40ish podcast lifting things from MN?

[13RidgmontRoad]

The very obvious preface here:

MN lifts things from MN all the time (in FB posts etc), so does the Mail and other places
Lots of things on MN might not be unique and similar situations might come up here, there and everywhere.

But -

This morning's show must be at least the fourth time that a MN thread has been used as a "listener dilemma". It's this thread, https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5474043-consultant-appointment-we-used-to-date, about the OP going to see a Dr she used to date. Pretty much word for word.

And I am irritated, both at the use itself and at the passing off as something someone has written in about, when it's actually from MN. The show is all about honesty, telling your truth etc - surely there's a way to frame this that's honest about where they heard it?

For those who don't know 40ish, it's as the name suggests. Two midlife women tackling 40ish life and sharing the hilarity / absurdity of it all. It's a great podcast, but this just makes it feel a bit cheap.

YABU - it's a podcast, they can lift, steal and fabricate as they like.
YANBU - it'd put me off too.

I get that people who post are deliberately putting their business in the public domain in their own words BUT they are doing so within the confines of MN to get advice from other users. I think it’s awful that the papers and podcasts and other media outlets then make their posts way bigger than they intended, put it out to an audience way larger than they consented to and jeopardise their anonymity.

It’s a shame people will be put off seeking advice because next thing their problems are all over Facebook/being discussed by thousands of podcast followers!

Yup. I think it also implies a kind of stupidity on MN posters, unfairly - "we'll just lift this, no one will know / care".

put it out to an audience way larger than they consented to

They did consent. We all did. As soon as you agree to the terms and conditions when you sign up, before you can post. It's a public forum that anyone can read. It's ridiculous to think of it as a private area. Internet fora are nearly 40 years old. EVERYONE should know by know that anything you do on the internet is public by now.

I assume 50% of all the threads, especially very fast-moving ones are fake anyway. Just bored attention seekers using ChatGPT to start something for entertainment. So any podcast that lifts a story is just doing the same. Legally, you cannot copyright a story or narrative, least of all if it's anonymous and very likely fictional or AI generated. The moment it gets posted online, it's fair game.

I suspect in some cases it is the reverse of what you are saying. So, rather than someone posting their story and the media picking it up, I think it's the media posting in the first place to gauge interest and opposing views before deciding whether to run it.

Oof, you're much more cynical than me!

I sometimes see threads like this - balanced on a knife edge to froth up opinion about something - but feel I can spot them. Maybe I'm kidding myself.

I do understand this and I did say it’s in the public domain.

BUT there’s consenting to putting it out to a few thousand people who read Mumsnet, likely post themselves and for the reason of wanting advice and then having a post go viral because it’s been picked up by the Daily Mail or discussed on a podcast where the full thread/updates are unlikely to be available, it’ll be seen by millions of people and it’ll be condensed into a click bait type headline likely to be controversial and then responded to much more negatively…

Theres a difference between choosing to make something public on a particular platform and then that consent being inferred for every other platform!

I think a lot of content everywhere is recycled. I saw a post on a local Facebook page the other day that had gone viral. Two days later someone posted the exact same story on here, so there's nothing to say that what's posted on here is actually original - it could be from anywhere

My point is that it's not inferred. You explicitly agree to it when you sign up. The T&Cs way that content can be used as MN wishes, as once posted, they own it. This includes using it for media, other discussions, etc. Everyone should know this by now. If you don't want your business publically discussed, don't agree to make it public.

I think the other point (for me, since I like the podcast) is the "brand" - if you're calling something a listener's dilemma, then that's what I expect to hear. If they don't have anything worth discussing that week, I'd rather hear more about whichever one has a new puppy/padel injury/barrel leg trousers. (I appreciate how tedious this podcast now sounds from my descriptions - I do actually like it!)

But maybe that's the reality of reality podcasting.