"Watch out everybody, a white van was spotted in such and such street" and other such pointless panic-mongery

[ImNotACat]

AIBU to be totally fucking sick of the "warnings" on local social media about absolutely bloody nothing?

Yeah, you saw a white van. OMFG the driver got out and left something on a doorstep then took a photo Perhaps he's a delivery driver you thick drama llama.

And what? An Asian woman with glasses was taking photos of an empty house on your street?? Quick, log it with the police. She must be up to something. Or maybe, just maybe, she's a fucking estate agent?

A car drove slowly past as you walked your dog? Yes, BECAUSE ITS POURING and the driver was probs trying to avoid soaking you as they went through puddles.

A van was seen driving very slowly round Labyrinth Close with 2 men in the front peering at the front doors 😱 That would be because the numbers are arranged in some bizarre configuration that makes no sense and it's basically impossible to find your way around if you haven't been before. Every time I have to drop something off to that estate (I do local deliveries for work sometimes) I expect to see a post about a badly dressed woman driving a rustbucket and staring into people's gardens 🤣

I mean I know IABU to care about Facebook really but it's infuriating watching people getting so worked up about fuck all.

We get "why is the Police Helicopter flying overhead MY house at 2am?" Or why is Coastguard Rescue Helicopter flying over so low? (probably has a diver on board with the 'bends' so they have to fly at low altitude). Or a classic when we moved into our house and I hung our washing out... Does anybody know if the new couple just moved in work for the NHS cos there is a Nurse uniform and ambulance uniform hanging on the line?

We get "why is the Police Helicopter flying overhead MY house at 2am?"

well, aren't you curious? Even the police put updates on twitter and other social media.

@FreddieMercurysCat

There have been a massive spate of animal thefts within about a 20 mile radius from us, so there are lots of these posts atm. And for good reason.

But are any of these verified by police or all just " my next door neighbours cousins gran said"

I just genuinely curious as I keep seeing Facebook posts about it but haven't heard of it actually happening from a verified source

The funniest one I saw was in a local paper in Cumbria, it said the perpetrator of the theft of a bottle of Champagne looked either Asian or East European.
Well that narrows it down a bit

@DisappearingGirl

Very true, that made me laugh! I want to know if the un-navigable road is really called Labyrinth Close :)

Also the posts about a missing dog etc ... it's not that I don't care about the dog, but if the people on your Facebook are scattered throughout the country/world it is unlikely any of them will spot the dog!

I have to disagree with you on the power of missing lost/found dogs Facebook has I know a number of times a dog has be reunited with its owner through the power of Facebook including a stolen service dog. It's a very powerful tool.

This is why I ignore NextDoor

Are all these missing dogs/dogs being snatched from people walking them/dogs stolen from garden alerts genuine, or just Urban Myths ?

Ugh I can't abide this. Two "Eastern European" type men in a van tried to kidnap three ten year olds off a busy city centre street? Aye right. You fucking racist.

Yes, the use of the phrase “looks Asian” is so ridiculous, and racist. Because of course Thai, Indian, Russian, Chinese etc people are indistinguishable from each other. It’s as useful as saying “this person had a face, two arms and two legs”

We have a live one right here on MN. What a time to be alive!

@Travelledtheworld

Are all these missing dogs/dogs being snatched from people walking them/dogs stolen from garden alerts genuine, or just Urban Myths ?

Our local police force posted on social media yesterday to say that "there have been no recent reports of dog theft made to XXXshire police service"

So I'm guessing that despite all the rumours flying round local FB about dog thefts, it is just rumours. No dogs appear to have actually been stolen in the county, though a few dozen people have posted to say that someone definitely tried to steal their dog by various increasingly unlikely means

Always getting moans on our local fb page about the RAF shooting range or the Flypast they have certain tuesdays...I mean, its been going on for donkeys years and some of the complaints have been here the same amount of time! lol

@Travelledtheworld

Are all these missing dogs/dogs being snatched from people walking them/dogs stolen from garden alerts genuine, or just Urban Myths ?

depends if official police social media are genuine or make up fake news for fun I suppose...

