MN have used my quote to promote a product I’ve never bought 🤔

[Wondermoomin]

AIBU to expect MN recommendations, where they quote a poster/member, to be genuine?

I like being able to rely on recommendations in MN swears by and other emails. I excitedly opened an email with the subject “Big bargains for our most loyal Mumsnetters” wondering what MN could make me buy this time (I should probably get other hobbies).

Imagine my surprise to see my own username quoted there with a recommendation! Imagine my further surprise when I realised it was a post I wrote almost 8 years ago, and it was being used directly under a specific product to give the impression I was recommending it - and I’ve never even owned that particular thing mine was more expensive.

I don’t like posts being misrepresented as a recommendation for a specific product. It makes me question the credibility of other MN recommendations.

Hoping I’ll manage to attach screenshots.

PS my gazebo broke but I’ve replaced it. Still not with the brand I supposedly recommended according to the MN email.

Looking forward to the response.

Also maybe repost this in a new thread on Site Stuff?
They're more likely to see and respond on there.

It’ll be an LLM ‘hallucinating’ basically. Not minimising the issue, but redirecting to the real issue:

Is MN providing internally created AI content to external companies for their advertising, without checking the AI output?

Is it mumsnet allowing external companies access to whole chunks of data, which they are then filtering through AI, without checking output?

Either way it’s a balls up. And one which should not be happening by a big company, who should have an AI director/lead/panel.

Except it's nighttime so there's likely nobody around and it'll be ignored until morning (unless enough people report for it to be auto hidden)

Can people please stop suggesting this should be moved to Site Stuff?

This should not be yet another issue that MN attempt to hide away in a quieter area of the boards.

If they are at all competent, they'll find this thread perfectly easily where it is.

Given the changes promised after the CSA issue you'd hope there are senior folks from MN Towers easily contactable outwith 9-5

Yeah good point, more people will see it here.
I didn't mean move the thread though, I meant start a different one too in Site Stuff that they would hopefully see.

[casts admiring glance at outwith]

I wonder whether the content will magically change if someone else opens it now

👀👀
Yes bet it does lol
also cynical 😁

Why?
how could it be done in error?

Doesn't this thread show that Mumsnet is still not moderated out of office hours?

Sorry, just to make my point earlier. It can very much have been done in error. But they have a far bigger error to deal with if the below are happening.

Bottom line, they aren’t trying to be deceptive or skew our comments, but are woefully inadequate in their AI policies.

It’ll be an LLM ‘hallucinating’ basically. Not minimising the issue, but redirecting to the real issue:

Is MN providing internally created AI content to external companies for their advertising, without checking the AI output?

Is it mumsnet allowing external companies access to whole chunks of data, which they are then filtering through AI, without checking output?

Either way it’s a balls up. And one which should not be happening by a big company, who should have an AI director/lead/panel.

@Shynapple with the receipts. lol

I've seen company names auto converting to website links recently too, which is obviously a marketing agreement. That pisses me off, and it's misleading - creating a link for easy access gives greater weight and implied recommendation to whatever I've just referenced in passing.

Can't remember if it's John Lewis, or M&S, or both, or others? Don't think it shows up in Preview either.

That’s actually quite disturbing

“Swears by” has always been a dubious promotional / advertising arm of MN, in my opinion. I’d never take any such gushing reviews as fully credible or objective. So this doesn’t surprise me exactly, though of course this is worse as seems to be a complete fabrication.

And actually pay people for working overnight? They would never.

There are many. This is from the same email promoting Best Naturals D-Mannose Capsules with a generic quote from 2020

That is not at all the same thing. Mumsnet are simply quoting a thread endorsing a specific product, aren't they? They are not using an endorsement for one product to falsely recommend another.

I randomly opened a MN email from 2019 lurking in my inbox (delete, what’s that?) and found this. It’s obviously totally normal for them to do this and has been for years.

It's basically fraud or a mistake, either way completely wrong

I've never once looked at mn recommends in the over 12 years I've been on here

I bought lube on recommendation from Swears by promo. It’s bloody awesome.

Websites use quotes all the time. Not sure if it’s illegal or not though.

I hate to be a parrot but this is AI.

You all need to get to the right indignation, which is either Mumsnet not using it properly, or not having clauses with their partners on how they use it.

Genuinely, you need to start asking for updated, simple guidance on how your data is being used, specifically with AI and more specifically LLMs. What their agreements are with partners, what their checks are with their content after running through their internal model.

You might want to make sure it wasn’t something a previous user recommended for their car 😆