To wonder why MNers are so obsessed with Brexit now?

[LoveInTokyo]

I used to post on MN before the referendum and I saw very little discussion about Brexit in AIBU (although I think a lot of threads started in AIBU were moved to the EU Referendum topic).

In the EU Referendum topic traffic was fairly slow and there were just a few posters battling it out time and time again. A few posters on the leave side were, in my view, 99% likely to be paid trolls, who all disappeared immediately after the referendum.

Since the referendum the subject really seems to have picked up steam and there seem to be loads of people getting really worked up about how Brexit is a disaster and the country is going to the dogs.

AIBU to wonder where all these people were before, and why they weren’t all shouting from the rooftops when there was still a chance to change the result?

99% likely to be paid trolls

You need to stop thinking the 'new pool of voters' would all vote remain.

Also, give credit to those Leave voters who did do their research. I don't think anyone thought of every scenario or piece of legislation that is being effected.

If the EU had given Cameron his request to reduce immigration and the benefits given etc none of this would have happened. Just another example of the EU telling us what to do?

Have you thought about the future of the EU? Most countries want to leave which is why we are getting a hard time...setting an example to discourage other countries from holding referendums.

It's quite an interesting subject IMHO. A lot more so than the endless boring SAHM v WOHM topic that lumbers on month after boring month.

I wonder if there are paid trolls on any other topics.

Yes and they would start threads with really 'interests the man on the street' titles and would then have a load of 'statistical' info (made up or twisted I'm sure) about how shit the EU was.

The style was flawless 'informal' and the posters generally had a pattern of posting on a couple of non eu referendum threads and then starting a Brexit pushing thread of their own.

I tried to counter it by posting a few of the remain campaign videos etc but to be fair they were quite shit.

If the EU had allowed Cameron to stop free movement into the UK but keep all the other benefits of EU membership then the EU would have collapsed.

It is completely bloody obvious to anyone with the faintest understanding of what the EU is and how it works that this was not, and never will be, an option.

We cannot have our cake and eat it. We’re still trying, and the answer is still no.

I'm sure there are paid trolls everywhere on MN. If I had a company and I wanted to market it and I thought an established poster would post saying how great my product was I would totally do it.

What's cake for then, if not eating?

I am puzzled by this post. I remember there being lots of threads about Brexit on MN in the run up to the referendum, there was masses of debate about it and the majority of posters were voting to remain, with very few voting to leave. In fact I recall some quite hysterical posts from lots of posters who were (rightly) worried that leaving the EU would muck up their children's chances of a decent future. Am I the only one who remembers this? Weird.

I know it sounds like an insane conspiracy theory.

I didn’t realise at first, but after a couple of months it was really obvious what they we’re doing. No normal person posts like that. And they were at it all day every day. No one could dedicate that much time to it unless they were being paid.

My thread on Russia got sort of sidetracked by some jokers so I didn't bother posting on it again. Now I think they might be secret agents trolling MN shutting down any serious discussion on this latest business.

I genuinely thought I was going mad. I'm a bit prone. It's nice to hear someone who made similar observations.

I think that most people, both leavers and remainers didn't really believe it was going to happen. I was never interested in the Europe debate before the referendum was announced.

Polls seem to suggest that if we held another referendum now, remain would win.

It's interesting, I know a couple of Remainers who would now vote leave as the way the EU have been treating us since has opened their eyes! I don't know any Leavers who would change their stance. Again, because of the way the EU is behaving.

I voted leave and would absolutely vote leave again. The behaviour of the EU has made me more determined.

Dunno about secret agents, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone was deliberately shutting down conversation on the Russia threads.

@LifeBeginsAtGin

give credit to those Leave voters who did do their research. I don't think anyone thought of every scenario or piece of legislation that is being effected

Nobody yet has come up with any research on any post-Brexit scenario in which the UK will be better off leaving than remaining in the EU. Most research concludes that the impact on the UK will range from bad to catastrophic.

If the EU had given Cameron his request to reduce immigration and the benefits given etc none of this would have happened. Just another example of the EU telling us what to do?

