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AIBU?

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See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

MNHQ delete every remotely interesting thread!

327 replies

wewillmeetagain · 13/02/2021 11:17

Why do they do this? Ive seen two in the last 24 hours! Nothing remotely insulting, libellous or argumentative on them! It's like the only discussion with which they agree is allowed to take place! I personally think it spoils MN, they will probably remove this discussion pretty sharpish anyway!

OP posts:
KatherineJaneway · 14/02/2021 08:24

@Hubblebubble75

I just reported one this morning about a woman who’s partners phone was off for a day and asking what she should do. I reported it for inconsistencies like it was a newly dating but then they were together 6 mths and he lived far away but later he was close by. This thread made it into the daily f. Any way it’s just come up it’s a previously banned troll. I think it might actually be a daily f journalist making up threads and then reporting on them as saw same pattern last week.Story, op updates twice and disappears, appears in daily f . I’ve obviously got to much time in lockdown !
I reported that thread to be told the OP had been on the site a few years and was genuine Confused
knittingaddict · 14/02/2021 09:13

@AlternativePerspective

Tbh it baffles me that anyone would have thought the tom thread was real.

Maybe in the beginning when it was just about the best friend, although even that was written like a soap opera “tom shagged a and then b and then started off slagging off someone” (I lost track,)

But the more and more the thread went on, the more far fetched it became.

TBH though, I think a lot of posters actually enjoy being a part of this drama. The OP very much set the scene, but posters were desperate to tell her she should get the police involved, that she was in grave danger, that she should seek restraining orders and see a solicitor about her daughter to prevent Tom from being anywhere near her etc etc etc.

Essentially, posters helped the OP to embellish the story even further. Posters being convinced she was in danger helped her write the narrative perfectly and build up to hurriedly packing as Tom knocked the door.

I got to the first paragraph of the op and decided it was probably made up, so didn't bother with following further. Looks like I missed a treat.

When they are that overblown I tend to assume that people responding also think it might be fake and are playing along. Seems I was wrong about some of them.

SandyY2K · 14/02/2021 09:52

I was following the Tom thread and I believed it to be genuine. I find on MN if it's not a big standard "He's cheating thread" a lot of posters suspect a troll.

Lots of weird and strange things do happen, life isn't that simple.

I remember one thread a while back because of 'concerns about the OP' that ppl suspected was a troll. The member had actually PMd me prior to it getting deleted and we ended up taking (on the phone) about her problem. We stayed in touch for a little while. She was genuine and the MN support was cut off because of troll hunters.

There was another a few years ago where the poster's wife had really bad OCD and was abusive..people were troll hunting. He PMd me and had taken photos of some of the things he was talking about to prove to me he was genuine, as I'd commented a lot on his thread.

I've become friends with a woman (not from MN) who's story was so strange and I know it probably wouldn't have been believed on MN. The sort of thing you'd say, you couldn't make it up....but it was true.

All I'll say is it involved a married woman, an affair and pregnancy. I've been communicating with her from the pregnancy, to when she had the baby and the child is in school. I've seen pictures of all of this ... It was a very complex situation that I don't want to go into on here, as she would know it was her if she read it.

Perhaps before people troll hunt, they should think twice. Or ignore the thread and move on.

Do people not hear about strange out of the ordinary things happening in life? Perhaps if you watched true life programmes like Forensic Detectives, The FBI files, Nightmare neighbours and so many others, you'd see what I mean.

It's not just the criminal behaviour, but the relationships between individuals and how things lead to where they end up. The deviousness of the people..many like Tom, who will go to all lengths to get what they want.

Chicchicchicchiclana · 14/02/2021 09:59

Haven't rtft but I'm annoyed the It's A Sin thread about the character Jill has been deleted. I was saving that for when I'd finished watching the show. Anyone know why it's gone?

Hubblebubble75 · 14/02/2021 10:18

Isn’t it up to mumsnet to investigate if it’s a troll or not ? I assume they can see frequent name changers with constantly changing stories. I flagged a story because there were so many inconsistencies it’s was silly

icanboogieboogiewoogie · 14/02/2021 10:19

There were surprisingly few troll hunters on the Tom thread. Just increasingly hysterical posters howling 'you're not safe, OP! Leave! Don't tell anyone where you are going! Take all your documents!' because her husband was remaining neutral in a dispute between his partner and his childhood best friend.

