Bloody Hobbies - they aren't outing!

[ummnamechange]

Can't we just be clear here - most hobbies aren't in any way outing.

Cycling - millions of blokes fuck off and do this at weekends.
Fishing - see above but with added lard
trainspotting
model railways
playing with space dollies (sorry action figures)
warhammer
sewing
going to the gym
swimming
running

None of these are outing as hundreds of thousands of people do em and frankly we dont give a flying fist fuck about about it.

Outing activities - would be household names...
Olympic triathlete
formation cave diving
international superspy

Cmon just tell us - if yer fella spends all saturday cycling round...

Just meant to be light hearted

Redsky please tell me the German word for 'German long sword fighting' is one of those ones with about 53 letters in.

I can understand it in certain circumstances.

I imagine that if they're giving quite a bit of detail about their situation on here and name the hobby it might possibly out them to anyone they know who might possibly be on mn.

If you've moaned about your DH's cycling hobby, how many times he pursues it a week, how many weekends you're on your own etc to your mum, your sister, all your friends and everyone at work and then you come on mn and repeat everything that you've told them, it's pretty likely someone is going to recognise your situation and it'll out you.

Someone could tell someone else and before you know it everyone you know has joined mn and have read all your posting history.

LARPing = live action role playing.
I knew someone at university who did that, he used to dress up as an elf at weekends.

LARP stands for Live Action Role Play - which is basically where you dress up in fantasy-novel-style costumes and act out your characters. Basically like adults having a dressing up box and making up their own fictional universe. It's particularly popular with goths, metalheads, geeks, nerds, and people who read fantasy novels (which I hate).

Hahha “space dollies “, that’s hilarious! Is it taxidermy but with people...? That would be outing ...
Omg also the “very specialized jobs, on 6 figure salary “...cringe , cringe cringe...

It does seem a bit precious. Particularly with golf and cycling. I work in the City and have yet to meet a bloke who doesn't do one or the other of these things.

I suppose if you were really on the case you could triangulate it by piecing it together with other bits of people's biog but who has time for that?

I always assume everyone changes the details of their life/situation just slightly when they post to avoid 'outing'.

I was just on reddit and recognised a woman from the details in her post. No big deal, but she clearly thinks she's anonymous based on what's she's posted.

DHs hobby involves checking the weather forecast for several days beforehand, then wrestling the equipment that is longer than the car on top of the car. Packing all the other equipment. When he gets there, he has to unload it and transport it to the destination. Then has a few fun hours, before doing the reverse to get home, then cleaning it all and getting it back in the garage. Luckily DDs enjoy it, so go to. Sometimes I go, sometimes I enjoy the peace.

But I can't tell you, it's far too outing!

The combination of LARP and Fencing would not be outing fwiw, possibly not even with location.

I have a feeling it's Schläger Duelling that @RedskyAtnight is referring to. Have heard of it but not aware of anyone who does it.

Mostly sounds scary because it seems like half the aim is to get manly scars on your cheekbones!

I assume when people don't want to mention the specific hobby is not because they think "DH is a cyclist" is outing, but when added to other posts they have made and other information they have shared, could out them to anyone who did know them and had kept track of their posts.

I once shared two of my dc's names and was contacted by a few people asking me if I was me! I namechange regularly now to avoid that.

I’m pretty careful about mentioning DH’s job. He’s a former international, now coach and official in a minority sport. Mentioned it once on here some time ago and within minutes got a PM from someone saying “I know who you are” but without identifying themselves.
Why bother with the PM? That’s a bit weird isn’t it?

I think if there's enough info in someone's posts about other things, all together it could add up to be outing.

@Elbels

Especially combined with

My DH's incredibly outing hobby (think golf)

Why do I need to think anything, I don't want to play your bizarre guessing game.

Yes, this "think" drives me mad. Either tell me or I'm not interested Yesterday we ate in a chain pub, think wetherspoons. My sister who works in a hospital, think radiology, had a diet fizzy drink, think 7up.

@Aroundtheworldin80moves - does he do astronomy?

I am an AFOL.
I use the same user name on AFOL sites.
Some people know me in real life through being an AFOL and know my online name.
So that's me out then.... I don't really care tbh.

To be fair i used to do a hobby related to a job i was in thats incredibly outing so its very possible. (also was none of the above mentioned hobbies)

Unless the hobby is serial killing, I can't understand the secrecy.

Also, if someone is going to go to the lengths of trawling threads to find tiny pieces of information to try and piece together who I am, then they're welcome to know that I enjoy a bit of embroidery/sourdough baking/hopscotch in my spare time. They could do with a hobby themselves.

The only time I’ve ever managed to identify someone from here is because she posted her AIBU rant word for word on her Facebook page. Mention of a hobby is way too vague.

@RedskyAtnight Deutsherlangerschwertkampf

A poster did manage to identify a friend of mine on a previous discussion about this, combined with his (popular) profession.

But yes, generally it's silly.

YANBU. The overuse of the word “hobby” was my pet hate on the terms you don’t like thread.

ummnaeechange oooh that's a good German word.

Instead of saying "I can't say as it is outing but it is similar to golf" why not just say DH was off playing golf?

@JosephineDeBeauharnais

I’m pretty careful about mentioning DH’s job. He’s a former international, now coach and official in a minority sport. Mentioned it once on here some time ago and within minutes got a PM from someone saying “I know who you are” but without identifying themselves. Why bother with the PM? That’s a bit weird isn’t it?

Actually I've done that as a courtesy to someone when I realised she was almost certainly someone I knew in real life. She pinged back to say yes she was a parent at our school, thanks for the heads up, and she was going to name change now. I sent the pm from one of my oldest nick names, I change fairly regularly and now have about thirty available! So we both know that at least one other parent at picking up time was also a MNetter - but we still don't know which one.

Whenever there's a nondescript 'hobby' mentioned on a thread, I let my imagination fill in the gaps. Usually extreme ironing, duck herding or My Little Pony cosplayer.