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?

I totally agree op. I saw the thread about the woman drinking a glass of wine every night and thought the responses were ridiculous.

Obviously we are all entitled to an opinion, but these shouldn't be stated as cold hard facts to try and scare the op/ act like they know about something they clearly don't.

Yes, as a GP some of the medical threads are at best unhelpful and at worst dangerous.

I've started avoiding any threads about diet and weight. Everyone's child is clearly a sugar addict and carbs are the devil.

Unless you are robbing old ladies to buy chocolate or snorting caster sugar then you are not addicted to sugar or any other food. The levels of body shaming and disordered eating are off the scale.

Threads I find astonishing are were posters describe potentially significant physical deterioration and ask for advice over next 90minutes

In particular The mn mantra of call police to “log the call” is a belter

There was a thread about an ingested laundry tab and countless were advising two fingers down throat and vomit it up!

Well people will pontificate on anything, woeful ignorance of a subject never stopped anyone giving their opinion.

Yes there are the same old sound bites repeated over and over, particularly on diet threads

I would say if you drink every day then yes, you have a problem.

People who 'need it to relax' might find they'd not need to 'relax' more if they didn't have the depressive effect of alcohol in their system. Seriously. If I drank every night of the week I would want to top myself after a few weeks. It makes you bloody miserable the next day whether you realise it or not.

Ha ha what like half of Europe? Haven’t you heard of having a glass of wine with dinner?

Like the diet threads when someone posts their food diary as they're not losing weight.
The amount of people that say 'you're not eating enough, you need to eat more you're going into starvation mode'

Sometimes I don't say anything other times I just can't help myself

But carrots are ripe courgettes 🤣

I would say if you drink every day then yes, you have a problem.

Even if it’s only a small single glass of wine?

YANBU but you have to admit it's not really feasible to wish that people would be more accurate on the internet. It's a bit like wishing for an ocean without all those icky things with teeth.

Besides, anyone who rushes to MN for serious medical advice for eg (and believes all the replies without question) is probably out of the gene pool by now anyway.

YANBU; however, that's true of a lot of internet forums and social circles.

My main frustration is when people post 'X people should just do Y' or just need to do Y or similar, followed by plenty of posters explaining how it's more complicated than that or that X group often does do that but it doesn't usually work...and all that explanation will be ignored for oversimplified pronouncements.

We all have the responsibility to evaluate information, whatever source it's from.

Giving random advice is just what people do, in real life as well as on the internet.

People often give me advice on an area that I'm qualified in. It's often wrong. I've learned to ignore.

And also realise that probably a lot of information about other topics is also erroneous.

I agree that it'd be daft to heed advice from anonymous unknown sources, which after all is all of us posting here!

Other common ones are "change the locks" when the couple jointly own the property and "that's emotional abuse, contact Women's Aid" when a couple have a bit of a row. It completely trivialises actual emotional abuse and the good work that Women's Aid do.

YADNBU. My favourite is posters claiming fruit is bad for you because it's "full of sugar", talking as if you give your child an orange you may as well give your child Haribo tangfastics

And I totally agree about the drama llamas over drink. On MN if you more than a thimble full of wine a week you're destined to die of chronic liver failure at 37. Which I personally find annoying as my dad did due of chronic liver failure, albeit at 54, it we spent years drinks a bottle of whisky and a bottle of vodka per day before it finally took him. I think a glass of wine per night is fine 🙄

People have really suggested putting butter on burns?!!

Isn’t that one of the the worst things you can do!

I remember correctly, aren’t you supposed to run it under cold water and wrap it in clingfilm and head to a&e asap?

Also the advice that you can 'get him/her to the GP' 'make an appointment for him/her'. You can't actually compel an adult to go to a GP.

ShotsFired - those Amazon reviews ("I don't know the answer to your question, I bought it as a gift") make me laugh. I don't think anyone has told them that just because Amazon sends you an email asking for your thoughts that you don't have to answer it, particularly if you can't

At least there seems to have been a decrease in "there's no point in getting married, you're already a common law wife" recently.

I love food/diet threads, particularly children’s diets. They’re so batshit. I would never come to MN for diet advice.

Change the locks, lock him out.Response any argument. If he’s joint or sole owner you can’t lock him out

What PurpleDaisies said RE burns.

People get really uppity when you tell them that putting toothpaste or butter or other crap which could cause infections / chemical burns / exacerbate current burns on wounds is a REALLY BAD IDEA.

Just cold water and go to A&E if necessary.

Some people who post on here are actually real medics but I agree MN is no place to seek medical advice and according to good medical practice document by GMC online if you are giving advice online you must declare yourself and any conflicts of interests which most people don’t do due to anonymity of this forum.