Have you been spotted posting on Mumsnet? Or identified someone you know?

[1reason]

Im fairly new to Mumsnet and have been reading many threads and posts.I get confused with AIBU! Just curious about this.
It struck me that it is likely that if you post very personal information then there is a.chance someone you know in real life could identify you.
Has this ever happened to you?
Spotted someone from real life or have posted on Mumsnet and been identified by people you know in real life.

Welcome to Mumsnet (MN) OP!
I change username every so often but think a work colleague recognised one of my posts. I've never been asked and no one has said anything, so I'm unsure which colleague it was- if them at all. I've never noticed anyone I know. I try to keep personal info vague.

I don't know the stats, but I thought MN was a predominately UK site and I assume a poster lives in the UK unless they say otherwise. There are some users from from around the world and certain sections for say Aus/New Zealand chat, French chat etc.

The only issue I have is when I poster asks a question but never mentions which country they live in 'My child has this rash, where should I go for medical help?' 'My husband is job hunting, what are the best sites to use?. Posters then provide a raft of info which is UK centric before the poster then discloses that they live in Peru or Spain!

Many years ago I spotted a friend because she told the same quite specific story (about a problem with her neighbour) on here that she'd told us at a catch up dinner a few evenings before. I didn't tell her but I also didn't see any other posts that I recognised as being from her after that. It wasn't anything she wasn't talking about with her friends anyway so that didn't matter, but I don't suppose she would have wanted the neighbour to see it!

I recognised a situation someone posted about (I wasn't involved in it) and their version of events was interesting to say the least. Not even from the perspective of being biased, just.. bizarre thinking about certain things that had happened!

No but the mums at one of my children’s school know another parent has posted a thread about the school as it was a topic of conversation.

This rather irrelevantly reminds me that I only recently realised that an older relative's unusual "how I met my spouse" story seems to be lifted word for word from another source (I only encountered the original source recently) 😂

I spotted someone I knew… my very good friend’s EXH came onto Mumsnet, of all places, to ask how he could basically get out of paying child maintenance for their 2 children. Idiot. It was good to be able to reply on an anonymous forum.

Not IRL people but I have occasionally recognised posters from other forums or Facebook groups.

Someone I know in a friend of a friend way posts some rather confessional things here. Once I worked it out I thought it best to not read them.

At least two people I know professionally have mentioned things I have posted on Ukraine threads to me, but I am not hiding there and stand by what I post.

A few days ago my dd asked if raera was me.
I confirmed nothing to hide x

My dickhead ex did similar in family court. It didn’t work in his favour.

I'vr not recognised anyone or been recognised, but just to warn you @1reason that some MN threads do end up in the tabloid press, especially threads in this folder (AIBU). They run out of stories to print so they look up sensationalist from here. It's pretty dishonest of them.

Well, that’s why people namechange. So that if a single thread is identifying, it can’t be linked to the rest of their posting history.

I change name for varying topics so one topic that I feel strongly about I post all the time under the one name and use that username no matter which thread I post on and on that one I post raw real truth and honestly would not mind people knowing it was me as they would be the reason I was posting if that makes sense. I don't post anything identifying under most names, I change back and forth depending on the topic. If I came across someone that i recognised and I actually have done, I would not and have not mentioned to that person as I can tell they really needed the help and happy that they have this board to ask for help and advice or to chat on.

I actually thought for some reason this site was Australian to begin with not UK although I know a lot of posts are UK posters.

Yes my DD who I do have a good relationship with but is very tricky and hard work, regularly posts about her MIL in a very negative way. Easily identifiable for me and she’s proudly shown me threads in the past under regular name/ and name changes

Her MIL is one of the nicest people in my circle (and hers) and a lovely, lovely Nan but my DD finds issues in absolutely everything the poor woman says or does.

i hate it and feel for her poor DH who is trying to placate etc

I read the thread - I can recognise her style of writing / see the pile on and think DD is a twat to be fair.

I’ve been here forever. Name change often. If I have been, no one has said anything. I have recognised a couple of people by the way they write their posts and describe situations I’m aware of. I would never say as they are entitled to anonymity. I certainly wouldn’t make a note of user names etc

I recognised two people but never told them. I disguise a lot of stuff on here; if they, or anyone else, has identified me despite that, nobody has mentioned it to me.

To be fair though, she could be a lovely person generally and a terrible MIL.

I see Mumsnet posts all the time on People.com

Iv changed my name atleast 10 times

I think if people need advice on a problem that could be identifying they change their username for that specif thread

Yes, a fairly awful example. Someone posted on here an upsetting thread saying she was experiencing domestic abuse and also that a friend of hers had done something awful to her, which was kinda related to the DV. She got loads of advice on here to report her friend.

Anyway she did report her friend and nobody in our local area believed her because she is diagnosed as psychotic (which she had not mentioned in the thread). To this day I have no idea if she was right to make the allegations about her friend. But it was heartbreaking reading her thread and realising what was going on behind the scenes for her. I never told her i recognised her because there was loads of personal information in her thread, but I did reach out and try to support her when everyone else seemed to view her as dangerous and crazy.

Yep, i recognised a client of the company i work for. Mainly because they indicated some features about their local area, some other identifying features, and were discussing a specialist topic that I know they knew about. I'm sure they thought they weren't posting anything identifiable though.

I reunited with an old school friend. Someone asking about our old school, and I referred to it using an old name. Someone recognised the name and mentioned she had attended the school also. I messaged her privately and it was sometime I knew. So I didn’t recognise her individually, but it was someone I knew.

I have recognised a very close family member which was confirmed by her posting her child's recent illness and how it upset birthday plans .
However like me she must change names quite often , and is back to being incognito .