Is Mumsnet an English forum?

[Purpleturtle43]

Seems like pretty much every poster and responder assumes everyone on here is from England.

When asking questions regarding schools, health care, tenancy etc surely it would be useful to say what country you live in since the rules and laws are different all over the UK/world.

I would have thought with Mumsnet HQ being in London and Mumsnet’s model aimed at an English/UK based audience (in the advertising, politicians interviewed, lobbying activity, advice articles), it’s only natural for it to be a majority English/UK audience attracted to the forum. 84% of people who live in the UK live in England.

Or everyone could just state where they are from so they get the correct answers.

Surely we just assume London unless otherwise stated (I'm joking... don't kill me...)

How do you know what most people on this forum assume?
I'm English, living in England, but think of MN as a UK website and I'm well aware there are posters from other countries (so far I've read posts from Scotland, Wales, N. Ireland, Ireland, France and Denmark).
If you think MN should make it a rule that people declare upfront which home country they're posting from, why don't you message MNHQ about it instead of starting this thread?

Well, yes, since the probability of the poster being from England is about 84%. What would be more sensible to assume if there's no additional information in the post? I'm in Scotland, if I have a question where location is relevant I know to include it.

Yeah we haven't had one for a while

Sometimes it does feel like this. Especially in posts like this”Is XYZ school better than HAB?” Even more if you point out those letters could refer to two (or more - RGS) schools.
Most people are covered by similar laws, England and most law in Wales. So if legal you should name Scotland etc. But some posters do not read the post nevermind thread.

I assume UK unless someone states otherwise.

Fun fact: the .com domain doesn't mean it's international or American, it means commercial. It doesn't have to be .co.uk to be a UK based website.

Also - .tv is for Tuvalu, not television ;)

🤣🤣

Reminds me of the time someone on here (English, who had by their own admission never even visited Scotland!) tried to tell me how poor my local area is, that unemployment rates must be so high, nobody can afford expensive property. When in reality it’s the opposite. But that sums it up really.

Not who.
The 'i hate the English threads'.

We need a separate board for them.

It's a British website so if someone asks a question that might vary if they are in , say Scotland I might answer with a 'In England X applies, but the rules are different in Y'. Because there's a good chance that the answer is relevant to them given that England makes up the majority of users. If I ask them where they live, wait for an answer, then have to come back and reply about Scotland; well, that's probably not going to happen on a casual forum. I'll likely preface my answer with 'If you're in England' if I know it varies, but there are limits to my mind reading powers. So let us know in your post! I often comment on American fora and will say I'm in the UK when relevant. Otherwise some of what I say won't make sense to the majority of users.

The UK is 85% English, and more to the point, a lot of English people aren’t aware that school systems/laws/buying houses/tenancies etc work differently in Scotland. It’s not that they’re assuming everyone is English - it’s that they don’t know that it matters which part of the UK someone is from when asking for advice on certain matters.

Or everyone could just state where they are from so they get the correct answers.

So do that then!
Why start a thread like this rather than one saying:

''It would be helpful if everyone could state where they're from when they start a thread please.''

I always think it is worth specifying where you are based if it is relevant to the question - e.g. anything legal, conveyancing, hospital-related, as laws and practice differ even sometimes between different counties in the UK, let alone amongst the different countries of the UK, and internationally.

Can you point out where anyone has said, implied or even vaguely hinted that anyone hates the English?

Who said they hate the English? I have lots of English friends and family. In general, and especially on this forum, English people tend to forget the UK is not just England, unless maybe they have a connection to Scotland, Ireland or Wales.

This thread only goes to prove my theory is correct when all the English people seem to think they shouldn't have to state their country but everyone else in the UK should.

Wow 😆
I was born and bred half way round the world. Only came here in my 20’s. I’m technically British though. I do find the inter-country chips on shoulders to be quite hilarious.

England has the largest population, I think it’s quite natural that many people on the forum assume that the majority of users are English.

She's implied we're ignorant.

Honestly if i started a thread implying most posters from Scotland are ignorant it'd be deleted.

I'm from NI and I honestly can't get het up about this. As PPs have said, the majority of the UK is English so it's no surprise it's the default.

I don't mind qualifying my posts with "I'm in Northern Ireland" when it's relevant - for example, school entry criteria or public transport threads. I think it would be a bit daft if I posted a thread about DH being a dick but qualified it with "I'm from NI though, so maybe that's relevant to me marrying a twat".

Plus I'm proud of where I come from so quite happy to tell people!

This does remind me of a QI question about a history book “The History of England” which was of the U.K. (and presumably the British Empire) all included in the word England.

I am beginning to think the U.K. should split up into separate countries so we can just have one system to live under. Although then the Cornish and other counties would probably want to separate too!

I said: Ignorance would be to assume it's 100% English all the time.

OP replied: Most people on this forum do assume people are English 100% of the time.

Therefore OP is saying most people on this forum are ignorant.

Having agreed that the majority of posters on here are English it means OP is implying the English are ignorant.

Yawn. It's nothing new.
Like i say, lets just have a separate board for it.

Yes, I'm only referring to posts where the answer would be different depending on the country.

It’s a British site but the English users are the strong majority.

Scotsnet, Craicnet etc shows that there are sections dedicated to posts specific to other countries (I think Craicnet is the whole island of Ireland, not just the republic). So if it’s something about Scottish highers or their house buying system, for example, users often find it more useful to post there than the more generic boards.

When you’ve got around 58 million English, 5 1/2 million Scots, 3 million Welsh and 2 million Northern Irish, assuming England as a starting point isn’t a huge reach. It’s just the sheer weight of numbers.

Anyone can post. On the law threads lawyers are very careful to ask if it is Scotland or not particularly divorce threads as the law is very different so I don't think everyone assumes people are in England but post posters are. in the UK there are about 67m people but only 5.5m are in Scotland. There are about 58m in England (plus about 1m illegals but they are hard to count). So it would not be surprising if there were more from England than Scotland posting.