StepOutOfLine · 14/02/2021 10:27

I'm sure we'll find out what happened to the OP if we keep an eye out on the 99p Kindle deal of the day.
I think there were surprisingly few troll hunters on the thread because tbf, I think a lot of "omg OP I haven't slept for thinking about you" posts are the OP socking and bumping her own storytelling.

Sorrento2014 · 14/02/2021 10:39

Does anyone know if 'Dorothy' was deleted and if so why? Seemed genuine then suddenly disappeared 🤷‍♀️ She left an abusive partner and lots of people were supporting her. If genuine I hope she is ok.

AlternativePerspective · 14/02/2021 11:18

SandyY2K It’s not so much about strange things happening but is often about timelines and stories going off on different tangents.

TBH at the beginning of the Tom thread I would have said that Tom and the DH were in a relationship and that the reason he was married to the OP and Tom was promiscuous was because neither of them were yet out. People said that was far fetched and yet it’s surprisingly common how many people come out after they’ve been married and had kids.

But instead the story escalated to Tom coming to stay and the posters telling the OP he would be turning up that afternoon, which he duly did, and she packed up while he was at the door waiting to come in.

Also, just because a poster stays in touch offline doesn’t mean they’re genuine.

Over the years there have been numerous posters who have formed connections with others offline, and in some cases even visited them in their homes.

And there was the child modelling one who had started up a child modelling website, had brought in MN’ers as moderators so when she was banned from MN for trolling (she was outed by a legitimate child modelling agency) she had a lot of support from posters ho couldn’t believe she wasn’t genuine.... until the article in the guardian naming her as a woman using a fake child modelling website to get pictures to give to her bf who was running a paedophile ring.

Daleksatemyshed · 14/02/2021 11:45

I'll put my hand up and admit I was reading the Tom thread in two minds, might be all lies but answered as if 100 % true just in case. It reminded me of woman I worked with , her DH couldn't understand why she didn't want his best mate in their house nearly every night of the week. She was on the brink of divorce after 1 year of marriage. I think she left in the end

Sparklingbrook · 14/02/2021 11:55

The Amanda Holden breaking covid rules one has just gone. Not surprising as the speculation was off the scale.

ZeldaPrincessOfHyrule · 14/02/2021 11:59

I'm expecting the DB/DH Amsterdam one may go too...

knittingaddict · 14/02/2021 12:01

Wow, did not know about that last one AlternativePerspective.

After years on here I do tend to treat everything as creative writing. Some I reply to anyway, just in case (usually the domestic abuse ones), but I don't get invested in any of them. Much better to hold it all lightly and save yourself the angst.

littlepattilou · 14/02/2021 12:02

@Hubblebubble75

I just reported one this morning about a woman who’s partners phone was off for a day and asking what she should do. I reported it for inconsistencies like it was a newly dating but then they were together 6 mths and he lived far away but later he was close by. This thread made it into the daily f. Any way it’s just come up it’s a previously banned troll. I think it might actually be a daily f journalist making up threads and then reporting on them as saw same pattern last week.Story, op updates twice and disappears, appears in daily f . I’ve obviously got to much time in lockdown !
Wow, that was a troll then?! I never realised that. I didn't notice it had been zapped. It was there for several days. I wonder why it took mumsnet so long to zap it?

SO many people were taken in by that, although some others weren't (including me.)

The ones who WERE taken in, were being quite nasty towards the ones who could see through it. Some people who were sceptical about it, and said 'hmmm funny the OP hasn't been back since her first post' were called 'nasty' and 'spiteful.'

