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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

What’s most OTT response you’ve ever seen on a thread?

933 replies

MalcomTuckerisMyIdol · 30/06/2020 15:40

(LIGHT HEARTED)

Just that really.

I think my favourite was fairly recently - CV related and one of the first responses to was “You dh is literally trying to kill you” (along the lines of not wearing a mask in the shops).

OP posts:
IsMiseMorag · 01/07/2020 11:23

My mind is always blown by zombie threads from 2008 about something innocuous like 'Should I invite my new neighbour in for a drink on New Year's Eve?' which are resurrected by one poster with a huge specific personal agenda yelling, 'NO, you definitely shouldn't because then they'll take advantage and shag your husband.' Followed by seven or eight polite responses from people who've only seen the OP, saying, 'Yes, that sounds very neighbourly, have you thought about serving a whipped feta dip?'

I always wonder HOW these furious posters find these threads to resurrect.

sueelleker · 01/07/2020 11:37

no way should they go to A&E as it would be riddled with Covid but should find a local vet instead.
Have they tried finding a vet that's open recently?

narrowboatgirl · 01/07/2020 12:07

Loads from the Meghan Markle threads. Someone posted that Meghan's dad wasn't being honest about something. Another poster had a meltdown and made 15 or 20 posts in a row saying stuff like "POSTER X IS A SHIT FOR BRAINS LYING CUNT." Then three new usernames popped up literally within the space of about ten minutes, all posting variations on "I have been a lurker on Mumsnet for years. Poster X's vile abuse and lies about Thomas Markle who is clearly a wonderful man and a great father have inspired me to register an account for the first time just to post about what a nasty lying cunt she is."

I don't go in Meghan Markle threads anymore.

WhereILiveIsWhereIStay · 01/07/2020 12:10

Early lockdown threads when the OPs DP had gone to the shop for a non essential item and posters were calling to lock him out with a bag on the doorstep and others going so far as to say they would end the marriage because he clearly didn't care about his families safety.

One a few years back when the OPs DP (or was it flatmate?) had flushed the OPs sea monkeys (barely visible brine shrimp) down the toilet because the container stank. Posters saying he must be a psychopath to be capable of such cruelty and they were concerned about the OPs safety. Others posting about how it was illegal to release non-native species into water and it could destroy the local eco-system. I think one person even suggested he should be reported to the police.

Reedwarbler · 01/07/2020 12:25

Any thread with a reply that says "A and E, NOW!" It is often for something relatively minor. Or a post reply starting with 'solicitor here', or 'consultant here' . How on earth would you know that's true? I was reading a thread the other day that had three 'consultants' giving their medical advice. I mean, do that many consultants have free time in the middle of the day to dispense free advice?
And people not answering the door, and treating those who do as if they are in some way odd. I know who I would think is odd if I rang a doorbell and could see the person inside deliberately ignoring me, especially if it was someone I knew, and just knocked on the off chance while passing. Apparently, according to some, you should only ring the doorbell by prior appointment.

Bluebird3456 · 01/07/2020 12:27

"Call environmental health" and "log it with 101" when neighbours are making any amount of noise in their garden. Also "gardens are for gardening in" (and apparently nothing else - wtf).

Also there was a cat thread a while back where everyone got hysterical about cat owners who let their cats go outside, one poster said he would trap any cat he found in his garden in a bucket of water. Confused

BlingLoving · 01/07/2020 12:30

Also the ones where MIL does something perfectly normal but is instantly accused of manipulative behaviour and obviously everyone should go NC

"MIL gives me free childcare three times a week and has done so for 7 years. Last week, she took them swimming for the first time this summer. I am RAGING. Swimming is something that me and DH do with the DC. How dare she take this from us?!"

Followed by dozens of posts about going NC.

The lone voice or two (usually me), saying that really, this seems a bit harsh are roundly ignored.

Meredithgrey1 · 01/07/2020 12:35

I've seen it suggested that sanitary towels aren't an essential purpose and that visiting the supermarket makes you a murderer.

I assumed the person who said bread and milk weren't essential was joking but it turned out they weren't.

Daftodil · 01/07/2020 12:58

Ones where posters search the OP for previous posts and throw out something they said 5 years ago with no appreciation that circumstances may have changed during the passage of time.

OP: Where's good to go on holiday with 2 kids? DH & I want to go away for a week.

