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Original poster

Why do people do a search to check on a poster's history?

86 replies

honeyfull · 21/04/2017 22:08

I just don't get it. I enjoy reading and sometimes contributing, but honestly that is stalking and girding the loins for a throwback on a thread.

I have never done it. I mean that honestly. Why would I?

OP posts:
SoupDragon · 21/04/2017 22:42

Advanced Searched

Original poster
honeyfull · 21/04/2017 22:43

Soup.

Thanks. Must try harder to get with the lingo!

OP posts:
Witchend · 21/04/2017 22:45

The only time I have done it was in the wanted section where someone had a sob story about how they'd ended up looing after their 9 month old dgd and 5yo dgs and nothing for them. Could people send equipment/clothes etc. Absolutely desperate they were, would take anything. Had a fair number of responses offering quite substantial things etc.

For some reason it didn't sound right quite right, too many sob boxes ticked, and I did a search on their name and found that 6 months previously she'd done pretty much identical story with a 10month dgd and a 8yo dgs.
Rather strangely a lot of the people who were offering things had offered on both too.

SoupDragon · 21/04/2017 22:45

If I search a posting history, I rarely bother looking at the posts, just how many there are. If there are only a small number, all recent, I might look though.

Pinkandwhiteblossoms · 21/04/2017 22:48

I use it differently tbh. Occasionally I will find a Mumsnetter interesting. That's usually a compliment, it means I either think their posts are clever and thoughtful and want to read more of them or less commonly I find their lives intriguing.

The downside is AS doesn't take you to that point in a thread so you can read a 30 page thread to find your heroine posted 'no op YANBU, that was obnoxious of them' Grin

Original poster
honeyfull · 21/04/2017 22:51

I suppose my gripe is with posters who actually SAY they have searched a poster's history and give an update.....

Sure, Go ahead and look, but no need to tell everyone you did that either is there? Or do people think other contributors are too stupid not to check for themselves, quietly, and without fuss.

I just leave the thread if I get a spidey feeling TBH.

OP posts:
ToastyFingers · 21/04/2017 22:56

I do it sometimes, usually when a poster mentions a small problem with their dh, but it sounds like part of a much bigger picture. Or if something seems a bit far-fetched. I'd never mention it though, and probably wouldn't remember the posters username for long.

hmcAsWas · 21/04/2017 23:06

I am grateful to posters who hint on a thread that there may be an issue with a poster - saves me time and energy. It's not about thinking other posters are too stupid to check things out themselves, it's providing a useful heads up to other Mners as a courtesy

hmcAsWas · 21/04/2017 23:08

i also can't work out why you feel so strongly about this Confused

DramaAlpaca · 21/04/2017 23:13

I've no problem using advanced search, it's there to be used. I wouldn't mention anything I saw on a thread, but it might help me decide whether to report or not.

Vroomster · 21/04/2017 23:23

Some posters come back week after week to post the same thing without ever coming back to reply or listening to anyone. I don't want to waste my time replying.

And not everything always adds up. One week a poster may be talking about an issue with their DH and their two dc, and the next time they have a dp and no children. Again, it's a waste of mine and anyone else's time.

Original poster
honeyfull · 21/04/2017 23:26

I just wish posters would not announce their Sherlock Holmes skills on a thread.

That's all I meant.

I know the function is there, so those who want to use it, use it, but don't announce the results! Why would you.

Do you think other posters are thick, stupid or something and need your guidance?

OP posts:
TheWayYouLookTonight · 21/04/2017 23:35

I've never searched a posters previous threads. My issue with it is different though, it annoys me more when the OP starts with something like 'you will know the back story from my previous threads'. No I don't, and I don't have the time or inclination to do all the legwork to bring myself up to speed so I can be qualified to participate further in the thread. Others will disagree I'm sure, but IMHO unless a thread is a direct continuation of one that got full, it should be self explanatory or at least have links to relevant content.

Voice0fReason · 21/04/2017 23:35

I find it helpful when someone else has searched and explains massive inconsistencies between the current post and previous posts.
Yes I could search for myself, but I don't always think to and if someone else has, it saves me wasting more time on the thread.

OwlOfBrown · 21/04/2017 23:35

I've done it. It's there, why wouldn't I?