Some accused them of not supporting the non-existent sisterhood, and said 'no wonder the OP hasn't been back, with how nasty some people have been...' Wink

How hilarious that it made it to the Daily Fail, and it was all fiction. Grin

That'll teach those lazy below-average 'reporters' them to lift stories from here! Grin

littlepattilou · 14/02/2021 12:02

@KatherineJaneway

I reported that thread to be told the OP had been on the site a few years and was genuine. Confused

That's very odd. Wonder why they said she was genuine, and then deleted the thread with the 'previously banned troll' message on it?! Confused

Hubblebubble75 · 14/02/2021 12:30

@KatherineJaneway
It was the one ‘new partners phone is off’

The message is still there from MN in my watched posts

thread deleted

Message from MNHQ: The OP is a previously banned poster.

SandyY2K · 14/02/2021 12:33

@AlternativePerspective

SandyY2K It’s not so much about strange things happening but is often about timelines and stories going off on different tangents.

TBH at the beginning of the Tom thread I would have said that Tom and the DH were in a relationship and that the reason he was married to the OP and Tom was promiscuous was because neither of them were yet out. People said that was far fetched and yet it’s surprisingly common how many people come out after they’ve been married and had kids.

But instead the story escalated to Tom coming to stay and the posters telling the OP he would be turning up that afternoon, which he duly did, and she packed up while he was at the door waiting to come in.

She had pretty much packed before Tom came. Posters gave advice on what you take/lists of helpful resources and having seen his house on the market, she knew it was coming.

She knew her DP didn't have her back and she wasn't going to hang about.

I can't see your bog standard troll having the inclination to get into a friendship or continuing contact over months/years with me if they were just making up a crazy story.

The examples I mentioned were just a few, but there have been others I've continued contact with over the years and they're genuine in relation to the issue they posted about.

My main point was just because MN take the thread down and say it was a troll...doesn't mean that is in fact the case.

I recall a woman who's thread was removed..on the basis it sounded unbelievable. Her DP had confessed to urinating in her bubble bath as an act of revenge. After the troll hunters piled in, it was removed.

She made another account and contacted MNHQ to complain and prove she wasn't a troll and it was reinstated, but it caused her a lot of distress. As if her situation wasn't bad enough, but then to be called a liar.

There were no inconsistencies in timelines, people just didn't believe it and that she wanted to stay in the relationship after this.

I'd also say that timelines can be out where a poster is trying not to be identified. So ages change, when they met then doesn't add up and it gets picked up on.

Recently on the stepparent thread a poster said her 5 and 2 year old had ambition. Of course ppl said what 2 year old has ambition...it transpires the child was older, but she didn't want to be identified and changed the ages...she didn't realise others would question a 2 year old having their future sorted out.

HeelsHandbagPerfumeCoffee · 14/02/2021 12:54

Piano teacher thread gone,that was apparently not genuine
Tbh It was quite far fetched

ZeldaPrincessOfHyrule · 14/02/2021 12:59

The sexy flirty piano teacher one? Not surprised.

knittingaddict · 14/02/2021 13:28

@HeelsHandbagPerfumeCoffee

Piano teacher thread gone,that was apparently not genuine Tbh It was quite far fetched
Was that I new thread? I saw it and passed on by because I was sure it was a old thread because we have definitely had the same scenario before.
Chicchicchicchiclana · 14/02/2021 13:35

"There were surprisingly few troll hunters on the Tom thread"

usually troll hunters are deleted and banned faster than the trolls themselves

HeelsHandbagPerfumeCoffee · 14/02/2021 14:05

Piano teacher allegedly being flirty with the dh. Convoluted contradictory story
Loads of indignant posters giving it if another woman so much ad looks,breathes,or wafts near my man I’ll stab her

supercee · 14/02/2021 14:15

Does anyone know what happened to the woman with a young child fleeing DV from her husband? She went to her sisters and then her parents I think. She posted a picture from her car and her friend was looking after her horse.

It got to thread two but both disappeared I think.

Jobsharenightmare · 14/02/2021 14:21

@Berthatydfil me too and I assume she made it all up. Lots of people had reported her it said and I took it that Mumsnet didn't want people wasting time giving her advice!

Sparklingbrook · 14/02/2021 14:25

I saw some of that @supercee it all seemed to happen in real time with very regular updates and much cheering and waving of Pom Poms. Maybe it just fizzled-not sure!