Poster: 5 years ago you said you didn't have any money or children or partner and now you have thousands to spend on foreign holidays, children and a husband?!?!? WHICH IS IT OP?!

KylieKoKo · 01/07/2020 12:59

@BlingLoving people seem to think that going NC with your family because they have annoyed you is easy and a normal thing to do. Obviously sometimes you have to in extreme circumstances but not because someone is a bit annoying.

Also threads where women are advised to hide assets and inheritance when getting divorced! Its awful advice and can get them into a lot of trouble.

There was also once a thread where someone was agonising over their sister having an affair and what to tell their 6 year old. On what planet do small children need to know about their auntie's sex life?

ChilliCheese123 · 01/07/2020 13:13

About sending kids back to school - one poster said something along the lines of not letting her child’s life be ruined by being part of a secret global science experiment and that she wouldn’t vaccinate against rona either because it’s literally 50/50 if the vaccine can kill you 😂

Changeofsceneryisgood · 01/07/2020 13:13

There's one now where someone has posted the dislike for a child in the family and wants advice on what to do. Genuinely concerned it would appear.
Lots of good advice about only being human and just carry on treating the child in a nice way and respectfully.
Then one.
OP, do you think you have NPD. Then tells the OP to read up on something or other Confused

MrsAvocet · 01/07/2020 13:22

@Charleyhorses

One of the things I love about mumsnet is that you can get accused of being rich on the basis of nothing. I was told that I must live in Knightsbridge and have money to burn.............because I pay 16 to have my windows cleaned.
I've been got like this too. Years ago, under another name I happened to mention what I do for a living and was immediately set upon with masses of accusations of stealth boasting and living a life of luxury in my ivory tower with no idea how much the rest of the world is suffering. Absolutely nuts. I am comfortably off but not super rich. There are certainly lots of people on here who earn a great deal more than I do. Nobody even answered my original question, just laid into me about my privilege. Still no idea what I did to deserve it and it upset me more than I thought it would. I left for a good while afterwards but lockdown boredom brought me back.Grin Never mentioned my job since though.
inthekitchensink · 01/07/2020 13:40

My favourite was the OP who discovered the cleaner had stolen from her. Posters responded she should increase her wages so she didn’t need to steal. Grin

ScrambledSmegs · 01/07/2020 13:57

@BitOfFun

My favourite was that boiling a frog was racist.
I remember this one clearly if we're thinking of the same one, because it was the first site-wide rumpus (or was it a fracas?) I got involved in! I'd always stood on the sidelines till then.

The phrase was 'mad as a box of frogs', and the poster was so incensed by it that she (I assume) started a thread about it on Site Stuff, asking MNHQ to sanction/ban/burn the witch who wrote it in the first place. Utter refusal to understand that a) frogs meant literal small amphibians and did not mean French people and b) even in the unlikely event it did, it would be xenophobic not racist.

Happy days Grin

DisobedientHamster · 01/07/2020 14:10

Oh, I forgot another classic! A single mum with a daughter, who was about 9. Partner an abusive dickhead, she needed to leave, was worried about finances as she had no skills and the coercive twat partner had convinced her to jack in work to look after the child. A well-known poster who shall remain nameless advised her and her daughter to take up busking (because you can obviously just rock up on any street and do whatever and people will give you money, no need to for permission or licenses) so they could get outside daily, get exercise and avoid benefits.

Oh, yes, the crying baby thread. Go round with a cake. But wait, unless it's a cake that's shop bought, MNers will bin it because the kitchen might be hotching with disease, they'll get obese just looking it.

DisobedientHamster · 01/07/2020 14:11

@inthekitchensink

My favourite was the OP who discovered the cleaner had stolen from her. Posters responded she should increase her wages so she didn’t need to steal. Grin
Gawd, yes, and give her your house and car!
DisobedientHamster · 01/07/2020 14:20

I also enjoyed the response on a thread about whether sausage, mash and beans was an acceptable meal for children confused from a poster who claimed that it was junk food and she only let her kids have it once every 3-4 months grin. She was later revealed to be a troll, but the general tone of her other posts was pretty similar.

Oh, yes, there was one from an OP who'd had a mate's young child over. The OP had served the kids dinner - fish fingers, peas, mashed potato and a desert of frozen banana that had been macerated in the food processor with a couple of squares of dark chocolate. The mate told the the OP this was a 'junk' and a 'junky tea'. Cue MN saying, yep, sure was, total junk, right up there with a point of China White scored off your local street dealer. Of course, many alternatives were suggested. That any toddler would gobble up.

