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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think it's awful so many stories are being taken by the tabloids

25 replies

jpclarke · 27/04/2019 13:14

In recent days, I have seen two stories that posters came on asking for genuine advice and opinions being robbed by the tabloids. It's a disgrace. I know it's a public forum and anyone can join and anyone can see the posts but people are going to stop asking for advice when needed if this continues. I feel sorry for the posters can you imagine coming across those stories and knowing it's about you. Why can't media just respect Mumsnet as a place for people to go to ask advice or talk through things that sometimes they can't in real life??

OP posts:

Iblinkedandiamold · 27/04/2019 13:17

Yes it's all my Facebook feed. I am often tempted to reply "where would you be without mumsnet"

Original poster

jpclarke · 27/04/2019 20:53

To be shocked more people are not annoyed by this?

OP posts:

Lwg87 · 27/04/2019 20:55

I’m annoyed too. It’s made me feel like it’s not safe to post here about anything

ShitAtScarbble · 27/04/2019 20:56

People are and have been annoyed but there is - short of never posting - just slightly less than bugger all that anyone can do about it.
It is, therefore, in my opinon anyway - a complete and utter waste of anger and emotion. It won't happen to you if you don't post! If you do post it's part of the risk.
Better to expend your emotion on stuff you CAN do something about!

DramaAlpaca · 27/04/2019 20:57

It's happening more & more now. It's very lazy journalism.

cardibach · 27/04/2019 20:58

I never see tabloids on my Facebook. I don’t know what stories they pick up. They definitely shouldn’t, it’s lazy and could have repercussions, but if people didn’t buy tabloids or look at them online they wouldn’t be there.

notacooldad · 27/04/2019 20:59

The M.E.N. and liverpool Echo as well as other regional papers often run the same MN story in a stick image photo, usually if s woman in her 4os looking upset!!

Summerfeeling · 27/04/2019 21:00

"What do you do for a living?"
"I'm a journalist."
"Wow. That's interesting. What do you cover? Politics? Tech?"
"I go on Mumsnet and copy and paste threads into articles..."

QueenoftheBiscuitTin · 27/04/2019 21:03

They're clearly useless at their job if they have to copy and paste from here. I doubt many people will bother to read it anyway.

zippey · 27/04/2019 21:11

Good publicity for Mumsnet though.

AllTheFunAndGames · 27/04/2019 21:16

It's nothing new. Presumably nothing is done about it because free media coverage draws more people to MN. It wouldn't surprise me if The Daily Mail have a business link with MN (shares or financial contribution type). They lift an awful lot of threads off MN and have done for years.

Sparklingbrook · 27/04/2019 21:18

It's always happening. Good reminder to not overshare on here.

leomama81 · 27/04/2019 21:57

It's terrible journalism and I hate it too but nothing can be done because this is the public domain, as is everything we post on Facebook etc. It's good to remember that as it is often easy to forget that when you write on the internet it is basically publishing.

With regards to FB feeds, that's an algorithm so you will get more of the types of articles you read/click on.

notacooldad · 27/04/2019 23:26

Good publicity for Mumsnet though
Well I guess if you believe all publicity is good publicity but the papers often pick the most ridiculous and overblown posts and make the Users of MN look stupid and silly, especially when they put their own spin on it.

megletthesecond · 27/04/2019 23:28

I assume the press start the threads themselves.
Stir it up, then publish it as fact.

Itsagrandoldteam · 27/04/2019 23:32

Yes it is very annoying - because now I'm never going to find out if the woman from last night is pregnant or not.

Pondlife87 · 28/04/2019 00:22

What sort of posts are they reposting? I didn't know this was a thing.

Quietlifewanted · 28/04/2019 01:04

Something I posted on here last year was picked up by the Daily Mail. It was a complete non-story, just some middle of the night rantings that wasn't even newsworthy. Yet it attracted some fairly nasty comments on various different news sites which I found so upsetting. I've rarely posted anything since and I certainly wouldn't post about anything that might link back to me in real life ever again. Lesson learned! I know it's in the public domain but I think it's a really poor show that newspapers do this.

notacooldad · 28/04/2019 08:27

What sort of posts are they reposting? I didn't know this was a thing.
Usually petty things ftom AIBU.
I don't bother reading them now but examples would be child free weddings, charging family for Christmas dinner, that kind of thing.

araiwa · 28/04/2019 08:39

I couldnt care less

AllTheFunAndGames · 29/04/2019 18:37

It's very common.

There was one last week about a woman who worried about a possible pregnancy despite her DH having the snip 15 years ago.
Penis beaker (I think it's in 'classics') was so popular and there was so much traffic, mn site broke down. It was very successful marketing despite bringing in so many new trolls.
Lots of mil bashing threads, bridezilla stories and stories of the outlandish demands and requests from brides and grooms.

There was a hacker called Jeoffrey who published all mumsnet users personal details -usernames, names, email address details and passwords. There is a lot of security breaches so beware of posting anything with 'real' details (stay vague and change details) and name change regularly.

JapaneseNotWeed · 29/04/2019 18:42

I know it's a public forum and anyone can join and anyone can see the posts but....

Mumsnet is a privately owned company. At some point - very soon I suspect - the owners will want to cash in and sell, probably to a company FMCG related. What better way to do that than maximise coverage from all PR angles.

After all, where is the resistance from MN to this not-so-recent trend??

jimmyhill · 29/04/2019 20:25

Well...

People keep posting on MN
And the papers keep writing stories.

And people keep posting on MN.
And the papers keep writing stories.

So it seems to be working out for everyone.

Uptheduffagai · 29/04/2019 20:36

It’s annoying but a positive spin on it is I only heard of mumsnet through the penis beaker story which I found hilarious and then when I did find myself pregnant as a young teen it allowed me to find the antenatal groups and a group of women who without I wouldn’t be half the parent I am today! Posting anonymously also helped me through a DV situation. So it’s good for bringing people to the site but also agree it’s awful lazy journalism

JapaneseNotWeed · 29/04/2019 20:38

And the owners took £3m of dividends between themselves in 2017.

And the poor advice dispensed on here is a national tragedy. Yet so many innocent lambs come to the slaughter. In trust.

And this post and this thread is yesterday's virtual chip wrapper. So it matters not that MN has lost its way.

Because MN has no real value above that of the tabloids.

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