Our local ones has published many reminders.

And they are very strong on tools stolen from trades vans
and catalytic converters

We’ve had some break-ins in our village. One evening a kitchen windows was damaged in an attempted break in. Someone went onto
Facebook saying ‘omg just saw an unusual white transit with an Asian driver, look out!’ The next post was ‘the guy in the transit is me, I’m a joiner I I was fixing the brokenWindow frame!’

beta.northumbria.police.uk/about-us/publications-and-documents/accessing-information/disclosure-log/crime-statistics/dog-theft-2020-00121/

Mine is awful for this sort of waffle. People just posting random drivel all the time, it drives me nuts, to the point I’ve muted some of them because it’s constant moaning about what other people are doing.
I’m going to put it down to having to much time at home that they are becoming so aware of these things.

someone definitely tried to steal their dog by various increasingly unlikely means hmm

We Central and Eastern Europeans have a special noise we make which English people can't hear, but their dogs can. So if you see some of looking at a dog with slightly open mouth, we are luring the dog in. In my case I try to cover the noise by "omg how bloody cute are you!" while hoping that my lure will stick, dog gets my scent and comes later at night after escaping the owners to find me. 😁
Driving around in a white van is so 2020.

[quote SteveBrexit]beta.northumbria.police.uk/about-us/publications-and-documents/accessing-information/disclosure-log/crime-statistics/dog-theft-2020-00121/[/quote]
Note the number of ownership disputes there😱 it's not foreigners nicking them! It's custody battles!

During the recent snow there were lots of posts on our town Facebook page asking whether the roads to various places were open. So some one asked if the road from the Coop to MacDonalds was open - they are directly opposite each other.

I was just coming to say the same thing! And nearly half of the dogs were of "unknown breed" - why the fuck would anyone be stealing random mutts of unknown breed anyway? And the vast majority were of unknown age (97 out of 114) and unknown sex (100 out of 116) - doesn't sound like devoted owners were reporting these dog thefts How can you report a dog stolen if you don't even know what sex or age or breed it is FFS?

why the fuck would anyone be stealing random mutts of unknown breed anyway?
For cudddddlesss♥️

I deliberately post on Nextdoor about lost cats and fireworks being let off. Usually have no less than fifty replies. This then pushes off the top spot the five or six people who continually post about a planning application that was approved five years ago. They set up an online vote and claim the village unanimously want the planning permission overturned and the local councillors sacked for being useless and lining their own pockets. None of them have ever stood for council which is a lot of hard unpaid work.

"Imagine, walking and talking whilst brown!"
Goodness, where will it all end?

Must remember to vary it with dognappers and blue lights that will also hinder the virtue signallers saying ....just off to Morrison’s to get £40 of stuff for the foobank...oh can anybody tell me where nearest food bank drop off point is...ITS THAT BASKET AT THE SHOP EXIT THAT HAS THE BIG SIGN SAYING DONATIONS HERE FOR FOOD BANK

Oh god, the cat ones!

Picture of a beautiful and healthy looking cat with a post ‘worried about this cat, it’s been hanging round my garden for weeks - it’s looks really hungry, so have been putting a few treats out for it’

FFS, of course it will still keep ‘hanging’ round your house if you keep feeding it.

Drives me mad. I had a cat who was on a special diet and I caught one of my neighbours feeding it, despite them knowing they shouldn’t. Told him, he would be sent the next vets bill if he carried on.

Don’t get me started on the amount of posts about dogs being found wandering the streets or lost dogs. Just look after your bloody animals.

Saying that, I have also had recommendations for some brilliant people and businesses through our community FB page. Cake makers, balloon company, afternoon tea and the guys who are doing fitted cupboards in my hall. It’s not all bad.