To ask what the most ridiculous advice/suggestion you've seen on here is?

[Phillipconnarthy]

I was looking for ways to pay off my credit card faster and was told by somebody that I should sell my TV (it cost around £110) on which I only have Netflix and don't pay for a licence as I don't watch anything else.

I was told watching TV is a luxury and I should be happy with just listening to the radio!
It made me feel that some people think people with debt or low income don't deserve even the simplest of pleasures.

Has anyone else had silly advice?

Someone absolutely skint and a suggestion was to start baking their own bread. Like I get it’s maybe cheaper in the long run but the risk of it going wrong, tasting shite and being a waste of money was high when you can get a loaf for £1.

For me it's the 'LTB' replies for such minor reasons - men are human too and make mistakes, but if you point that out its because you 'have low standards'

That because my DH is deployed overseas, he loves me and the DC less than a DH who is in the same country as their wife and child…

Never mind the fact MN is full of woman with husbands who are in the same damn house and basically ignore their kids. But, naturally, DH not being physically here makes him a bad parent.

Get a cleaner
Get a higher paying job
Have a spa day
Get a babysitter
Make your child do what you want them to do

All easier said than done!
So much advice doesn’t take into account that people’s circumstances are all different

Almost all of the advice on here is given by a baying mob. Almost nobody can see both sides of anything and shades of grey don't exist. The vast majority of posters take such a flippant view of people's actual life problems that it staggers me tbh.

But then sometimes there's a DV thread or a handhold request response that shows there's some good left after all.

I’ve never read anything on here that hasn’t been ridiculous.

The amount of idiots who come out to defend the nonsense is unbelievable. it’s like they think all women are idiots.

Lots of terrible management and HR advice as well.

For me it had to be that thread where the OP couldn't practically get to a wedding and proposed solutions included chartering private flights and getting her family to come with her and camp in the grounds.

LTB/stop talking to a friend over the most minor disagreement

Anything where someone had minorly caused you a problem which isn't illegal but is inconvenient and the replies all suggest definitely illegal retaliation

You'd think a nurse would know the difference between hypo and hyper...

I often think MNHQ should automatically post a disclaimer on medical advice threads that says no ones credentials have been checked, people can claim whatever they want on the internet, and that posters should consult a real life medical professional - much like they do with the "don't give more of yourself than you can afford" disclaimers on charity threads.

Because smear tests now only test for HPV, do an at home HPV test (fine, fair enough advice), and then buy a speculum, and use your phone to take a picture of your cervix rather than going for a smear.

Not on here (no not sure if it fits-if not,please feel free to report) but I was at work yesterday (I work at the golden archies)

We had a gang on about 7 teens come in and they started playing up-swearing,flashing their tits,vaping,flicking bits of ketchup and chips about,screaming at each other,trying to sneak into the toilets to do whatever teens do in toilets and just being little shits

I threw them out-4 slunk off but 3 stayed and ramped up the behaviour

So my manager printed off ban letters,handed them out and gave the letters to them-its basically leave or its trespass

They stood outside singing 'we want another letter' swearing at anyone walking past and hammering on the window

We rang the police-no joy,they where not coming out

So my manager rang the main manager to ask what to do

Her advice?

Send me outside,have some banter with them and banter them off the premises

Sure,I'll go have some banter with 3 teenage girls who are screaming,shouting and swearing,ones screaming that she's not only on her period,but that the male manager tried to touch her up and they are now trying to put our windows through and are kicking the hell out of the massive playhouse thats for small kids-they did leave but only because they got bored

It's a joke-as I left my shift,I saw them around the corner doing exactly the same thing at sainsburys

They where that bad,they needed a night in the cells-that would have taught them a lesson rather than 'banter them away'

To work things out with an incredibly abusive husband. And to leave a book titles why does he beat me" on his side of the bed.

This advice was given to a woman who gets beaten by her husband day and night and was wanting advice to escape.

The other day, I read on a thread, where a woman has found out on her pathetic husbands phone how he slags her off non stop to his friends, that she's useless and rubbish, etc and says he finds other womens hot and sexy and takes pictures of women In public. And the friends join in slagging her off too. Everyone has told her to leave and there is a lot more examples of abuse, but one person, I kid you not, says "this is all great, you now know your hsubands most personal desires and weaknesses. Most people don't get this chance, forgive him and be more understanding and don't throw away a family over this. "

You can imagine the responses that poster got.

Domestic abuse threads are normally full of shocking advice like "just go" or some variation on change the locks/tell him not to bother coming home/take the DC and run as if these are safe actions when trying to leave an abuser.

There was a trend a few years ago when people were skint that someone would always suggest becoming a childminder. It costs money to train, money to register, to get insured, to buy necessary equipment, etc and it can take up to a year end to end.

I remember cheese in coffee during covid, tastes just like milk apparently...

Castor oil to kickstart labour is another bit of dangerous advice.

EDIT; I don't know why it quoted, I must have touched the wrong bit of the screen.

Oh yes. All those 'doctor here, that rash is absolutely fine, just needs a bit of calamine lotion.'

Don't believe everything you read online.

Or equally 'lawyer here, if they have let your colleague work two days a week then they need to let you too, take them to a tribunal.'

Literally any thread where OP is pregnant by a brand new partner, a partner whose an arsehole, a partner who has been very clear he doesn't want the baby... and everyone is there going 'if you want the baby, keep it, it worked out for me, you can make it work'
Not sure how ethical it is to endorse knowingly walking into potentially giving a child a lifetime of a shit or absent father just because you want a baby...
(And yes I KNOW that dad's can appear perfect and end up being shit later on, that's not what I'm bloody talking about)

Any advice which assumes that a father who does nothing around the house and ignores his children will immediately step up 'when he has to have them half the week'.

What he WILL do is move 350 miles away and see them maybe once or twice a year, and probably not pay a penny. So you won't get your lovely, relaxing, EOW and half holidays to yourself.

I always find it odd when it's suggested to woman having a disagreement with their husband to, "Book a hotel for the night". Like it's that easy. The other popular one is that mothers are told to leave babies /v young children with the feckless useless father she is posting about and to "take yourself off for the day". How could anyone leave vulnerable children with a hopeless parent and go off on a day out?

'Show him the thread'

Someone who was made redundant from previously well paid job "why did you have children if you can't afford them"

Nearly all "should I go to a&e" type threads

Block everyone on all channels for almost any small reason eg arrangements for a hen do

I get particularly irked when people find themselves pregnant, in a terrible living situation, abusive husband and 2-3 kids already and people say “if you want the baby, then have it”. Just no! Let’s think about the alive kids already living in this shit show ey?

Tomatoes (cut in half) take the pain out of sunburn. Maybe that's what you read.

This is an odd comment because if you're owed child maintainence, CMS do make them pay. If they don't agree, they take it out of their bank account directly as an attachment of earnings.

The classic has got to be the thread where someone was having a problem with tenants in their property which they needed (entirely legitimately) to repossess after giving the correct notice period etc - can’t remember the exact details but they weren’t a villain in the situation - leading to much indignation on behalf of the tenants and the suggestion that OP should 'just give the house to the tenants'.

Other than that, the all-purpose 'give your head a wobble'. Yeah, so useful.