Why does this phrase make me cringe and very angry and think, Who the F cares?

[DistinguishedSocialCommentator]

This is the phrase and i see it at least once a day if not more so

"Name changed..." for this thread/etc.

Why post that? No one will know if you used another name. What's the ruddy point of this? Am I missing something?

If you posted as a regular as XXXX69 then went on to post about something you felt uncomfortable about - why the heck do you have to make an announcement like the above? Seriously, have I missed the boat or is it a secret code on MN?

AIBU to feel like this or are you with me?

Fair enough. However, I do hate seeing the term used as its unnecessary, IMHO.

What is FM?

I concur with pp, it's to stop AS and derailment.

After consideration, forum member I think.

What's AS?

Advanced search

Yes, of course! Ta

There’s so much that’s unnecessary or infuriating in the way in which people post, though, that I am surprised that this one has you so exercised.

• The inability to punctuate or use paragraphs
• Annoying abbreviations which mean you don’t know that someone is referring to a son in law rather than a sister in law
• Using A, B, C and D to refer to the dramatis personae in their tale so that all readers end up utterly confused
• Posting questions requesting factual information to which Google would have returned an answer in less time than it took them to make the post

If something annoys you and that thing is out of your control, then take charge of your response to it so it’s no longer annoying. Unless you have highly specialised, niche skills and knowledge which are being requested by a poster and you know that unless you engage, they will never have the benefit of expertise that only you can offer, then it’s probably best to close the thread, or close the site, and just do something else instead. Continuing to engage on a forum which exercises you to this extent is unnecessary self-flagellation.

Well, deal with it. Or find a forum that does things the way you would prefer.

I find your habit of using ‘FM’ in your posts mildly irritating, but I haven’t started a thread to whine about it, because I don’t own Mn.

Thank you.

It means 'forum member' apparently.

And it's a term this OP deliberately uses on many threads, despite being fully aware it confuses a lot of people.

Ah okay. So they bring an abbreviation from another forum and pepper it about in their posts but complain about something from this one that most of us don't really care about. Got it.

Thanks to everyone who explained.

it does make me think, WTF, there was no need for that

You keep saying the same thing, despite the fact that many people on this thread have explained to you why people feel the need to do it.
the fact is that it does decrease the nos of pp’s who start troll hunting and/ or derailing threads with suspicions about a first post etc. if people write that they are a long term poster just NC’d, in the eyes of many other users , it makes their post more credible. Whether you consider it more credible or think other people should find it so is irrelevant. 💁🏼‍♀️

Exactly.

OP, I have to ask, did you deliberately mis-spell your previous username, or are you purposefully distancing yourself from the posts you made under your previous one?

Exactly this.

The point is, obviously, that other posters don't know. It deflects a lot of tedious troll hunting posts.

Yes, but at least it makes people think twice before jumping to conclusions when they aren't warranted.

The point is that troll hunting is so tedious, and if people base their accusations purely on the fact that the poster has no posting history telling them that you have name-changed obviously explains why. So if they were going to accuse you of trolling purely because you haven't got a posting history, they're going to have to consider the evidence a bit more carefully.

What's an FM?

We all know, I hope, that the official way to deal with trolls is to report them. However, breaking the rules happens very, very regularly and doesn't necessarily make someone "not genuine". After all, I've seen deletions of your posts on threads, OP - are you not genuine?

Nor, when your post is being derailed by people accusing you of trolling just because you've name-changed, it isn't really a comfort to think "Oh, well, the people buggering up my thread aren't genuine". The buggering up remains very real. So if you can deflect some of that by explaining that actually you are a long-term poster who has changed their name, why wouldn't you? I can think of many infinitely more irritating MN tropes, with troll hunters pretty near the top of the list.