing? Not so much trivial problems but more so posting personal problems.. I don't follow MN on Facebook and the threads are always suggested to me on there. Also seen MN suggested to H on his Facebook account when he's sitting next to me, which shows the first paragraph of someone's post.

I wanted to post on here and thought mine might come up suggested on his account and it will be obvious it's me if I've posted my situation.
I just don't think it feels as safe and private as it used to now it's plastered all over Facebook too.

I agree. I really don't like the Facebook thing - it means that any random people may come across your post. I tend to comment more than post these days.

And also anything really interesting is liable to get picked up by certain newspapers and other social media. I agree OP. I’ve definitely held back from posting a couple of specific problems as they would be outing if anyone I know saw them. Ridiculous as there are literally millions of posts each month, but I’m paranoid 😋

Agreed. I had a potentially outing post picked up by the press and mnhq refused to delete it, even though it was causing me a lot of anxiety. It was really frustrating as I’ve often read messages on deleted threads saying something like ‘potentially identifying’ or ‘causing anxiety’.

Sorry I don't understand, do you mean an ad for MN on Facebook? How would a paragraph come up? Or is it linking FB and MN for you because you logged in from same account? I'm not in FB or any social media so don't know how it works. I certainly was not aware something I post her could be copied across to FB or any other platform. I know its public obviously but I thought you had to go into MN to read.

I don't really post at all except trivia like which fitness accounts to follow on YouTube. Partly because I'm not sure I want to know what randoms and trolls think of my life, and partly because of that paranoia.

It comes up like this on FB

I had no idea about the fb page. Don’t like that at all.
I left for a bit then came back with a new name after a tabloid picked up my first ever thread which absolutely horrified me. Could have caused me a lot of trouble, not because I had lied at all but because I had told what actually happened and it was so weird that the person involved would have known it was about them immediately. Thankfully mnhq deleted it at my request.
I don’t read tabloids so it never occurred to me that they would make forum posts into so called journalism.
It has made me more wary which is a shame.

@spikeandbuffy thanks for that. I am shocked the actual text comes up in an ad!

I for one will have to think twice about using MN again after this. We should be made aware of this, there was no communication made. That's actually really shitty of MN, and a very poor marketing decision.

Yes, I found myself quoted in the Times recently, thankfully I had used a one-off name because of the newsworthy subject matter but I was still a bit surprised. I change detail a lot more than I used to and rarely start a thread..

Didn't you read the terms and conditions when you signed up?

You were informed.

Why is posting threads on social media that will get people to the site a poor marketing decision?

I am thinking that it will stop others posting therefore lose traffic. Also the site becomes less sincere if people are changing more details, so it would lose its purpose.

It's not just journo and fb but it's over invested posters trying to search people posts or putting together 2 and 4 and making 10 but trying to link to others posts claiming it's one poster.

I name change frequently so my posts aren't linked. Yes it's an enormous site and the likelihood of my being identified is small, but I work in healthcare and would rather my private life not be known to my patients!

Change enough detail but most problems are shared anyway so not unique to you.

personally I’d think twice about posting because of some of the really really bad advice (sometimes to actual legal questions) and some of the vitriolic or extreme advice. If you felt very fragile I would think mums net could tip you over the edge

MN are on tiktok too. I had no idea until a thread popped up on my FYP.

I change details and name all the time, I imagine most people do too

That's interesting because I've been on MN over 13 years and FB has never suggested it to me, or my husband? 😳

Is it linked to your email or something OP?

Then again, it wouldn't be linked to your DH's email.

They've been posting on Facebook for years, it doesn't stop people posting.

When I do post I find myself changing little details to try not to be identifiable

I didn’t know this. I didn’t even know there was a facebook page! Seems a bit crass to display actual posts.

Tbh who actually reads the terms and conditions for things? I certainly don’t.
Clearly my own decision but I think telling people
We might put your post on our public fb page without telling you
would make it much clearer to members.

This is how MN describes itself: Mumsnet makes parents' lives easier by pooling knowledge, advice and support... etc. That was my understanding of it too. It upsets me that someone's mental health crisis or moral dilemma or relationship breakdown, in their own vulnerable words, is considered advertising material by Mn so everyone on SM can click in and have a laugh. It may be legal but is highly unethical IMO, and makes me think very little of the moral judgement of those working here.

Agree.

https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=mumsnet.com

It's a public page and has 251K followers

If you don't read the terms and conditions you have no right to complain you don't know what's in them.

There's been posts like that on the mumsnet page on FB for a few years at least,.