Have you ever read a thread and changed your mind on an opinion you felt strongly about?

[howmanytimesnc]

Often I read threads where people have very die hard opinions on subjects and I always wonder if there is anybody that engages in a thread or reads it thinking one thing and then sees other opinions / points and change their minds? If you did, would you admit it?

No, but there aren't many things I have really entrenched views on.

Yes. I can't think of a good example where I had very strong views and changed my mind, but there is plenty where I had a fairly mild view towards/against something and then ended up with strong views the other way.
Surrogacy is a good example of this.

I have also been educated a lot on ableist views, which I may have been guilty of having and hope I don't any more.

It's also given me some ideas of things that I had no idea were controversial (taking in a package for a neighbour) is an absolute minefield of grey areas and second guessing.

Yeah, I agree on the ableist bit. I think I’ve had to reflect on some things too reading some threads. Most recently, (probably not ableist as such) but there was a thread about childcare hours and I was very adamant that I was in the same boat as OP (got promoted, lost the benefit, felt I was being done a disservice) but actually someone made a point (and I am paraphrasing hugely) that you weren’t able to afford it, now you can, so there is no arguing with that really.

Was that the one where the OP earned £160,000pa but due to the "cliff edge" nature of childcare support payments, she would have been just as well off if she'd been earning £99,999, or something like that? Which annoyed her?

That was an interesting thread. She was technically right - the benefit is badly structured and unfair, and a disincentive to promotion during the childcare years - but I'm not sure she managed to win anyone's sympathy.

@zaxxon yep that’s the one. I agree there are holes in that benefit - I always have been of the belief that if both earners had 99,999 each which puts them at under 200,000 combined they’re better off than someone earning 100,000 and the other person let’s say 20, or SAHP, that’s where it seems unfair and I still agree with that point, but she didn’t handle herself well. But yeah, despite that, I have less of a chip on my shoulder because of the one poster that said, you can afford it so it’s not there for you.

No. I wouldn’t have expected others to say they do either. When I have an opinion (as opposed to indifferent) I have generally satisfied myself that I have all the information to make that decision.

@howmanytimesnc You're wiser than the OP of that thread then! 😁 Money, especially benefits, is such a sore point on here that it's hard to find replies that treat it logically.

That's another thing MN has opened my eyes to: how many people are getting by on a real financial knife edge, so that one small unexpected charge in the week can throw them into a panic. Rationally I knew this was the case thanks to news reports etc. but it's heartbreaking to read about.

Yes, I saw this in full flight on a long running thread yesterday (I have quite a bit of spare time at the moment!). I’d never really seen it before, and, according to someone else, this poster has form for this. Utterly bonkers (and tedious.) Not sure why MN let them get away with it. (I did report.)

Yes, there are a few names I’ve learnt to recognise too!