It was you

[Margauxdes]

Have you ever read a thread on mumsnet and realised that the person was talking or complaining about you?

No, and with around 9 million users a month posting, I think I'd have to be very paranoid if I did.

That's not what they do it for.

If you use a name for a long time, you can leave clues to who you are in real life.
Over a year let's say, you might mention where you're from on one thread. How many kids you've got on another. How old you are on another. How many siblings you have in another. What you do for work in another. What your hobby is in another.

It takes seconds to Advance Search someone's user name and pick up several snippets of information. Put those snippets together and it can, and has, out people pretty quick.

So a name change when mentioning specific things is always a good idea... You could also lie through your teeth and blur your history and details for anyone that goes looking...

No.

Yes, and I was right. It was about me. It was horrible.

I once read threads on here by someone I know. She put her user name as MrsXxxx and her surname is quite unusual. Then she made references to where she lived and what school her DC go to. She used to complain about her DH’s Christmas presents. He’s a Uni friend of DH and I.

It was very interesting to read! 😜

I think the reason why people ' name change' is more for their data protection and nothing to do with self importance.

Remember that some of the issues discussed on this forum is very, very sensitive and they have less to lose by hiding behind a different name providing they are causing no harm to anyone.

No but I recognised a friend on here from a post, and searching her old Threads confirmed it was her.

I recognised someone I knew when she posted about her DCs names. They weren't unusual as such but not ones you hear every day either. I did tell her I recognised her in case she wanted to name change. Not sure if she did or not as I didn't go looking for her again and now can't remember the name anyway. I think you should say so if you do recognise someone to give them the opportunity to change their name for future anonymity!

No but I did recognise a friend once. Very innocent thread about an outfit for a wedding but i just read it in her voice due to the style of writing. A quick search confirmed as she has a very, very niche job.

there might be a huge amount of worldwide users on this site but regular posters are very noticeable.

You've misunderstood why people name change, it's nothing to do with being important, it's about keeping information disconnected

I once saw a post on MN which was identical to someone's (a friend of a friend) post on Facebook. That's the closest I've done to identifying anyone.

Likely it's to let people know they're not newbies.
Often, someone will post a serious issue and some smart arse will advance search their name and post some shite like,
"Interesting first post OP"

So a quick
"Name changed for this"
Let's responders know that they're not new, they've just name changed.
Often they'll also add,
"Name changed , but been here ages, penis beakers, yoni massage etc"
Same reasons.

I think this might be a hangover from when the site was much smaller, and new posters could be viewed with suspicion if the thread was might be seen as contentious, trolling or click-bait.

I haven’t seen this for a long time, but you’d occasionally see a response of ‘interesting first post, <username>’, so I think people used ‘NC for this’ to preempt that.

I agree with @Clocksprings there is a sense of self-importance! “Name changed as could be outing!” like anyone actually cares enough to advance search and link together breadcrumbs of information!

I would love if anyone had any juicy examples where the subject of a thread has recognised themselves and whether they confronted the OP

Exactly - then they feel they have to give "proof" (penis beakers 🤔cancel the cheque/etc) - jut why?

As if we are going to ignore the thread if we think it is a newbie encroaching on our territory, then "oh, it's ok, they have proved they are long-standing". Just odd!

No, but reconnected with a school friend when a school was mentioned by its more unusual nickname.

Posters use the advance search all the time and post any perceived nconsistencies loads, I'm surprised you haven't seen that if your a regular reader

Yes

No but I recognised a friend on here from a post, and searching her old Threads confirmed it was her.
Similar, but with an in-law

There's someone on here who lives in the same town as me (there are probably loads, but she posted a photo), and I've been tempted to introduce myself when I see her out and about.
'Hi username, I'm Emanwenym'.

I name change because I post about different, unrelated things.

It’s a long time ago now, but a poster challenged people to see how much they could tell about her from the info in her threads.

I think she was thoroughly shocked at just how much that was, including where she lived, her & her husband’s jobs & where her kids went to school.

Knowing her previous username & with a couple of lucky guesses that paid off, I found her Pinterest account & was able to PM her descriptions of her front door & her child’s bedroom.

I can’t remember what happened after that, I think she either namechanged again or left. But it was pretty educational.

Yes! And I loved it. I was a baker in a past life and someone had enquired about my availability, I confirmed I was free, then realised they had ghosted an order from me previously when I was too naive to take deposits. When I twigged I priced her high for her new enquiry- still realistic, but on the high side to put her off.

she started a thread about the cost of cakes and I revelled in 400+ comments of her getting her arse handed to her.