To think there there's a huge lack of reading comprehension on Mumsnet?

[Tuhelime]

It's so frustrating. The OP will ask, for example, 'can anyone recommend the best way of getting from Brighton to Norfolk? I'm travelling alone and can't drive', and there'll be numerous responses saying 'the public transport isn't great, I'd take your car OP'.

Or there'll be a post saying 'I'm upset because my friend seems to have ghosted me. I've tried ringing and texting and even knocked on her door! She's alive because she's posting on Facebook', and then there's the answers of 'are you not worried something has happened to her OP?! If it was my friend I'd go round and knock on the door!'

It happens in simple threads to upsetting ones and it drives me insane.

But have you tried driving to Brighton from Norfolk?

some people have their heads up their arses and can't be bothered to read the thread or read the bit where another poster has added something incorrect then the next poster has followed on from there. so it ends up like a game of chinese whispers.

I’d take your car to nip round and knock on her door OP.

YANBU people must just skim the original posts then not check for OPs updates later in the thread

Cancel the cheque!

But sometimes it's written on the first line of the OP - sometimes even in the header.

Yes totally agree. Very often it is in the first sentence. "My 8 year old has......." and the first comment is "how old is he?"

The most frequent and infuriating one is this:

DD has just started in year 13. Her dad and I are considering going away for a weekend. Would you leave her at home?

OMG I can’t believe you could even comprehend leaving a 13 year old for the weekend ...

It's not that they can't, it's that they won't. Especially if facts would get in the way of some kind of self righteous soap box rant of why OP is a horrible/useless human being,and they're so much better.

Even more annoying is when they really can't deny the facts anymore (due to other posters intervening and making them a crayon drawing) they go on the "what if " tangent. What if three dinosaurs came on an UFO and crashed through the window you left open and unattended,crushing the cat in the fruit bowl and kidnap the toddler you left for 3 minutes while you pee?

I'd like to give a special mention to those who pick up on a completely irrelevant detail in the original post, then worry the OP about it like a terrier and ignore what she was actually asking for advice with.

"I was emptying the tumble-dryer of my husband's clothes when I found some unfamiliar lace panties among his laundry. My marriage of thirty years is over, my children are devastated, and I feel suicidal."

"Why are you using a tumble-dryer? Why don't you hang clothes to dry?"

@hashtagthathappened
I do find that annoying but I also wonder why people put what school year they are in rather than just their age. Or at least both. It is pretty obvious that not everyone here is from England and schools years are different in Scotland and other countries so why not just say "DD is 17" rather than "DD is in year 13"

I'd give another special mention to all those who say, "I haven't read the thread but why don't you...." and go on to suggest something that OP has tried and tried and tried without success. There's a lot of those about too.

YANBU

It's beyond infuriating, OP.

@PollyEsterblouse - spot on! 😆

@PollyEsterblouse Do you remember the thread about helium balloons, where the poster asked an innocent question about them and the first person to answer went absolutely crazy with her?

I wouldn't want Like buttons on here but would like a RTFT button.

Yadnbu. But hey why let facts get in the way of a good pile on

I know what you mean, I put it down to something early in the post triggering a memory for the person responding and they sometimes miss the details after that because they are thinking of their own experience.

Headings are also missed, sometimes your brain fills in the word that you expect to see rather than the one that is actually there (I did this with the heading of this thread!)

Have only skimmed this thread, but I completely agree with you, OP - so many people are totally ignorant of Reading in a way that they generally aren't of Slough or Windsor.

And yes, it DOES indeed tend to be people from Brighton and Norfolk who are the worst for this.

😁

"I was emptying the tumble-dryer of my husband's clothes when I found some unfamiliar lace panties among his laundry. My marriage of thirty years is over, my children are devastated, and I feel suicidal."

"Why are you using a tumble-dryer? Why don't you hang clothes to dry?"

Yes, they're very much like this bloke:

www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/8f3v9d/why_men_shouldnt_write_advice_columns/

YABU. It’s not a lack of reading comprehension - people are skim reading on their phones while doing other real life things, so they might miss the odd bit of information. Didn’t realise I could only go on mumsnet if I gave it my full, undivided attention

I don’t think this problem is limited to mumsnet, I think quite a lot of people struggle with poor reading comprehension in general. Some of it will be down to lack of attention, but roughly 5 million adults in the UK are thought to be functionally illiterate, so will be genuinely unable to understand anything beyond very simple text.

Or you’ll say, “I don’t really like strong cheese” and someone will write, “How dare you call me a cunt!”

😂

It's not the odd bit of information though, Pixie. It's often a piece of key information, and often on threads where the OP is upset about something. It's better to not comment at all than offer a solution which the poster has stated is impossible.

It happens on relationship ones too. 'My husband has cheated. I've left him, but I'm heartbroken and will miss him. I need some advice on getting my life back together' gets replies of 'I'm not sure what you're confused about OP. You need to leave him and get some self respect.'

Remember the passport one?

The OP's teacher DH was being pressured to get a passport that he didn't really need for his own use so that he could accompany the kids on a school trip. OP said that they were struggling for money and this would cost £75 that they really didn't have to spare.

So many people saying why not just buy one - it's easy to apply and it's 'only' £75 - plus it lasts for 10 years, so that's only £7.50 a year - and he might want to go abroad sometime in the next 10 years, so it made sense to spend money they really didn't have now, rather than waiting until he did need it, they did have the money available and which they might then get the full 10 years' value from.

There are a lot of money ones where well-off people really just do not get what life is like for many.