to be increasingly uncomfortable with...

[Funtimewincies]

...the use of phrases like 'Mumsnet recommends', 'Mumnet voted', 'Mumsnet is calling for'.

I'm quite prepared for the possibility of coming across as a grumpy, antisocial old hag but from other media using us to argue a particular viewpoint to campaigns in our name with (IMO) not enough discussion. We are encouraged to believe that MN is our own (although we know it's a business and so is not) but the lumping of us all together as of the same opinion is ludicrous.

For pity's sake, we can barely agree on our own names most of the time .

Sorry if it's just me, but the 'Mumsnet swears by' has tipped me over the edge. So, AIBU?

mumsnetters say yabu

I think there could be a consensus of sorts on some subjects I suppose, although I see what you're getting at.

But isn't all advertising and recommending of products a 'lie' or exaggeration to some extent?

YANBU. There is rarely a consensus on individual threads, so how any claim can be made to MN collective support for a particular product is beyond me.

The trouble is, media and advertising can't get their heads around the idea that people can have different opinions and not all be wrong. if you want to be taken seriously, you have to present a united front, despite the fact that people often are more inherently suspicious of that in certain situations (coughcouchcoalitioncough).

flip.

Sort of, AgentZigZag, except that I've been on MN for a while now and I can't honestly say that I've ever seen a consensus on any key issues that gets picked up on in the media. Not enough to not make me go 'hang on...' anyway.

The product placing is merely irritating, although it was a case of the last straw .

YABU, its a great idea.

(Just to prove the point that we rarely all agree!)