Has anyone ever been found out via a Mumsnet post?

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I’m always too afraid to post anything on Mumsnet for fear of being found out in real life.
Some of the posts I’ve read on here recently have been very outing and I wondered if any if you who’ve posted have ever ben found out?

I have a couple of usernames where I might be pretty recognisable and will post medical things that might help others.

Otherwise regular name changes- this thread has been a prompt to do it now.

I’ve recognised someone on here before but would never say anything to them and I’m guessing they name change quite often.

Not that I know of. However, I've read several threads where I think 'I could've posted that OP' or 'i was just moaning about a similar situation! ' so people are probably guessing a lot of the time that they know the OP, but actually don't.

ive posted lots and lots of outing things but name change every 3 months or so.

I’ve found a friends post before where she talks about where to keep a pregnancy or have an abortion (the details of her current children and husbands reaction and pregnancy issues were too specific), I would never tell her I’ve read it though. It’s her business and personal

I've recognised someone on here and I'd be amazed if she hasn't recognised me. Nether of us has said anything though. I wouldn't be at all surprised if others have recognised me too. I don't name change, though I probably should.

Yes I had the same happen to me when we were having a very hard time and I was debating whether to leave or not. I’d offloaded a lot of very personal thoughts as I couldn’t talk to anyone in real life at that point. He ‘stumbled across’ the post, and all my other posts via that username. It was an awful invasion of privacy, but helped make the decision to leave so much easier.

I only know about 4 people, so it wouldn’t bother me to be honest.

I have both been recognised, and recognised someone else.

I posted a VERY specific situation and knew if anyone I knew was on here they'd know it was me, in hindsight I should have name changed for it. Friend mentioned it casually to me and I didn't mind about the post but then felt a bit embarrassed about my posting history, although I later looked and there was nothing bad really.

I name change for outing posts now.

I also spotted a friend, I have to admit I did look at her posting history out of pure nosiness.

I actually kept in touch with the person who found my posts as she had told the manager as she was concerned about me ( this was verified by a 3rd party) and was very upset at how things played out.
The manager told her clique of favourites and it was one of them who printed the thread out. IMO the manager should have been disciplined but ironically got signed off with stress when she was aware that HR were investigating.

This was a team of women in their 50's and 40's by the way .

No because I change my username quite often and tbh the only person who knows fine details about my life is my partner, and he doesn’t have MN😂, I have a very small amount of good friends who I confide in occasionally, but not very often because luckily for me my life is rather, ummmm “quiet”😅

Only once when someone posted something about a mutual friend who'd been in the news (very minor nothing exciting) and I looked at her username and worked out at once who they were.

I have found someone myself. They mentioned in a work-related thread that their firm was up for an industry award and they would be collecting the award. By coincidence, I was at the award ceremony. Never did anything about it nor mentioned it to them at the time.

Going back about 10 years I remember a thread where the OP was having a pop about a woman on the school run (I feel like she mentioned a red dress but I can’t be sure) and the woman found the post and came on to put the record straight.

That’s stuck in my mind for some reason. I always wonder if people who are described as CF’s recognise themselves!

I don’t think so but I’ve recognised other people

I've identified somebody and am 99.9% sure but I wouldn't ever let on to the fact ... What happens on Mumsnet stops on Mumsnet init.

I couldn't giv two ducks if anyone new who I was, people post there stuff on fb insta twitter with there faces on display etc so I don't actually care if someone thought they new me let's face it people don't actually no people life things happen to everyone but that doesn't define the person

Yeah, a woman who I thought was a school-mum friend, who I directed to MN to get specific advice. I didn’t go looking for her- why would I? - however she stalked me, discovered a post I’d made about my troubled then 15 year old DS, a YEAR or so previously, immediately ran to her son with what I’d posted, (a boy who was supposed to be friends with my son) who promptly contacted my son, laughing and threatening to spread what he’d read around college.

This boy, when challenged (by my son) claimed my post had ‘popped up on his feed’, like MN threads do on 16 year olds’ PCs… 🧐

I contacted the principal of the college who ‘had a word’ with this lad about cyber-bullying, so he sensibly desisted but it did a huge amount of damage between DS and me for a while (although he now, 7 years later, recognises that everything I said at the time was true…). Ironically, I got some great advice on that thread which has been of benefit!

I did revenge myself by cutting her off immediately and making sure the entire mum friendship group knew why, to warn them of the snake in our midst.

She might still be stalking me, but I don’t really care. Such a pathetic woman.

I find it quite odd how cagey people are about potentially being identified.
Obviously for the very personal or sensitive topics it makes sense, but you also get "oh I don't want to give any context at all because it's too outing" on the most innocuous threads.
So what if the world knows who you are when you express your opinion on shoe colour or library opening times?

Yes I was recognized by a uni friend from something as innocuous as the ages of my children. She said there was just something about the way it was written that sounded like me. I name changed!

What is wrong with people? Why do they have to be such cunts?

I recognised my sister in law, but never said anything - it was about 12 years ago

There is someone I recognise on here. I would be able to tell you their real name and some background info, but I wouldn't do that. I have considered letting them know privately but I don't think that's necessary. I think it would be nice to catch up but that would out me to them. I don't know if I care about that or not, so haven't. To be honest, I doubt they would care or be interested really.

In general I do think most people's situations are quite generic and more common in the world than you think, but there are specifics that can ring a bell if you know the person well enough.

No I’ve never recognised anyone. I don’t think anyone has recognised me, I don’t start threads and don’t post anything controversial or even particularly interesting. I’m a very bland poster.

Twice. I’ve had two threads taken by the Daily Mail.

One my husband spotted it and only he knew about it so that wasn’t a big deal.

The second was in my very early days on MN. I posted about an incident and as the thread progressed I shared some very personal information. Unbeknownst to me, it was on the DM and I had told a few people including colleagues about the incident, which then led them to my thread and they found out my personal history. It was nothing that made me look bad but something very personal that I didn’t want anyone to know and instead lots of people ended up knowing. I had no idea about DM taking articles at that point, or how big the audience is for the website. I went off MN for a while and now I name change regularly, name change whenever I start a new thread, and change details slightly, so I say that I have a girl rather than a boy, etc (which has then actually got me in trouble with MN!).

I have an ex-husband who made a post on here then I joined in and it was eventually deleted!

We were in the middle of a messy divorce at the time!

I'm open about using MN so I have no doubt I've been recognised.

I've seen posts that could have been written by me. I often wonder if someone has used my story as their own.

I have also recognised a few posters. My old neighbour had a long running thread about me. It was all utter nonsense and everyone was supporting her lies of us being the problem neighbours. She was the horrible neighbour! I really enjoyed trolling her on it. She posted her moving dates and this confirmed it was definitely her. Thankfully our new neighbour is lovely. (Looks like your plan of selling to a young lad in hopes of annoying us has backfired June).

I can spot ex mil with her ranty gibberish nonsense any day. She's a loon.

I've also spotted a few friends. I've never told them or looked up any of their other posts because that would be creepy and wrong.