The Obsession With AI & Journalists On Some Threads

[BigFatBully]

There seems to be an obsession with accusing people of using AI to write posts or read threads and of being a journalist, primarily for the Daily Mail.

It's rather tiresome and disruptive to threads. If a person doesn't believe a post is genuine, then they don't have to read and reply to it.

Perhaps Mum's Net should prohibit the Daily Mail from using our content in their articles.

One of our rules is that we don't have "trollhunting" here, perhaps we should have "no journalist hunting" and "AI hunting".

We aren't paid for our posts here and we don't take any personal gain for posting on here.

There are a growing number of posts where someone might give a brief intro like ‘I’m always trying to think of new ways to entertain my kids / manage the housework / cook healthy & exciting meals’, perhaps give a couple of examples, & then finish with ‘I’d love to hear your stories!’

I’m sure most of them are leading up to promoting their blogs or simply trying to get ideas for them.

That sounds similar to how I would word a thread. It's the way to generate interest and structure posts well. It's also important to establish a purpose of the thread. Some of us are from marketing backgrounds and excel at persuasive writing. Some posters will articulate themselves well, spell correctly and use capitalization correctly and then be accused of using AI to write a post.

A thread is a discussion and giving some background and articulating the point and then inviting people to post below is what begins the discussion. It's similar to how advertisements on radio & television often finish with a call for action, such as "visit our shop to buy our products now". If a thread has no discussion below the opening post, it is merely a blog.

Honestly I reckon everything I read online from a vaguely identified source now is insincere and disingenous, whether ( either) AI or human generated.
Includes OP if I'm honest.

I don’t agree with you, as it happens.

Good to know, I suppose...🙄

Perhaps Mum's Net should prohibit the Daily Mail from using our content in their articles. or... Mumsnet?

Well how would they pay the bills here then?

Some of us are from marketing backgrounds and excel at persuasive writing. Some posters will articulate themselves well, spell correctly and use capitalization correctly and then be accused of using AI to write a post.

Maybe those posters could dumb it down for the rest of us, who don't excel at persuasive writing and just feel suspicious when posters on a predominantly UK site spell words with 'z' instead of 's' ?

Mum's Net receives advertising revenue from various organisations, for example, we are currently being sponsored by Tesco, Walt Disney & Tees Law.

There is also a premium subscription service.

I don't see why anyone should change their style of writing to appease someone who is overtly suspicious and lays awake at night wondering if someone who posted a thread on Mum's Net used AI to type out her post or not.

I doubt anyone is having sleepless nights with worrying about what's on mumsnet. If they are, than that's a much deeper issue.

Are you lying awake at night worrying because you have been accused of being a journo or ai?* *

If I'm honest, I'm not seeing much i to go with that a.

There are too many long winded, bizarre situation, threads where the OP never returns. Clearly AI written, usually end in ‘how can this be dealt with’ or similar.

I've started to check if the OP has returned before I comment. Just a waste of time and effort otherwise.

I think it is just click bait for MN, keep the pages turning. ☹️ (and the advertising revenue coming in).

Mum's Net receives advertising revenue from various organisations, for example, we are currently being sponsored by Tesco, Walt Disney & Tees Law.

...excel at persuasive writing, you say...🤔

I don’t believe I’ve ever lain awake at night worrying about whether the carefully crafted OPs ending in persuasive CTAs are AI / ad posts. I normally give a brief eyeroll or shrug & move on.

I am curious as to why the OP is spelling Mumsnet as Mum’s Net.

It's hardly an obsession, it happens on a small minority of posts. If you're regularly getting this response, perhaps your writing style isn't as persuasive or relatable as you think.

Agreed. I check now. Especially at weekends.

Some people excel at writing and others write "Mum's Net."

For the first time ever on Mum’s Net I’m watching this thread to see what the OP does next with their apparently excellent writing skills.

(Does anyone know when the site name is officially changing? For the 20+ years I’ve been here I have assumed that there was more than one mother; it’s nice to have the clarification at last. Was she Justine?)

I have many situations in my life where I think, 'ooh, I bet this would play out on MN,' but I would NEVER start a thread about them. I imagine the majority of people are the same. However, we are much more likely to respond to a situation that we have some experience of, or to tell the op they are wrong, or just to put our 2 pennyworths in.

So my theory is, most of the OPs on here (OK, maybe more specifically AIBU, Chat and Relationships) are disingenuous, whether from bots/AI/journos/turning a blind eye to trolls*, but the replies from us lot are genuine.

(Also, as an aside, but vaguely related to my point, can the 'I smell funny like an old person' troll please cease and desist?).

*edited to add: to drive traffic

OP the reason people are suspicious of this is because the DM lifts a lot of stories from here, and there are a lot of others clearly written by AI.

There is one up at the moment which has explicitly got chatGPT to re-write a current Reddit AITA thread which supposedly has nothing to do with the poster, “to get our comments”.

I personally don’t troll hunt but just ignore those posts. Which means I ignore a lot of AIBU.