That's the rules of the Union - you either obey all of the rules leave and obey none of them. There is no cherry picking allowed if a country wants to retain the benefits of membership. On the subject of immigration, the UK could have just implemented the 3-month rule, just like every other EU country, to control EU-immigration. The people who failed to implement this were Cameron's Home Secretary (Theresa May) and David Davis, who actually resigned from Parliament over the issue of citizen registration.

Have you thought about the future of the EU? Most countries want to leave which is why we are getting a hard time...setting an example to discourage other countries from holding referendums.

Please list the 13+ countries that want to leave the EU. I can think of - none. No other representative democracy would be stupid enough to hold a referendum - in some countries, the use of referendums is forbidden.

Out of interest, those talking about how “the EU has treated us”...

What exactly do you think they should be doing to accommodate us? Should they be sacrificing their own interests for the sake of ours, on the say so of 17 million British voters? (There are about 500 million EU citizens in total.)

If so, why?

Genuinely curious.

Hear, hear redtoothbrush!

I think a lot of Remainers (myself included) didn't actually believe Leave would win. After all they didnt have any policies, only sound bites. I really didn't think people would be willing to give up so much for such vagueness!

I don't get the moaning about how the EU has treated us either. They are following the rules. It seems pretty childish, not to say embarrassing, to whine about it.

I’ve been here off and on since 2014 - I’ve not posted much but have read lots. I agree about the trolls and I think there are plenty still here (although fewer); mainly currently pushing the EU=bully rhetoric.

I think the reason these threads are cropping up more now is because people are starting to wake up to the serious problems facing us. Whilst I’d rather everyone had voted remain, I’m glad that people are becoming more aware and vocal. The only way to get a sensible outcome would be to expand and expose the debate.

Why would you assume paid trolls were only on one side? I would imagine they were employed by both campaigns. It is a technique that has been around for a while and used by most campaign managers, PR firms and brand managers at some point.

I would guess that as the threads sometimes got personal many of the posters namechanged afterwards.

I remember being surprised at how many Mumsnetters were pro-leave. But it didn't occur to me that they are being paid to say that. Until fairly shortly before the vote I also believed what appeared to be the general consensus - that Remain would win. And bearing in mind that all political parties apart from UKIP, plus the trade unions, were advising people to vote Remain. And the people advocating Leave were such obvious Loons and bullshitters.
A couple of weeks before the Referendum I started to get worried. I looked into what I could do to help. It wasn't really co-ordinated - no-one appeared to be out there trying to find people to help, you had to make an effort to find them, and they weren't working in co-operation with each other I don't think. With DD I spent quite a few hours putting leaflets through doors - leaflets obtained from the local Remain campaign co-ordinator, who was 1 guy with piles of leaflets all over his flat. And different leaflets from the Labour Party. We got 2 of the poorest parts of town, and one of the richest. In each, we got an earful from the odd person. If I hadn't had a child with me, I would have felt quite threatened (actually it was a little bit scary). The anger in one of the poor areas, which was covered with Leave posters. That level of emotion, and all the posters and union jacks, gave me a sense that Leave would win. I actually think it helped that they chose a red colour scheme. Remain chose dark blue, just because it is the colour of the EU, apparently (no-one knows or cares), which made their posters (far fewer of them) not really visible. A very badly run campaign.
Interestingly, the day after the Referendum, all the leave posters and flags disappeared. As if they were afraid they might be attacked.

I've never calmed down. From the rise in xenophobia to the fall of the pound, from inflation to lower growth rates. Emotionally my identity has taken a battering, I am European to my core.

Aren't we talking about Russian bots here, trying to achieve and maintain Brexit?

Dusty - I remember too - there were loads of threads. (I was on most of them!!). Some of the posters were very interesting indeed - whichever side they were on. People who clearly worked in or close to government or high up in the Civil Services and women who were senior in financial or legal positions who shed light on many of the debates.

It was always a shame when it degenerated into mud-slinging