Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Caught out on MN?

132 replies

C1N1C · 10/04/2023 14:30

Pure curiosity here. Since MN is quite popular, there's BOUND to be some issues spoken about with the person involved also being on MN. I think no matter how much we try to disguise it, coincidence and timing will help those involved identify us...

Has anyone been caught out? What happened?... or if those from the Mirror etc published the story, has it actually caused serious issues?

OP posts:
LastWill · 10/04/2023 16:03

Iam4eels · 10/04/2023 15:05

I'm always sceptical with threads like that where the other party and arrives and it kicks off. I'm sure most of them are just sock puppets.

This is no longer possible as you can’t NC on the same thread now.

GettingStuffed · 10/04/2023 16:06

I've seen a post which I assume was my DiL. I promptly left the thread although it was a discussion type post rather than anything personal and I've not checked any other posts of hers.

LlynTegid · 10/04/2023 16:09

Never recognised anyone on an MN thread. Never had anything I have written published in The Paper that Supported the Blackshirts, perhaps because I refer to the tabloid previously edited by Paul Dacre that way.

SerafinasGoose · 10/04/2023 16:10

youshouldnthaveasked · 10/04/2023 15:04

I saw a MIL thread a few weeks ago and the DIL posted. It got deleted

It was deleted because it was so obviously a crock of absolute nonsense. Creative writer with too much spare time on their hands.

purpledalmation · 10/04/2023 16:15

No, my story was anonymous anyway and no one clicked. In fact a mnetter told me!

Kennykenkencat · 10/04/2023 16:15

I have seen a 3rd party mention a friend on here. Nothing terribly outing, it was on the baby name board years ago and mentioning friends name and her dds name which are very beautiful and very unusual names

Otherwise everything just passes me by

Sometimes I see things on the relationship board and really want to relate what happened to someone I know but it is so unique I think everyone who knows her would recognise the situation and there would be an inquisition about who put it on here.

MauveCow · 10/04/2023 16:18

Not been outed to my knowledge but I've seen quite a few threads/posts where I've thought "that sounds like me" and wondered if someone might think it is.

honeyytoast · 10/04/2023 16:19

I started reading mumsnet when I was still a teenager in school, and once recognised a thread made about one of my classmates (mum posted about her dd who I went to school with)

RideACockHorseToSunburyCross · 10/04/2023 16:21

I recognised a friend and said so. Felt bad afterwards because she left MN because of it. Never searched her username but it made her paranoid she said. Wish I'd never told her tbh, she's a nice person and had enjoyed MN til I opened my big gob

Fandabedodgy · 10/04/2023 16:22

This thread was a good reminder that it's time for a NC.

TheGingerTucci · 10/04/2023 16:23

Iam4eels · 10/04/2023 15:05

I'm always sceptical with threads like that where the other party and arrives and it kicks off. I'm sure most of them are just sock puppets.

Well, posters cannot sock puppet any more. If you go on a thread and change your username, then go back on the thread, your username will revert to the username you last used on the thread.

Really good from MN 👏👏

TheGingerTucci · 10/04/2023 16:26

TakeMyStrongHand · 10/04/2023 15:28

Do you have a link? Nosy!

I've seen posts on fb asking for advice then word for word copied on here. I always get so nervous posting any personal data such as DDog activities or personal questions as I will usually ask them in real life too. I also name change regularly and mix info re SO and kids

@TakeMyStrongHand Its the Easter Cheeky Fuckery thread

Whatthediddlyfeck · 10/04/2023 16:27

I’ve been recognised -it was nothing contentious-they gave me a heads up so I could name change. I’ve recognised a couple of people I knew from another old forum

Ooolaaaala · 10/04/2023 16:31

TheGingerTucci · 10/04/2023 16:23

Well, posters cannot sock puppet any more. If you go on a thread and change your username, then go back on the thread, your username will revert to the username you last used on the thread.

Really good from MN 👏👏

Doesn’t this just require you to have 2 email addresses to get round it?

CoffeeCakeAndALattePlease · 10/04/2023 16:33

I recognised a post years ago - it was my brother. I replied but not saying who I was and his dw realised it was me and kicked off at both of us.

people thought it was someone puppeteering but it was 100% genuine.

barelyfunctional · 10/04/2023 16:33

I’ve recognised someone on here because her username is the same as her Instagram name. She also posts her children’s real names, ages, town she lives in, and then from her Instagram you can easily work out the house she lives in and where her children go to school… I didn’t deliberately look, I just noticed two separate posts from her by chance, one which mentioned her children’s names and ages and the other was on a thread about the town we live in, plus we follow each other on Instagram because our kids are friends. I’ve thought about pointing this all out her but she’s always really rude to me so I haven’t yet!