Pineapplemonkey · 01/07/2020 14:27

I have 2 favourites. One being the posters that have this strange phobia of homemade food, I saw one recently on a thread about welcoming new neighbours where they said if someone gave them homemade biscuits they'd put them straight in the bin. I suppose it makes perfect sense when you see all those stories about death from birthday cake and debilitating injuries from the cookies someone in the office made and bought in Hmm

Also there's been a couple of threads recently where people list things they don't understand why other people like. So many posters listed literally the most ridiculous stuff. One in particular had a massive list of literally everything you could ever think of, food, drink, holidays, sunshine, music, books, humans, animals..... and I don't think they were even trying to be funny. Fair enough not liking acrylic nails and those stupid square eyebrows but music? TV? I would genuinely love to meet some posters in real life to see if they really as much of a weirdo in reality!

AnnaBanana333 · 01/07/2020 14:35

Possibly when a poster's child is having a birthday party and the child doesn't want their bully to be invited. There are always some people who say you can't possibly exclude the bully as that would be mean, and maybe invite the bully for some 1:1 play dates? I can't believe any real mother would do that to their child.

Also when a stepmother has a post about shoving the stepchildren into a box room so her PFB can have a massive room for its cot, or wants to reduce maintenance payments because her PFB can't have diamond shoes, and there are STILL people who parrot the stupid "MN hates stepmothers" line and defends her.

StillCoughingandLaughing · 01/07/2020 14:41

Two that really stick out for me actually had the same batshit respondent, who became way more invested than the OP!

Thread one (which is one of my favourites in general): Mom sends flowers and pizzas to her daughter’s school so she will ‘feel special’ on her 16th birthday. She’s mad because the school didn’t ‘send someone’ to tell her daughter the pizzas had arrived and they went cold.

Most people had the sense to point out that school staff were generally busy actually running the school rather than acting as pizza delivery boys - to which the OP responded we were all terrible parents whose children she pitied, because obviously we’d never make them feel special. Amongst the laughter appears one poster who says that this reluctance to stand out and ‘put your head above the parapet’ is what’s holding people back in life, and how will they ever have the strength to make an impact? She somehow managed to bring it around to boys from ethnic backgrounds struggling at school Confused

Thread two: OP interviews a woman for a job where everyone has to do one Saturday a month. Interviewee says she can’t possibly as she is a mother. OP says it’s a condition of the job. Interviewee storms out, declaring she can’t believe they have no flexibility on this for a MOTHER.

Most people sensibly respond that, if you apply for a job that involves working Saturdays, you can’t declare yourself unavailable on Saturdays and then get shirty when you don’t get what you want. Enter batshit woman, who says companies like this are destroying working mothers’ chances and they should end the Saturday shifts. When it was suggested that might be impossible, she said that childless staff should be forced to cover them, as nothing they were doing could possibly be as important as childcare and they had a duty to support parents as part of society. Every response, she was batting back two minutes later with why she was right and everyone else was wrong.

I asked her how the company was supposed to hire childless people and force them to work hours parents didn’t without it being discrimination. And how, if the team was entirely made up of parents, they would handle that. And how, if they actively only interviewed childless people for a vacancy so that they could cover for the parents, they would stop applicants with children from claiming it was discrimination. And what would they do if the childless staff later had children - would they be sacked and replaced with the childless? Her endless stream of replies suddenly stopped. When I pointed this out seven hours later, she suddenly reappeared screaming ‘I don’t spend my entire day on MN you know!!’ Hmmm... especially not when you’ve been emphatically proved wrong just before suddenly needing to log off.

isabellerossignol · 01/07/2020 14:43

Pineapplemonkey Years ago I saw a poster who claimed never to open her windows because she hates fresh air. And not to open her curtains because she hates daylight. And to only wash when she had to be in close contact with someone because she hated water.

I thought at the time that she was taking the piss but I came to recognise her name and also saw her regularly say that she didn't really care all that much about her adult children, but it was ok, they would never guess because she made a real effort to hide it. It was either a lot of very prolonged trolling or she really did have some very serious issues.

WellDoneBridge · 01/07/2020 14:44

@difficult OMG NO WAY?

WellDoneBridge · 01/07/2020 14:46

Oh the irony

Chicchicchicchiclana · 01/07/2020 14:51

I too loved the mad as a box of frogs thread. I think the op was amillionyears?