To be irritated by the UK-centric assumptions on here

[saraclara]

Many posters here seem blissfully ignorant of the fact that the internet is a worldwide thing. Yes, this site is based in the UK, but that should be as far as it goes. Clearly there's somewhat of a UK focus which is fine up to a point. But...

Every second thread seems to end up with someone in the covid police trying to threadjack it because a hapless poster from a country that's not in lockdown, posts about being on holiday/vacation or visiting relatives, or doing something else that's not allowed here at the moment. Why do the threadjackers assume that everyone on here is British?

Seriously, the insularity here is really weird. I've not seen it on any other forum. I belong to two based in the US, but no-one assumes that posters on them must all be American.

Always good to get other posters on here, esp when it’s a place that rarely has people post

It gets wearing when it’s just to tell us how crap U.K. is though as has been a theme lately

@GreenlandTheMovie

saraclara I'm not saying they have to 'think' of anyone. Just not work on the assumption that everyone is English.

I'm not English.

Were you assuming that I was?

No, I wasn't. What in that quote gave you that impression? I used the word 'they', not 'you'

It’s a British site. I think the onus is on people who aren’t British to point that out when they’re posting. Or they don’t get to complain when people don’t understand.

@DoctorHildegardLanstrom yes and when they go back to school you get the same thing. There wax also a post yesterday about 2 people getting married in a garden. Someone was straight on to say it’s not legal to get married anywhere indoors tgat isn’t registered..,it is in Scotland and it turned out the poster was in the US!

Americans use the word ''American'' interchangeably with person!

I notice this a lot in disaster films/TV where there's going to be an apocalyptic event and everyone keeps going on about saving America/ the American people... technically correct but you're saving the world, did we all just stop existing?

As for posting about getting married / wedding whatever it doesn’t take long to add not in the U.K.

Someone will ask pretty shortly if they are though if not said which is fine

Why not say where you are based - gives context

I do tend to assume that those posting are in the UK, on this UK based website, unless they state otherwise. What's so terrible about that?

I agree that there should not be an assumption that everyone is from England, the UK is of course more than that. Or an assumption that everything is the same all over the UK. But I don't think there is anything wrong with assuming someone is from the UK unless it is stated otherwise, since this is a UK site. If I went on an American site with an issue about schools, or health care, or anything like that, of course I would point out that I am British as otherwise most of the responses given would be completely useless.

@Busydoingnowt

Some forums are very international and I wouldn’t even know where they were based. Mumsnet is very much a U.K. website. All the information pages and product recommendations are for U.K. products. Competitions and product tests are for U.K. readers. I suspect an overwhelming large proportion of users are in the U.K. It’s really not weird or parochial for users to assume this to be the case.

That's a fair point, which I hadn't really considered.

@42goingon90

Americans are definitely the worst for not realising they are not the only country.

Just what I was going to say! An American on a U.S. based forum would never ever assume anyone was living elsewhere.

@Womencanlift

I would say it’s English centric not UK centric.

The amount of threads that say things like “that’s not the rules” - well it is in Scotland or “why are your DC not in school, they don’t break up until mid July?” - not here they don’t

Absolutely agree with this!

YABU

It’s a predominantly British site so naturally people assume the poster is British unless told otherwise. A lot of the time it’s irrelevant, if it is relevant then the OP should mention it in their post.

Sorry by “British” I should have said “living in the UK”

[quote BashfulClam]@DoctorHildegardLanstrom yes and when they go back to school you get the same thing. There wax also a post yesterday about 2 people getting married in a garden. Someone was straight on to say it’s not legal to get married anywhere indoors tgat isn’t registered..,it is in Scotland and it turned out the poster was in the US![/quote]
Someone yesterday replied to me saying “I forgot Scotland was in the UK” when talking about landlord regulations.

They literally said their area was the most stringent in the UK, but actually meant England.

@BashfulClam it drives me potty, if I am not sure I check, its not difficult just to say, can I check where abouts you live, advice can be so different for different places

I think Covid is showing this up in England. The South are we had a great summer holiday, we got to go see people and the north were like I stood 2m from my mum and wave. A big generalisation I admit, but the longer this goes on the wider the gap is, already there is a massive canyon between the 4 countries and it is only going to get bigger

I've been on her for years and never noticed it was a problem. MNHQ is in London, it's a British site, so I don't think it's a huge leap to assume most people posting on here are from the UK IMO.

If 84% of British population live in England I would mention if I was a Scottish, Welsh or N. I. poster just to make it clear. I was born in Scotland it's not an issue for me.

65,761,117 United Kingdom (July 2020 est.)
constituent countries by percentage of total population:
England 84%
Scotland 8%
Wales 5%
Northern Ireland 3%

I'm in a couple of Facebook groups for an American online teaching company. The majority of teachers are in the US but there is a growing number from other countries. The US-based users of the groups never state they're in the US, they just ask questions about taxes or teaching times or whatever. I always assume they are in the US because its an American company. Likewise, if I posted about taxes but didn't give my location, they would assume I'm also in the US. I'm sure they know that there are teachers based in other countries in the group, but I wouldn't go on there and berate them for not being more aware.

Surely the same applies here? It's prominently a UK site. Although I agree that too many posters think the UK and England are synonymous.

I've not seen it on any other forum. I belong to two based in the US, but no-one assumes that posters on them must all be American.

I find it's incredibly common for US posters to make US based assumptions even on worldwide sites.

I'm utterly bemused at the idea that posters on a website for UK parents should pretend otherwise. In a similar way not everyone is a woman but it's also fine that that female is the default assumption.

*predominantly

If someone mentions the school holidays then there's no need for someone English to say "The schools aren't closed yet".

Same with the wedding comment. If someone got married in a garden then it's not too hard to think "They must be not in England" rather than jumping in to tell people that it's not possible.

Too many people on here are more desperate to be the first to call troll than they are to use their brain for half a second and realise there is life beyond England's borders.

I'm referencing the UK/England thing in my last post

"But it's pretty active when the UKers are asleep"

We don't all sleep at the same time you know

I agree that too many posters think the UK and England are synonymous.

It's a handy way of identifying which posters are American.