Worst advice you've seen on a thread?

[PrincessAnne5Eva]

Lighthearted!

Ok so I've seen some corkers in the years I've been posting/lurking on MN. What's the worst advice you've ever seen on a thread? Here are a few (in no particular order):

Years ago, someone telling the OP to do all the housework and not give her four teenage children any simple chores to do because she was a single parent and they "needed to have a childhood" so couldn't possibly do the dishwasher or similar.

Someone on a pension thread telling the OP that her house was her pension, except she was renting and they hadn't read the OP properly.

Someone telling an OP without a car that going on holiday to the arse end of the Highlands to a tiny village was completely doable by public transport and encouraging her to go up there somehow and effectively get stranded in a village with no bus service or taxi companies.

Luckily on these sort of threads I also see a lot of people calling bullshit on the bad advice but it still makes me laugh and hope to God that the OP is sensible enough to listen to the majority (they usually are).

I'm not sharing all the bad "don't LTB you're giving up too quickly" advice I've seen over the years from lone voices because it's too depressing and this is a lighthearted thread.

'Cancel the cheque' (for those who've been here long enough for that delight of a thread)

Lots of that sort of advice when so many people have not bothered to read even the OPs subsequent posts on a thread and just jump in with an obvious piece of advice which has already been given 50 times.

@mrsmalaprop OMG I remember that one. It got to pages 10+ and people were still saying "OP can't you just cancel the cheque" without reading any of the updates.

I'd say the majority of advice I see on here is all awful

There was a thread about schools allocation last week that had advice based on every myth going, and giving advice that would have really fucked up people’s chance of getting their preferred school.

People really do not understand the Equal Preference system and that it is law in England.

Most bad advice is deeply worrying, not lighthearted.

Unless you mean “Get a bubble machine, a vuvuzela each and a Nerf gun” in response to “how can I occupy my children in the car on our 25 hour drive across Europe”

Don't worry, employers can't give bad references.

They can’t. They can give honest references or decline to give one at all.

An honest reference could be tantamount to a bad reference, for some.

I've just remembered one from a couple of years ago where a poster told the OP to ring 101 (in all seriousness) because a toddler kept walking on the edge of her driveway.

The thread I’ve just read where somebody suggested that OP forced herself into sex with her partner despite her having no desire to do so to “save your marriage”

I think the 2 that were so bad they were funny that stick in my mind are.
One woman complained that another Mum was being an absolute cow at nursery pick up and the advice was to leave chocolate on her car windscreen as a gift.
The other was when someone suggested that OP give her house to the people who were renting it from her when they were struggling with their rent.

The reoccuring one that does my head in most though is when people confuse Legal and Moral and go off on how OP should do XYZ because something is unfair etc when doing so would get them into a LOT of trouble

@Hoppinggreen You beat me to it with the house gifter thread - batshit!

I always cringe when posters say 'show them this thread'. Just imagine how that would go down in real life.

@Hoppinggreen OMG yeah just give your house away to the tenants!

"Tell them the patient has stopped breathing/is unconscious" on threads about waiting for an ambulance; I've seen that once or twice.

A) they'll get you to start doing CPR
B) has it occurred to you that the reason the ambulance isn't there yet is because they're dealing with people who are ACTUALLY unconscious and not breathing?

Oh and during Covid someone suggesting that milk is not an essential, just put cheese in your tea!

@iwentjasonwaterfalls That's appalling, I've never seen that (I do tend to avoid any health threads with one or two exceptions, though, as I can't help and some of the advice is so bad).
@IkeaMeatballGravy Mmmm delicious cheesy tea. 🤣 Now you mention it, I remember when people couldn't possibly comprehend that some people needed to take their children shopping during Covid e.g. single parents. And that one poster who kept advising people to make their own hand sanitiser out of aloe vera gel and vodka despite actual health professionals repeatedly telling them this was not going to work to kill pathogens.

Threads on Scotsnet... "should I defer my October born"... answer "why would you, they are the eldest, they can't be deferred".
Scottish education system is completely different! P1 is different to Reception class, the eldest are March borns, you can defer any child not 5.

And "don't put him on the birth certificate".

In England, an unmarried father has to either fill in a form or go the Register Office. You can't put him on the birth certificate anyway!

I find that most of the advice on the employment matters thread is incorrect and unhelpful. Eg If a poster has a gripe about their workplace there's always someone who advises them to resign and claim constructive dismissal even though there's no grounds for it and no breach of the employment contract.

Then an actual HR manager or employment lawyer posts sensible and legally compliant advice and gets shot down in flames!

'Lock your partner out the house with all his stuff
You really cannot do this in the UK if it is his house also....

It has to be the parking threads that bring out a few real lowlifes.

‘Someone has blocked me in…’

‘Key their car/let their tyres down/stick something to their windscreen that they won’t be able to remove…’

Someone had issues with the neighbour using their outside tap without permission, she was advised to block it off/put a lock on it but another poster warned against that "in case a homeless person needs a drink"

And constant ideas where a poster has £10 to last them 3 weeks and the cupboards are bare, and suggestions of growing your own veg because obviously that takes less than 3 weeks to be edible

For me it's the advice to respond to nasty comments, particularly from partners, by "giving as good as you get". So if he makes unpleasant comments about your physical appearance, then tell how small his dick is. Thereby giving him permission to say whatever he wants. Ditto telling kids to think of smart remarks to throw back at bullies.

No one ever tells men to do this.

If my partner didn't want sex and was forcing herself to have it for me, I'd be sickened when I found out. Any man who isn't sickened by that is only one small step from a rapist and isn't a suitable partner for any woman.

Not advice but i see it alot on here.
Older mums looking down on younger mums.
Saying they missed out and should have got the right man to have kids with. But most of these older mums come back after 2 year of having a baby asking for advice on divorce.
I had my son young and im still with my husband.
Having a baby under 30 seems to be to young for some on MN.