To wish posters would not dish out misinformation

[dancinginthehall]

I saw a thread recently where several posters repeated the same medical misinformation. I have also read diet and exercise threads where some posters dish out their own opinions as absolute fact with the air of being an 'expert' on the matter. Just now I saw a thread where a poster mentioned, apropos of something else, that she has a glass of wine with dinner every night, and several posters told her, very seriously, that she had a drink problem.

AIBU to think that some posters actually do more harm than good by trotting out this vaguely medical type misinformation - either scaring posters, putting them off making healthy changes to their lifestyle, or misdiagnosing because they actually haven't a clue what they're talking about?

By the same token, there are lots of posters who are nothing of the sort of what they proclaim they are. MN is like a 'fantasy fly-paper' for many; they can be what they always wanted to be.

It's a great board for chatting and finding out what other people say they do or would do in any given situation. Not for advice. Get professional advice is still the best advice.

I think that you can get ideas from an Internet forum but also need to speak to professionals and google before forming an opinion. I tend to ignore the people that bang on insistently for post after post, and often "famous" posters that other people coo behind or say "she tells it like it is/knows her stuff".

There have been a few occasions when I've been down/worried about something and I've decided not to post as I didn't think I was in a fit state to weigh up all the answers I'd get.

You mean googling something doesn’t make me a qualified doctor?

Apparently drinking regularly on the same day (so each week on a Friday, every 15th or the month, every full moon etc) does make you an alcoholic. I’m not really sure where I read this/heard this. Probably from an alcoholic when I was working in a pub

That would be true.

I could have typed my last post with absolutely no knowledge of anything... which is why I didn't do it on the thread in question. I just typed pretty much what you just did, Lying (how appropriate ) and left the thread.

But like OP my fingers do itch to shout at some posts!

Reminds me when a past boss in a moment of confidence whispered to me that she was a recovering alcoholic . I murmured my sympathies and support, and then she went on to say that as an alcohol abuser she had been drinking a glass of wine most evenings . . If she was an alcoholic then that made me at the very least Sue Ellen Ewing.

The worst thing you can do is put heat on or lance a barts cyst, this comes from a specialist, but i read it on here all the time.

Put heat on/ hot flannels, lance with a needle. Just no, unless you want to encourage sepsis.

Its just peoples opnions abour things they usually know nothing about so i dont take them too seriously, i mean just because you dont like someone doesnt make them a "Narcissist" for example but every ones mil, ex dh is one on here, and yes the drinking ones " its fine to say this us my opnion but no one on here can say if someone is an alcoholic etc.

The medical advice ones can be awful sometimes. Eg:

OP: I was making dinner when I accidentally chopped my hand off with a meat cleaver and now I’m losing a lot of blood. I phoned my GP but the surgery is shut until tomorrow morning, should I go to A&E?

Poster: A&E is for real emergencies, not a sore hand no wonder the NHS is in crisis!

I think the key is understanding this is a forum for expressing opinions. And unless actually backed up with scientific links, to take everything with a pinch of salt.

A pinch of salt - surely that's very dangerous! Please don't give out misinformation like this PlinkPlink.

Not medical but I asked if anyone had any experience with the Motor Insurance Bureau. I was told that I wouldn't be able to claim as the taxi driver braked to avoid the other car.

MIB have now accepted that the other driver was fully responsible so the information on here was completely wrong.

Mumsnet burns advice makes me weep.

Things that have been suggested...
Toothpaste
Honey
Lavender oil
Turmeric
Butter
Frozen peas
Ice
Vaseline
There are probably more

There is also - on a more trivial subject - a thread on Worst Holiday Destinations. Unbelievable! People pontificating that there's nothing to do in... New York . Well, that was just the one person, to be fair, but there were plenty of others dissing lovely places that you would cross off your list if you were to take the advice on the thread.

Then there are the people who are so small-minded they are simply incapable of thinking outside their own box and appear regularly on threads saying 'Surely everyone has someone they can leave their kids with overnight!' 'Surely you have savings for this type of thing!' 'Surely you can budget and save up every month!'

needs their heads examined
Is that a fully-qualified doctor's opinion?!

@Bluntness100 the poor science makes me laugh every time I see it. The diets are actually suppose to be "no refined carbs" . Even then the scientists and medical doctors who support them tend to state that the amount of refined carbs an individual can cope with varies from person to person.

@dontalltalkatonce posters are better posting on the MSE forums than here for employment and legal advice. Even then take the advice with a pinch of salt as what has worked for me isn't suppose to work according to those who have never tried it....

My most recent laugh on here was on a cervical screening thread yesterday, where a poster was suggesting that another forumite should request the (non-existent) HPV blood screen because they were nervous about being sampled.

There is also - on a more trivial subject - a thread on Worst Holiday Destinations. Unbelievable! People pontificating that there's nothing to do in... New York . Well, that was just the one person, to be fair, but there were plenty of others dissing lovely places that you would cross off your list if you were to take the advice on the thread.

I was amazed at that thread too. Most of the places mentioned sounded great to me. Venice being in a poor state of repair, FFS!

PurpleDaisies

Mumsnet burns advice makes me weep

*Things that have been suggested...

Toothpaste
Honey
Lavender oil
Turmeric
Butter
Frozen peas
Ice
Vaseline
There are probably more*

I agree , however I was in A&E the other day with a dc who had quite serious burns to their hand and the nurse said that vaseline should have been applied immediately!

I am a medic so luckily knew better but really?

rangerider i was going to type ‘gie their heids a wobble’ but didn’t in case someone actually took that very advice

Agree, the medical advice on here is at best jaw-droppingly awful, at worst dangerous

I agree

The advice regarding medicines is frighteningly dangerous at times, especially when it comes to pain relief. If someone is in terrible pain then they may just follow the advice without thinking of the consequences.

The number of posters who say “Ask your GP for tramadol, gabapentin, pregabalin” when the reality is that the GP would have prescribed it if it was appropriate astounds me. There’s a massive problem with addiction to those drugs and posters recommend them like you would paracetamol.

And anybody who says “you need to lawyer-up” or “get your ducks in a row” deserves a lifetime ban - what does it actually mean?

I don't expect anyone sets out to give misleading advice, or to make up advice on a topic that they are aware they know nothing about.

I think the key is understanding this is a forum for expressing opinions. And unless actually backed up with scientific links, to take everything with a pinch of salt

And as if asking on here when so much 'advice' is so terrible isn't bad enough, if you do link to something, someone will always come back with 'please copy out everything on that link, I don't click on random links' .

A lot of travel (eg oft queried luggage rules when flying, why don't you look on the airline's fucking website) or financial advice is awful too.

People post all sorts of crap but seem to have a bizarre knack of making it sound like they know what they are talking about. And when someone posts that a previous comment is wrong, the correct advice often gets ignored.

As a medical professional I find this so annoying. I can always spot a genuine HCP by the advice they give - it never contains "always" "never" and very very rarely "must".