Are YOU the OP’s sister??

[WomanStanleyWoman2]

Or MIL/neighbour/colleague/second cousin twice removed etc.

Basically, I’m wondering what goes through people’s mind when they ask this on a thread - usually when someone has “gone against the grain” and says the OP’s sister isn’t a total bitch even though she’s excluded one of OP’s daughters from her wedding and made the other chief bridesmaid (or whatever).

Surely no one really thinks that, out of the millions of registered MN users, one of the first people to find the thread just happens to be the person at the centre of it? And having found said thread, rather than phoning her sister and saying “What the bloody hell do you think you’re doing slagging me off to all and sundry on Mumsnet?!”, her first thought is to pretend to be someone else who supports her point of view?

Assuming no one actually genuinely believes that any dissenting voice has to be involved in the situation in real life, why do people trot this out? Surely they can’t possibly think it’s in any way amusing? What’s the thinking behind it?

(Disclaimer: Someone actually did accuse me, and one other poster, of being involved in a scenario in real life and got quite intense about it, saying it was an actual very real possibility, despite neither of us having said anything particularly controversial. So maybe I’m biased…)

You sound lovely OP.

It's annoying because they very rarely use the expression correctly. It doesn't mean going against the majority. It means going against your own instincts.

No, it's 'you sound hard work OP' 😂

Exactly.

I suspect that in some cases the person posting it also wants to point out how ridiculous the other poster is but doesn’t want to actually engage with them in case they are, in fact, a lunatic. So they’ll post that sarcastically in hopes that it will cause a spark of self-awareness and make them realize that they sound unhinged.

And you think your thread policing how others post is original..........

Too many threads/posts with this vein nowadays.

They think they are being clever and witty. Except they are not.

Same as the people who post gems such as :
you don't like him/her much do you?
111 - now
What's McDonalds/Nandos/Iceland/Greggs
I would suggest a spa break

etc etc etc.

I went on a thread yesterday and it was actually my OH complaining about something I’d done. (100% true) I didn’t respond but copied and pasted bit that was totally inaccurate and texted it to him. I didn’t bother reading the rest.

Another time I posted about something he had done that had irked me and he admitted afterwards that he voted and chipped in on the comments. I can’t remember what it was about, can’t have been anything too bad I suppose.

I kind of wish I’d never introduced him to mumsnet. 😑🙄

Can we also ban people who say 'The double standards on here are shocking'?
I mean, given they've come onto a thread deliberately hoping to flag up some dastardly double standardising they're clearly not shocked at all.

i've caught my sister posting about me on here before. Except she massively exaggerated the story and changed a few facts so everyone sided with her. I didn't comment on the thread although I was tempted

Are you the OP's OP...?
😉

Wasn't there a thread on here once about a dog walker on a field used by an archery club, and then someone from the archery club memorably popping up on here to defend themselves and prove that the OP in question's pictures had been photoshopped/edited?

But I also think it's a tongue-in-cheek response to posts that appear to defend actions an OP is complaining about.

When I joined MN about 10 years ago, it was quite common to read "I take it you're a man?" if someone dared to point out the woman might be to blame 😂

I always think it's quite bullying actually. As though no-one can cope with reading a different opinion so they have to undermine it.

Yes, I think this is it. It’s the arrogance of assuming anyone who would dare disagree with the majority must have a vested interest.

I was accused of being the OP/a sock puppet last week because I disagreed with a posters opinion.

It was hilarious that anyone could be so stupid to think I would ever be arsed to go to such lengths. Nevermind the search facility/posting history that is readily available. They just made themselves look like an idiot and self absorbed.

It takes all sorts I guess.

Me too, several posts in fact after she fell out with me several years ago. Also left out a lot of info that would have painted the situation more accurately but I didn’t see it as my place to out her. Then I recently posted about a really bad situation I was in and was finding the support really helpful until I mentioned we’d fallen out for further context and she posted a massive rant about how badly I’d apparently been to her. I had to abandon the thread unfortunately.

Same when you disagree and then get called a man, an incel, or MRA. It's just a way of belittling and undermining your opinion because you don't agree with them and they don't like that.

Except if you're professing your disgust about McDonalds, you have to spell it "Macdonalds", just to show that you are SO far removed from such a revolting place.