Should Mumsnet have it's own middle class section ?

[hattie43]

Reading some of these threads turning nasty it's really apparent that people have such different lives there will never be common ground . Nor does there need to be but the insults are not nice.

A thread posted by someone asking a question , to some a reasonable question being jumped on by ' the poor ' as tone deaf means legitimate conversation has been drowned out .

Should Mumsnet be divided so
' middle classes 'can discuss things the poor don't relate to and likewise ' the poor ' can discuss their issues without ' tone deaf ' comments from people who aren't financially destitute ?

The other thing I don't get is why jump on a thread you don't like why not just scroll on by and join a discussion you do like . Being a hater is never going to resolve anything .

I don’t agree over the class thing as some middle class people have far less than some working class people and at the end of the day the cost of living crisis impacts those with less liquid cash regardless of how many degrees they have and how much quinoa they eat a week.

Nevertheless I kind of get what you’re saying. It’s got to a point where nobody can post about having anything more than the basics without people jumping down their throat. Someone posts about a holiday or a house purchase and people trip over themselves to go on to the thread (which they have the option to scroll past or hide) to complain about how they have no money and how the OP makes them feel bad and then it descends into a Four Yorkshiremen sketch.

Half the people complaining also repeatedly voted for the shower that put them in the food bank queue too which makes it even more tiresome.

@Hospedia

I'm not poor and I still thought the thread in question was tone deaf.

This.

I don’t think anyone objecting to that OP identified themselves as ‘the poor’, either. At least not on the first few pages that I could bear to read.

You'd probably think I were middle class
Definitely wouldn't.

Anybody using the word hater who isn't a teenager is in my opinion questionable. It is very evident you are bitter about people who have less than you that you describe as 'the poor' and destitute.' Is this Robin Hood? I really think there is a lot more going on in the world to think about rather than grouping people into classes

@DragonOverTheMoon

I'm not MC. I'm a grown up now, teenage mum who spent a good few years on benefits before going to uni and getting a decent job. I have never got bitter over those who have more than me. I really really don't understand this (seemingly new) attitude of being bitter about others being better off. I hated being broke and living on benefits, I sorted my shit out. If you don't want to be poor I really don't understand why, as an adult, you don't take responsibility for yourself and sort it out (obviously there are exceptions to this rule with disabilities ect) will probs have to name change now.

You went to university, yet you abbreviate "et cetera" as "ect". NICE.

Weird suggestion. You can be middle class AND poor. I used to be absolutely broke the second half of each month.

@Dancer47 well MN isn't a dissertation is it

Pick my grammar apart all you like, I managed a first class degree with no GCSEs due to a chaotic homelife and foster care. Pat your smug self on the back for being a nit pick

"Middle class" here and that post was absolutely tone deaf! What was even more apparent was the sheer ignorance of sustainability, empathy and self awareness. Class is irrelevant when it comes to these things so maybe a section for those with common sense and those that are lacking would be better?

@SharpLily

I think there shoud be a 'we are gentle ladies' type board, for all those who are horrified because their husband accidentally let off a fart in front of them and everyone piles in with 'LT disgusting B'. Never in real life have I come across people with such delicate sensibilities and it seems far more polarising than money.

I like this idea. Then all the uptight buttock-clenchers who moan about swearing could fuck off there and leave the potty-mouths in peace.

'A first world problems' thread? That's a redundant suggestion isn't it?

Given that some people identify on here as 'Judgemental and proud here. I’ll also admit to snobbishness and also a fair amount of intolerance.
But I’m not sure if it should be in middle class or not. I have WC roots but am right up there in the aspirational Ocado shopping MC wildnerness now.'. I think you could just have topic called 'Judgemental and proud'. They can then knock themselves out slagging off the masses and talking about their latest property related nightmare.

Middle class and poor? Possibly. A government minister was on TV yesterday and claimed he worries about his overdraft by the middle of the month. Given that he's earning 100k plus, plus expenses, I shudder to think what he spends his money on. Not tins of beans, I think.

It would be a very bad idea. One advantage of MN is everyone can post although I try to stay out of topics like those not too relevant to me eg where parents with children with disabilities want to talk about that as they tend not to like outsiders butting in and I think there are rules for the black mumsnetters sections too.

Class is not to do with money in the UK. You can be rich and working class and poor and middle class.

I don't know a poor trady. A middle management
MC job is around 40k a year, that is only 2.5 take home. Most electricians/plumbers (typically WC) are on £200 - £250 plus vat as a day rate and then get cash jobs on the side. If they price the job there's usually more to be made out of materials ect. Money doesn't determine what class you are. Although theoretically we're all working class if we have to work to live.

would posts have better grammar and spelling?

Obviously you can’t have different sections based on “class” but it is astonishing on here why do many people seem to only tolerate threads by or about people in similar (usually low) financial circumstances to themselves.

I mean, you only have to walk down the street to encounter all kinds of people in all kinds of financial circumstances. Would you rush over to someone and shout at them for being “tone deaf” because they were wearing something you couldn’t afford? Or in a restaurant you couldn’t afford - or whatever? No you would not - so why would MN be different? It’s the internet and will be representative of all walks of life. Some people seem to think they own the discourse. It’s very boring when someone posts a lighthearted AIBU about something in holiday, and then get loads of snippy comments about being able to afford a holiday at all! It’s a shame if people feel they can’t post anything except for some depressing DH / MIL scenario or about electricity bills or similar. There will always be people worse off or better off than you and why this comes as a shock to some MNers, I’ve no idea. If a thread winds you up, just scroll on by. Or start your own thread. It’s free!

I'd be up for that, as long as the 'not poor' or MC posters are not allowed on posts by 'the poor' with their 'helpful' suggestions or comments about how the OP or others get there and how they're the architect of their own failure, and where the terms 'get a job/better job', 'widescreen tv', 'sky', 'cut your cloth' and 'fags, booze and tattoos' are automatically screened out, because some people seem to think that's the only reason that people are ever poor.
The criticism works both ways on a forum like this, if you're poor someone will come along and tell you it's your own fault and if you're not poor someone will come along and tell you that you're privileged.
You'll never stop criticism like that.
And yes, I did think the OP was at best naive posting what she did the way she did when the impact of the cost of living crisis is well documented, and is on MN too. It was always going to go that way.

Isn't trying to classify people by the old 3-tier system a few steps back? As the 'working class' no longer exists as most viable working 'class' industries and the 'careers' associated with them no longer exist - it's rather archaic to consider that a 'middle class' still exists to.

Although a 'middle class only' Board could well turn out to be a source of much amusement for all.

Therefore, I say Yes, great idea OP - look forward to reading it.

There was nothing wrong with the topic.

It was just a tone deaf title.

'The poor' oh god haha!

Is it only for the rich middle class or the poor middle class?

Alternatively, there could be a "I'm below average" section?

I don't mean that - I'm just wondering why it is seemingly "ok" to have a go at people who are doing ok, because they are doing ok? I hate that some people expect the "middle classes" to apologise or feel bad for having some money and some nice things. eg people who pointedly say "Oh, you have a nice house". "Yes, and?"

OP, referring to posters who you don’t know as “The Poor” is absolutely vile.

Money has never, and will never buy class.

Suck it up.

I think "class" has evolved massively in the last 20 years so it's not that black and white to the point there aren't three classes.

I remember taking part in the survey referenced on this page at the time which then concluded there are 7 classes in the UK

www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_class_in_the_United_Kingdom

op, yes.
Like you say, some threads are ruined otherwise.