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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

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Original poster

fake threads/trolls

133 replies

ghostspirit · 15/11/2015 17:06

just seen 2 threads removed. so must happen often, Are there really lots of fake threads/trolls.

is there such a thing as a harmless troll?

i was reading one of them threads to! never mind

OP posts:

ToadsJustFellFromTheSky · 15/11/2015 17:48

Yes there are lots.

I believe harmless trolls are known as drolls.

BrandNewAndImproved · 15/11/2015 17:51

Yes.

It's not always goady fuckers a lot of posts are attention seeking for lonely fuckers. Ones about cancer, dead children, fake live birth threads ect all for attention.

SuperFlyHigh · 15/11/2015 17:53

Yes tons of fake threads and trolls.

Though I was wondering whether as in the case of the woman with a sponging DP just now how often they do get looked into and then reinstated?

Original poster

ghostspirit · 15/11/2015 17:58

i think its sad that if someone that lonely. they feel the need to do that :( why not make it something positive they post or just a standard thing. why things that are hurtful/upsetting. cant be good for them either.

OP posts:

BIWI · 15/11/2015 17:59

Which ones have been deleted? There have been a few recently that I've been reading thinking they can't possibly be true/must be trolls.

MaudGonneMad · 15/11/2015 18:01

The fake miscarriages ones?

Sick fucker

GloriaHotcakes · 15/11/2015 18:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

squidzin · 15/11/2015 18:02

After being on here for 5 years (ish) I have come to the unfortunate conclusion that most threads in "relationships" are made up, a proportion of threads in "AIBU" are made up and a few threads in "chat" are made up but most other areas are safe.

Trolling is time wasting and some people who have active imaginations with no life.

BrandNewAndImproved · 15/11/2015 18:03

Also near Christmas brings out the sob stories for money and parcel threads.

londonrach · 15/11/2015 18:03

I feel for the trolls. Says more about them than mntters. I will continue to treat each thread as real as it might help a lurker.

Brocklady · 15/11/2015 18:05

Obviously trolling is wrong but I'm pretty sure one of those threads was genuine.

I'm more inclined to disbelieve the numerous ones in chat about what to buy for food banks - I think they want a bit of 'oh you sound lovely OP'!

PurpleDaisies · 15/11/2015 18:08

The fake miscarriage ones were really quite upsetting. There were a few others by the same poster that went-something about swearing at soneone in Iceland and another about stopping a kid from running at a swimming pool.

ShebaShimmyShake · 15/11/2015 18:08

Once upon a time, all trolls were harmless...the term meant winding people up harmlessly online. Anything else was abusive, or at least not called trolling. The term has changed over time.

It's entirely possible to have a harmless wind up online. The original goal of trolling was to get people worked up over something that really wasn't important at all. Sometimes it could be hilarious. There was a famous example of people getting furious over which blog platform was preferable.

I think the art's been lost now though.

Original poster

ghostspirit · 15/11/2015 18:10

im to slow to pick out fake threads but i would treat them as real as well. because never know who may be in a simlar situation.

what if someone is not a troll/fake and get kicked out for nothing.. that would be so hurtful

OP posts:

ilovesooty · 15/11/2015 18:13

Some GFs start three or four threads in a very short space of time on a small range of familiar topics. They start again with a new name a few days later. Some of them are PBP s too. It's tedious.
The trolls who post about emotive subjects and draw people in are a lot worse than tedious. They're sick.
I think a lot of Relationships is made up and quite a bit of AIBU.

anothernumberone · 15/11/2015 18:14

There are tonnes this weekend alright. Must be the time of year for it.

Original poster

ghostspirit · 15/11/2015 18:17

purple i saw the pool one where is was said there had been a miscarrige a few days before. i did think surely u cant swim a few days after a miscarrige. but then i dont know enough about them. may have even meant few days after the bleeding had stopped...

i think the junk food swearing at old lady was a harmless wind up. but then if both same poster maybe alarm bells

OP posts:

howtorebuild · 15/11/2015 18:18

I wondered if the nasty ex was a reverse.

ilovesooty · 15/11/2015 18:19

That thread about the lady in Iceland was already beginning to attract ageist comments.

Muskey · 15/11/2015 18:21

Purple daisies I saw the kid in the swimming pool and thought it was a bit weird. I do wonder why people do this. Are they looking for something ie people feeling sorry for them or to give them praise. Whichever way you look at it looking for approval from complete strangers is a bit sad and they are more to be pitied than laughed at. But I do get annoyed when they seem to sucker people in, who are trying to be kind and/or helpful. If I smell a rat then I don't post. (Hoping I am not being trolled emoticon)

Original poster

ghostspirit · 15/11/2015 18:22

sooty i post alot but im not a troll.

i like that fact people can name change. but i dont think its good it can be done all the time. as it allows people to hide/play games

OP posts:

PurpleDaisies · 15/11/2015 18:22

On both the pool and the Iceland one the op kept forgetting which user name she was supposed to be using and posted comments as someone else. There was some really obvious sock puppetry going on.

LineyReborn · 15/11/2015 18:23

The thing about the swearing in the shop thread was that she said she'd just lost a baby. That's not harmless.

Original poster

ghostspirit · 15/11/2015 18:26

purple i see the name change thing. i thought it was quite funny. maybe thats bad dont know but i thought it was.

oh liney yes now you say that i remember now. yes she had said that. i forgot. so no that was not harmless at all.

OP posts:

Shockers · 15/11/2015 18:26

I didn't believe a thread which turned out to be true. I got a very gentle slap on the hand from MNHQ, so I treated threads after that with the utmost caution. Two of them have already been deleted, just one week on.

I'm only joining in with threads with 'boring' or 'lighthearted' in the title from now on .

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