To think that Mumsnet should clamp down on the scaremongering threads?

[callmeadoctor]

Thats it really, you come on Mumsnet and anxiety levels are ramped up. Surely thats not safe?

I’ve taken to reading Mumsnet Classics. It means I can still by on Mumsnet but the hysteria is left behind.

Agree cattle have seen lots of threads that are usual MN chat, and straight away it's the 'how selfish are you to worry about X,y,z in the Corona period'..

Mumsnet is a very hysterical forum in the best of times add any sort of crisis and they feed off it, it's pathetic and quite frankly, stupid. I agree with you OP, wish it was easier to ignore them

The polarisation is a problem. Not everyone who is very concerned about this is a scaremonger (scaremongerer?), and not everyone who is less frightened is an ostrich/denier. It's also the case that the knowledge of actual scientists about this is limited atm, never mind that of laypeople, and it's all coming through more or less imperfect media filters. People understandably find it very hard to sit and wait for this to unfold. I think this is where some of the panic is coming from. I do also think that MNHQ has a responsibility to step in. A German parenting forum I sometimes visit has a clear warning at the top of its coronavirus topic that unsubstantiated posts purporting to be fact or scaremongering will be removed.

I’ve taken to reading Mumsnet Classics. It means I can still by on Mumsnet but the hysteria is left behind.

I like!

In fact it oft reminds of the old wwll saying 'dont you know there's a war on?!' which now will be 'dont you know about the Corona'!!!......

We need a scaremongering topic so that all those that think the end is nigh can discuss it among themselves.

Those of us that want a sensible discussion can read the Corona topic, and those that want to get a break from it don't need to see either.

I have been asking for a while now that MN hide threads that show in Trending when we have hidden them because we don't want to see them. Especially since they no longer change colour after they have been clicked and I am forever clicking on something I have already seen and hidden only to find it is something I didn't want to see ever again.

To those saying the scariest things are coming from the WHO I actually find them very comforting. Facts, and only facts. No speculation. I have seen people on this site today say the army will be shooting people dead on the street and looting is imminent fgs. Not helpful and also not based on fact.

@Goatymcgoaty I felt like those jumping on the thread where the lady with the BMI of 40 where just doing it to be all superior as if “see, I told you being fat isn’t good for you”.

Cunts.

Not many on here thought the virus was serious. Tune has changed

I agree that we should be vigilant and report threads which seem....counterproductive
however this is a weird scary time, I don't think we should be surprised that people are prone to panic and I am glad that we have this outlet
we definitely need to do what we can to keep it healthy and functioning👍

Well, I started a thread in chat earlier advocating for a lighthearted section on MN. Didn't get much support for that one. It's a shame you can't go on MN without being scared by all the alarming titles.

And there is another thread where there’s breathless predictions of rioting in 7and a half weeks.

How is that helpful?

I haven't seen any scaremongering.I have seen fear and panic which could frighten others

This is the definition of scaremongering, it is the spreading of frightening reports or rumours, which you describe as fear and panic. So you have seen it. You just didn’t understand what scare mongering meant.

Everyone has seen it. People are posting such shocking stuff, I understand that for many it is because they actually believe the stuff they are posting, for many others it could be they want to believe it and revel in the drama. It’s hard to tell which is which.

The issue is these people are going too far, what they post has no basis in reality, no one who is remotely knowledgeable about the situation, from the government to scientists to medical staff go as far as these people, and what they post. And they egg each other on. Then try to justify their behaviour or abuse you if you call them out on it.

The world is in a terrible enough situation right now without people predicting everyone will die, world war and that this will never end.

It is driving me mad. There is so much being posted that is either inaccurate or that are predictions based on someone's anxiety or their catastrophising.

This is a very horrible, very sad, very serious situation and people need to self-isolate now but 97-99% of the population will survive this. And that is based on 100% of people getting the virus which isn't even accurate so it's a higher %age than that. The people who won't survive matter and I am thinking of what they're facing very much but realistically they are largely going to be people who wouldn't have survived the next year anyway because of age or health issues. And that's not to say the pandemic isn't awful but my point here is that people are posting as if we're all doomed and 30, 40, 50% of us will die. Proportion is vital.

This is finite, life will carry on. It's also a huge tragedy and we will be changed as a society but what we don't want is a huge peak in suicides because people are terrified and places like this are fuelling panic. The reality is scary enough without people adding to it.

I also wish Mumsnet would stop people starting 101 threads saying the same thing. We know there are no online delivery slots, we know that people are stockpiling unnecessarily, we know that people are not observing social distancing and we know that some people are pushing the limits of the key worker criteria for school attendance. In what way does having multiple threads saying exactly the same thing help anyone?

It flattens the curve, the area under the curve remains the same. The same number of people will become infected, and very close to the same number will die. It will just take longer. We don't have enough ventilators, ICU beds or staff to make flattening the curve very helpful, and it's too late to change that unfortunately. And there is no realistic prospect of flattening the curve enough to delay the bulk of the deaths long enough for a vaccine to be available. And the devastation to GDP will kill more people than the small number who curve flattening will allow access to ventilators.

I agree with this, which is why I think this exercise is largely pointless.

This again. The numbers are there. Debate them if you want but not talking about them won’t change the situation.

I disagree. Not enough people are scared enough, as we can see by the way a lot are carrying on as normal. If you are taking it seriously and the posts make you anxious, you need to not be browsing the internet. It is global. It is unavoidable. It's all anyone is talking about. You can ban everyone from talking about a major global event because of your own anxiety.

No one can refute some basic issues we face. NHS over capacity and about to get worse.

If you can show your thinking.

It’s not about anxiety- it’s about false facts being presented as truth.

Predictions of world war, looting, violence, every person in uk dying, etc is not helpful and it’s not achieving anything- can you really not see that? All it’s doing is leading to sheep like behaviour which is clearing supermarket shelves and depriving NHS workers and the elderly of food. Scaring people as you call is costing lives and preventing them from accessing supplies. If you can’t see the problem with that then I despair.

But a lot of people see factually correct information as "scaremongering". Some of us want to remain informed even if the information available is scary.

Predictions of world war, looting, violence, every person in uk dying

Fairly OTT posts you’ve picked there, I’ve seen very few. Just say no here’s why it’s not hard.

I’ve seen these things posted multiple times. It’s ridiculous