TheGingerTucci · 10/04/2023 16:34

Ooolaaaala · 10/04/2023 16:31

Doesn’t this just require you to have 2 email addresses to get round it?

True, very true. Bit of a pain though!

DemBonesDemBones · 10/04/2023 16:37

@Iam4eels but why? Are you famous or very important at work or something?

Glitteratitar · 10/04/2023 16:41

Iam4eels · 10/04/2023 15:04

I once read a thread where OP was asking for lunch recommendations near a specific attraction and someone responded recommending a place I'd been to for lunch just the previous day with a friend. This poster described the restaurant, what they'd ordered, what their friend had ordered, and made a joke about an item on the menu - the same joke my friend had made when we'd had lunch. I sent a PM to let her know I'd spotted her so she could NC if she wanted to, I also did her the respect of not doing an AS on her username.

I NC and have 3-4 current usernames that I switch between depending on what threads I'm posting on, e.g., a username specifically for the education boards, another specifically for style and beauty, etc. Then every 6-12 months I ditch them all never to be used again and create entirely new ones (sooner if I feel a need to).

When posting I deliberately switch around my DC sex and ages, they are always +/- a year or two of their actual ages and I will sometimes refer to them as he instead of she or visa versa so even if someone was to AS me they wouldn't be able to tell for certain if my 4-7yr old is a 4, 5, 6 or 8 and whether they're a boy or girl. When giving details I will switch around or alter non-essential information that doesn't affect the meaning of what I'm saying, for example if posting about a holiday I might change the country if that doesn't affect the anecdote (i.e., our holiday to France becomes a holiday to Spain or a holiday in Devon in the retelling) or if something happened at softplay I might say it happened in the park, I might say I had two DC with me when really I had three or that I went somewhere last month when really it was last week

I would do the same but MN tried to ban me because of it. They said I had inconsistencies in my posting history - the inconsistencies being I would change the age and sexes to avoid being identified after I had a thread taken by the DM!

WordtoYoMumma · 10/04/2023 16:48

I did once read a thread where someone was thinking of moving to exactly where I live and everyone jumped on the thread and said god no don't move there it's awful and full of horrible people 😂

CalpolDependant · 10/04/2023 16:54

Nope. But my neighbour from across the way wrote a scathing post about me on here, because when I bought my house, I told her she couldn’t use my driveway anymore. Her and her husband don’t have a driveway and used to use the one attached to my house because the house was derelict / hadn’t had anyone living in it for years.

I know it was her because she included a very detailed diagram 😂

The details had been really pepped up (this is a polite way of saying she lied) For example, she said she has a young daughter with ASN when in fact her daughter is 23 and lives in her own house… and is employed by my mother in law! 😂

Not only that, but she made out that I was super U, and that we’d had a long feud about it with lots of shouting from me. When in fact, we’d only had one conversation about it ever, which went something like this:

“hiya, my name is CalpolDependent and I’m new, we just bought number X. The estate agent says that is your car on my driveway. Would you mind find somewhere else to park, as we will be using the drive way now.”

“sure, no problem (then pointing to my burgeoning stomach) when are you due?”

“April. She’s my third. Feeling so hot and bothered though…”

The OP also said I didn’t even have a car 😂 (I do!)

The thread was wild with nasty suggestions, like reporting me to social services for always shouting at my children. So I told her when I saw her putting out her bin “I’ve seen your Mumsnet post and if you bother me again, I will be showing it to the police”. She denied it, obvs.

About 45 minutes later it had been taken down because the “user had been identified in real life” 🙄😁

Nanny0gg · 10/04/2023 16:54

LastWill · 10/04/2023 16:03

This is no longer possible as you can’t NC on the same thread now.

I bet you can have a separate account though (if you could be arsed)

OMGitsnotgood · 10/04/2023 16:57

I was identified by someone many moons ago when I naively posted too many details on a thread where it could have only been one or a handful of people. She sent a screen print of the thread and asked if it was me. I denied it but in subsequent meet ups it was clear she'd been through my posting history as was raising random topics that I'd posted about. Largely fairly innocuous stuft but there were a couple of health and friendship concerns I'd discussed and would rather not be identified for. I was so naive. Be warned!

KittytheHare · 10/04/2023 16:58

Thebirdsareback · 10/04/2023 15:24

There is a cf thread on now where the SIL obviously just replied..

I don't think it's the SIL and the poster clearly stated she wasn't the SIL. I think you misread.

Swipe left for the next trending thread