Mumsnet things that make me not to want to help. Or even engage…

[CurlewKate]

“His hobby” “Person A and person B” Or even worse “Person A-let’s call them Sid”

But if you just say "My friend Sid", or even "My friend 'Sid' ", you often get people instantly urging you to report your thread and ask for it to be deleted/amended, as "this could be very outing if anybody who knows Sid in real life sees this"!

This is MN, after all, where even if you give your thread the title "My DH and I are worried about our autistic 13yo DD", you'll have people asking "How old is your child?", "Is your child a boy or a girl?", "Might your son be neurodiverse?" and "Are you married?" !

I don't know about the other posters who find this irritating, but for me it's the writing style rather than the fake names.

Why introduce the scenario with persons A-F and then continue by adding in the fake names one by one, using the oddly grating phraseology "let's call her"? Let's not.

Why not just use fake names, and if compelled to clarify then just add "not their real names" in parentheses.

The ‘line eyes’ threads.

The OP inverting the image, flipping it, shining a flash on it, etc.

There is no line. They know there’s no line.

Other posters telling the OP they can see the line (because they’re kind and want the OP to be happy).

There is no line.

I do agree with your second paragraph.

Your first can be addressed by adding (not their real names).

'Person A, let's call them Sid'. And then never again is the name Sid mentioned throughout the detailed OP about them.

And people saying 'this is not for publication anywhere else'.. like that makes any difference and their story is almost always bone crushingly mundane to the point no media outlet would have the slightest interest.

The obsession with trans people. The inappropriate use of the word 'safeguarding'. The endless questions that have been clearly answered in the OP.

For me the worst is

OP: writes a 2,000-word saga. Also OP: never returns to answer a single question.

It's really helpful to have A and B, or fake names.

What's the alternative?

Oh yes this is annoying!

Just because Red Dwarf Archery isn't your thing...

'I' and 'she' is better than A and B.

You have to actively go looking for threads about trans people, they're not liberally sprinkled all over MN - unless someone randomly inserts the subject into a thread about something else entirely of course...

It's always cycling!

it’s stories about more than one person and instead of saying “he” or “she” the op says “they” instead of she, making it look like both people did whatever, confusing us because only one person did whatever.

even im confusing myself now.

just say he or she.
nobody knows you.
nobody knows what youre on about.
unless you’re the red dwarf archery guy of course….

I always check to see if the OP continually replies before I invest.
Sometimes a thread is running into hundreds and the OP has left the building after replying thrice.

The undecipherable acronyms really annoy me.
They are never common to the general population. OP rambles on for hundreds of lines and uses Acronyms nobody can work out.
There is zero chance of me Googling if the OP can't be arsed writing the word 🤨

"Think..."
"Fast forward..."
"Myself and my husband..."

People writing as if they assume you know who they are. Also silly simpering expressions like "Me being me..."

Either no paragraphs or every single sentence has its own paragraph.

Ect.

Eccentric... punctuation ,like this ,or this !

Doznes of tpyso.

When the OP doesn't bother coming back or keeps everyone gender neutral. Both very irritating.

Yes, ridiculously contrived use of "they" as if saying the sex of who they're posting about would somehow be outing.

I’ve noticed recently there have been several where the OP asks a question about family finances embellished with a whinge about the cost of living but won’t give away any details of their own financial situation so that anyone can actually help them. I suspect it’s for market research.

When an OP ignores all replies but only comes back to keep telling us how shit their boyfriend is

Or worse - when they come back defending him by saying what a good dad he is.

Or golf. Or endless visits to the gym.

But how does "let's call him Sid" or "I'll call him Sid" differ materially from "My friend Sid (not his real name)" ?

But what if it's about a hen do drama and there are a dozen people there who would be 'she'?

Yes, as though it's anonymous if the person is question could be any one of 8 billion people, but narrowing the person down to one of only 4 billion possibilities will make it obvious who it's about!

If you're so bothered, just switch the sexes around - so that it's your 'daughter' when it's actually about your son; or it's your 'grandad' when you're really talking about your grandma - and use appropriate pronouns. It doesn't usually matter, unless you end up talking about your fears that your teen son might be pregnant or your grandad's concerning menopause-related symptoms, I suppose.

I hate it when people put "AIBU" as the title of their thread, with no further detail. If it's already in the AIBU thread, we already know it's AIBU. Why not say "AIBU to think that people should be nice to puppies" (or whatever).