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.

These threads seek and share a lot of information that’s specific to the UK. Schools, NHS, shops, community groups, politics, covid regulations etc. People are welcome to read and post wherever they are. It’s open to other viewpoints. But it’s silly to complain that a British thing is British.

@donquixotedelamancha

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

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

Lots of English posters do it too.

The site YOU use that are us based...

My ds.uses lots of forums and says most people assume.others are American.

@ZaraW

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%

You've missed the behemoth that is London

OK, figures can vary depending on how you define London, but it's about 12% of UK population

I belong to two based in the US, but no-one assumes that posters on them must all be American.

I bet they do. I've never been on any forum except MN where people don't automatically assume everyone is American.

My point is that this is the only forum I know that considers itself to have a nationality.

You don't get around much then? I see plenty of forums that are UK orientated. And much as the Covid police get up my nose, there are a lot of countries, not just the UK, that have significant Covid regulations - are you assuming that a whole bunch of people making such posts are actually from the UK???

I think a lot of countries populations are rather "-centric", and if it annoys me that much then I have a fantastic solution that you might want to try - go somewhere else.

@thinkingaboutLangCleg

These threads seek and share a lot of information that’s specific to the UK. Schools, NHS, shops, community groups, politics, covid regulations etc. People are welcome to read and post wherever they are. It’s open to other viewpoints. But it’s silly to complain that a British thing is British.

^^^ This completely. And Iam not actually British , though I am living in the UK.

I too belong/have belonged to many different sites and forums in the past 20 years. Most are/were American and I adjusted my language or explained that I wasn't American when posting.

@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

I totally agree with this, everyone assumes that things are the same across the UK.

@JustLyra

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.

Yep. I think that explains where my OP comes from.

Why is the first assumption for many MNers be that the poster must be breaking the rules/a liar/a troll, rather than it occurring to them that s/he might just be in another part of the UK/the world? That what screams insular to me

But maybe it should just scream 'this poster is a miseryguts'.

I'm torn, I despise the Covigilantes and their hijacky behaviour, but I think it's fine for us to be UK-centric.

There was a poster moaning about Melbourne going into lockdown a few days ago, after they've been 'so strong', that was annoying, when we've been in lockdown for 2.5 months.

This is a UK forum. I assume MNTowers is still in Highgate, London. We are going to be UKcentric and I always assume posters are in Uk tbh unless they say otherwise

everyone assumes that things are the same across the UK

I live in an area with a three tier school system. I couldn't join in with the Year 6 leavers/Year 7 starting High school threads because Years 5-7 (or 8) are done at Middle School here

But that said, I realised it was me in the minority.

I disagree OP. MN is a UK site. Yes people elsewhere use it, but it's not unreasonable for the assumption to be that the vast majority of users are from the UK.

If you know there's a good chance that someone will say you are breaking covid rules then it's not very difficult to say "by the way we're in IOM/Australia/NZ/Taiwan/wherever and are allowed to have weddings/parties/walk on the beach in a group".

The school holidays thing is a bit irritating if you are in Scotland, but holidays aren't uniform in England either so if I say it's half term this week someone elsewhere in England will probably tell me it isn't :)

I use a lot of different forums and I definitely find the US based ones assume users are US based. It doesn't bother me. 🤷‍♀️

I start with the assumption that every poster on here is a mother based in the U.K.

Its not always the case and it often isn’t relevant but sometimes it is.
I’m not a mother and often this isn’t important on here so I don’t often mention it, and conversations that are centred around having children don’t tend to interest me and I don’t have anything to offer, so I don’t post on them.

I think it is fair to assume that people here are in the U.K. so if I was posting about going to the pub, to my friends house, out for dinner etc right now I’d point out that I wasn’t in the U.K.

Yes it's terrible that a site set up in the UK that has an English majority of posters (according to a poll some time ago) should evince any English centricity.

I'll take my English self off for a stern rebuke...

As you said its Uk based. Its up to the poster to state were they are if relevant.

I've never seen a non-British politician do the Q&A here. Does that bother you also?

I’m not in the UK but know this is a UK based website and therefore expect the majority of content to reflect that. I include the fact that I’m not in the UK in my posts (where relevant) and wouldn’t reference locations or things that are particular to my location as I know they won’t mean much to the majority of my fellow posters.

In fact, I quite like it and see it as my little porthole into UK culture and attitudes

I think the problem I've seen is not so much people assuming posters are in the UK, which I think is normal for a British site. It's people not giving someone a chance based on their assumption.

My initial assumption is in favour of the majority group (People in the UK) but because I know there are also posters in other countries, any difference I see means my second thought would be that they're not in the UK.

For example, if someone posts something which I find odd and not something I'd expect from someone in, say England, I wouldn't immediately think they're lying. I'd switch my first assumption to a second one, which is to think this sounds odd for England, perhaps this poster isn't in England.

Then I may ask the poster if they're in England or whereabouts they are before making any further judgements or stop posting.

Some people don't do this, they just jump on what they perceive as different without thinking outside what they're familiar with. Perhaps I'm more mindful of this here because I'm also not in the majority group on MN, besides being a mum in the UK. 🤷🏽‍♀️

I use a lot of different forums and I definitely find the US based ones assume users are US based. It doesn't bother me. 🤷‍♀️

I'm annoyed that Google suggests US sites to me in search results. Suggesting US recipe websites (bloody cups and ounces) instead of UK ones. Argh. I have selected UK in my settings.

I remember when someone on a US based site tried to have a go at me for refusing to describe a black brit as African American. If MN is insular, we're hardly unique.

@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

I agree largely with this. In fairness, however, it does also depend on the thread subject. You get the ones about house buying or rental contracts and I have noticed an upturn of posters asking where the op is not just presuming or giving advice on the proviso that you don’t live in Scotland etc. I can imagine this is very annoying for people not in England because of the differing Covid rules in different parts of the U.K. / NI and because threads right now are highly policed.

And in answer to the op, I disagree. The onus is on the poster to state they’re overseas.

Why do the threadjackers assume that everyone on here is British?

They don't assume everyone is British.

But it's a UK-based site with an overwhelming majority of UK-based members so it's hardly any wonder that people assume that posters are in the UK unless they say otherwise.

@chipsandpeas

its not even just a UK thing, its a English thing, people forget that the other UK countries have different rules and systems

Yes that's the bigger annoyance.

It's a predominantly UK site, if posting from elsewhere why not just say (if it's relevent to the issue). I would do the same on a site that was predominantly made up of users elsewhere.