Why do people stalk people through threads?

[FannyOutOfTheFarawayTree]

Op says ‘my washing machine is broken aibu to take laundry next door?’

Then someone will reply ‘oh, in your other thread you said you would never go next door again’. Then someone else will say ‘oh yes, you’re the one with the bossy sister’ etc. Why do people do this?

Because they're creepy and have too much free time?

To expose the absolute bollocks that a lot of people on here post, I guess

Because occasionally you have a poster (troll) that is giving inaccurate or potentially dangerous advice on the basis of experience they don’t have.

Sometimes if a person is behaving very badly on a thread it’s interesting to see if they always behave badly or whether to give them the benefit of the doubt. Mentioning the outcome of your AS isn’t considered polite though.

The most entertaining thing is when you get into a debate with someone on one thread and they suddenly turn up on every thread you post in disagreeing with you there too. People should really learn to name change.

It's not stalking- if you remember someone saying one thing yesterday, but something contradictory today, why wouldn't you pick up on it, same as you would in RL conversation?

I am guilty of this occasionally

I'm a bit of a Marple but only with the serious stuff when it clearly doesn't add up.

Did it yesterday, notice both threads have been taken down.

Serious stuff though

I think sometimes usually people stalk; at other times you might happen to remember a particular user's posts/circumstances and query them if things seem inconsistent.

I once whinged about my DH's packing skills and someone chimed in to ask how the hell we hadn't moved house yet, since we'd been searching for a year . Happens.

Martha that wouldn't have been the bus driver and his parter would it...

I generally don't remember who posted what to be honest. I'll quote someone sometimes but forget afterwards.

Princess

No

It was an AMA I had noticed followed days later by an alarming medical incident.

Both were taken down

I keep expecting someone to call me out as a troll. Sometimes I describe myself as an only child, and sometimes I talk about my siblings. Both things are true, I’m my mother’s only child, but my father married a woman with two children of her own when I was 8 and they had another child between them. It’s not worth clarifying that every time I post about my family though.

I occasionally AS a poster if something about them feels off, but it’s to satisfy my own curiosity not to pull them up on some inconsistence.

I don't stalk as such but on a couple of occasions in the years I have been here particular users have caught my attention due to their obsessive posting about particular subjects.

One I'm slightly concerned about but any attempts to suggest that they may need to speak to a professional is met with utter rudeness and flouncing from the poster.

The other clearly has a massive grudge against a particular organisation but thankfully their posting style is so tin foil hat that I doubt anyone takes them too seriously.

The rest of the time I AS OPs whose posts are a bit dodgy to confirm my suspicions. I'm usually right but I just report, never comment.

Sometimes it's not deliberate stalking. You just recognise a username or scenario and maybe have a look back to remind yourself. There have been posters who come on with variations on the same problem again and again but each time ignore the same advice, for example.

And there was that one recently where a poster started a reverse thread under a different name then came on to complain the thread was about her using her normal name. She got busted by people tracking back through her previous posts.

I don't actually remember usernames, but if someone on Monday says "AIBU to kick out my sister for yodelling at my fruit bowl", then a thread on Friday says "what noises do you hate" and someone replies with "yodelling - my sister does it a lot" I'll make a connection.

Trying to give a random example here! But do you get what I mean? Mundane stuff so forget. It's the out there posts I remember.

I'm afraid I have done this on occasion when people have continually contradicted themselves because people do forget the MNHQ motto of not investing too heavily and it annoys me when I see people spending ages giving really good advice and it's all to someone spouting bullshit passing the time of day. Or it's someone who comes on begging for advice when they've asked the same question about the same scenario twelve times in the last year and never taken any advice and I get annoyed people are having their time wasted when there are people on here who really need advice and help.

Must have nothing better to do.

Remember that this is anonymous forum, it's been hacked... People have been outed.... The TV shows and papers mine mumsnet for stories... It would behove everyone to fudge some details!

I do all the time. I can't stand it when is someone is asking for advice and some humpty links to another thread or challenges them on details they probably fudged deliberately

Oh no shatner your probably my worst kind of poster then 😁😂😂 no offense but it's Mon on your business how many times someone asks for help, it's what this site is for.

Someone asking for help obviously needs it, you don't have a rl issue, take advice on here then wave a wand and the problem goes!!

I think it's best to step away from the threads when you feel this it's not your role to be self appointed thread police.

Let people ask for what they need to ask.

People de railing threads like this is one of my biggest mums net bug bears.

No offence taken.

But if people are talking out and out bollocks and it's provable, call the bastards out

I think it gets used to 'bully' posters at times

Sometimes people post the same crap and I think 'that's the same crap I've read before' and they have a memorable name and ker-ching. There's one who always drops a spectacular OP and never, ever comes back. And it's always related to a previous one-post thread.

I wouldn't say it was stalking either. Stalking indicates a persistent following of someone, harassing them.

More it's a useful feature the site has in terms of advanced search. It makes it easier to spot trolls or people posting shite. And trolls and people posting shite is surprisingly common.

Mainly someone remembers a poster, other times, the op posts in a manner which makes many dubious/curious so someone has a look becayse what is being posted is just so odd. I don't think people have their posting history checked by someone otherwise.

I honestly thought you were talking about the bat shit ones that you disagree with on one thread then they follow you about on other threads for ever more having a go at you whenever they can and holding some form of crazy ass grudge against you because you once disagreed with them. 🤣

I have only done this occasionally. One time where someone was posting as a medical professional on one thread giving advice and yet posting on another as someone in the early stages of a healthcare related qualification.
Usually, if I link up a couple of incongruent thread I just report them to MNHQ and let them decide if there is an issue.

Has someone done it to you op? Is there an issue? Were you called out on something?

That's not stalking, its just paying attention.

It’s a bit annoying sometimes I change minor details so as no to be identifiable then someone calls you out on it e.g. my dd does karate, but really it’s judo and a ds for example.

If you were talking to these people in RL you'd remember previous conversations. I don't see it as much different.

I confess to doing it sometimes when there is a particularly 'contrary' poster and I look to see if they've ever agreed with the consensus or have always taken the opposite view.