I did an advanced search once on a poster who had been extremely unpleasant to me. On the thread she had said how difficult it was living with the disability she had. I simply did the search to see what she was like on other threads. What I found was that she didn't have the disability she'd claimed to have (someone she knew did). Now I'm not a malicious person so I did nothing with that information, tempting though it was to call her out on it. But I did store it away in the back of mind should we ever cross swords again.

ActuallyThatsSUPREMECommander · 21/04/2017 23:54

If I know that a poster is not mentioning something really vital and that posters are replying in ignorance of this vital fact then of course I'll mention it - why wouldn't you? It doesn't mean I think they're thick. Au contraire, it means I think they'd probably intelligently change their advice if they were in possession of the full facts, but they probably aren't, because I don't assume that everyone else has searched every poster.

Ditto if someone comes back weekly with the same problems getting the same advice and ignoring it then other posters may find it useful to know this and not to waste their virtual breath,

DioneTheDiabolist · 22/04/2017 00:06

I like it. Most of the time posters refer to other threads, it's relevant, so why shouldn't they?

SenecaFalls · 22/04/2017 00:08

I've done it when I suspected a troll. And in several cases, the threads were deleted by MNHQ. I am sure other people have also reported in those cases. And yes, trolls do name change. But it's a clue if the dodgy posts are the only ones in that name. I've never announced it on a thread though.

LineysRun · 22/04/2017 00:12

Why would you 'announce the results'?

To protect other posters.

ScarlettFreestone · 22/04/2017 00:15

Honey I'll give you two examples of why you might announce it:

There was a previous poster who posted quite a lot for a while giving lots of really opinionated (and very poor, occasionally dangerous) advice about baby and child care.

I remembered from a previous thread that she not only didn't have kids of her own but didn't have any contact either personal or professional with babies or children.

I thought it was worth letting the OP know that that poster wasn't speaking from any knowledge base or personal experience.

Similarly on another thread a poster was giving the (sleep deprived, very fragile) OP a very hard time on sleep habits. I felt it was worth pointing out that she was pregnant with her first child and her opinions were as yet theoretical.

I don't AS very often, but I think that as in life, you have to be prepared stand by your previous behaviour and views. You can't expect to say x on one thread and y on another without at least raising eyebrows.

It's easy enough to nc on MN if you want to limit access to your posting history.

username22345 · 22/04/2017 00:15

It's a forum, there will be inconsistencies in threads. People change their info so they are not identified. Does that make them a troll now? Rubbish!

chastenedButStillSmiling · 22/04/2017 00:23

I have AS'd very rarely, but I have done it. I've done it when someone was really mean (going the extra mile!) to me, and I wanted to see if they were mean to others.

I've done it when I've thought they were awesome, and wanted to check it wasn't a one-off.

There was a thread this week where the OP was talking about how her neighbours were vile and possibly racist towards her. I commented. Then another poster linked previous threads by the OP and said she was paranoid. I looked at the thread titles (didn't click on either) and didn't go back to the thread.

Sometimes a thread or a post really speaks to you and you remember it. Maybe that's why you then go back and look more.

ShamefulDodger · 22/04/2017 00:23

username22345 you can usually tell the difference.

'oh I'll just change that bit of info (like a dc's age by a year or something if it's not relevant) to avoid being outed'

Is quite different to 'Hmm that poster was a 20 year old Nigerian lady last week, now they are a 50 year old Scottish man with six sets of twins.

VoodooPeople · 22/04/2017 00:29

I've done it and will continue to do it when I think there's something 'off' about a poster.

I've identified a long-term online stalker of mine here thanks to AS Smile

CakeNinja · 22/04/2017 00:32

I think people just get way too invested in strangers lives.
As in, "I just thought I should warn others that..." (not quoting anyone here, just something I've seen a few times before), well to be honest, we shouldn't be so emotionally tied to words on a screen that we are hanging on to every single word someone says!
I take everything I read on here with a pinch of salt. Not that I don't believe it all, but if I don't believe something is true, I just leave the thread and don't return. I don't consider it my public duty to trawl previous threads trying to catch people out and then announce anything.
It's obviously a function there to be used, but I do think, "get a life!" when I see "just done an AS and this poster isn't what they seem..." posting.
So what? Someone may be gleaming some use out of the thread.
I use MN as something to read, and I think anyone using it as a serious life consulting forum needs to take a step back.
But that's clearly just my opinion!