Have you ever recognised anyone on MN?

[Starlight1979]

Just that really! Obviously I'm not after names or details 😂but curious to know if you've ever read a thread / post and thought "I know this person!"

I haven't but I always see people name changing so they're not outed and wondered how common it is actually is to be recognised on here?!

Every time this question is asked I'm surprised at how many posters do recognize others. It seems to be quite common

I was thought i recognized someone from a post about a school, I messaged the poster asking if she was in a specfic area of the country, she said not but some of her other posts could possibly have been the same person but nothing detailed enough to say for sure

No. It wouldn’t have been appropriate.

On flip side - I've belatedly realised that certain things I have posted are identifiable in daft ways. I have to say when I get the utter fear about this MN have always been amazing about removing stuff for me - even at weekends. Lesson learnt....

Yes but only much later. There was a thread about a holiday and the specific arrangements that had been made which OP disagreed with. Everyone on Mumsnet disagreed with her 😆. Then, the following year, a relative told me about a holiday their side of the family had been on and I twigged that it was her sister. I didn’t say anything, I would never do that.

Me too. I used to start threads until I realised it went on FB and someone recognised me from there.

Will never start my own thread about anything sensitive again

I was previously on a Baby Centre forum where people met up in real life. One of the women posted about being worried her dh was getting too close to another woman. The husband had told the other woman his wife posted on a forum and the other woman located her and started posting mocking her and the people on the forum.

Only on one occasion. She at some point mentioned a village she lived in, then the ages of her many children. I thought 'it can't be' and confess that i did look at other posts and it seemed clear.

She posted alot giving parenting advice on things she didn't really direct experience with (SEN) but certainly had alot of very strong opinions on IRL as well. Her language was the same in person and posting and she was pretty sure of herself in both formats.

I steered clear IRL and steered clear on MN as well!

Yes, and she's on this thread.

Cooee!

No, but I am tempted to start one in the hope that my repulsive lying thieving BIL and his wife see it and recognise themselves.

One or two from another forum and they are as catty on here as on there but I just roll my eyes and let them live in their little bubbles of grandeur and greatness.

I have recognised a school mum friend. She had posted about a situation that had happened at our children’s school. I looked at her older posts and knew I was correct. I never mentioned it as nothing private in her posts and I wouldn’t be able to find her again.

I’ve posted on some threads that could maybe out me but my post history isn’t anything I’m worried about being read by others I know.

Oooh 👀

I regularly change names but have a few names I will post under specific topics and one I would be recognisable on but that is on purpose so to speak.

That’s a shame. We should be able to have a private setting for that.

Yes, very sadly it was a local lady who was posting about being terminally ill. She was a friend of a friend. I stopped reading her thread as it felt once I realised who she was. Then she died 😢

Well someone recognised me! She contacted me, and we've both name changed.

I also recognised someone. A gran posted details about her DGD training for the Olympics and I realised the DD was one of my DD's friends!

No, I think that @anonocakey is my sister 🤣

Seriously, I expect there are people on here who know who I am (I know they're on MN, and I have made no effort to conceal - posted pictures that would be identifiable).

Can't say I am massively bothered to be honest. I don't believe I've ever said anything that I regret, although I have definitely been educated about a few things, and had people get the wrong end of the stick because I didn't make my point effectively.

I saw a thread from someone I’m pretty sure was the wife of a colleague. The details of his situation were strikingly similar and very niche. Except he absolutely hasn’t told her the whole story and is claiming innocence. He’s not!
I avoid quite a few topics to prevent outing but if someone really wants to AS you then they can choose to do that. I’ve got better things to do with my time (she says whilst doom scrolling in her lunch break).

Yes, once, it was about something very specific which I knew from FB was going on in her life. I blocked out the user name in my mind and changed my own, even though I didn’t post on the thread.

There is someone in my FB social circles who likes to c&p posts onto Mumsnet. I've no idea who, but it's really weird. I thought I had just spotted two or three people I knew irl on here when posts showed up that were word for word friends only FB posts and then I saw something of mine here.

I hadn't posted it to MN. It was actually quite a personal post that mentioned some real names and places and was wildly identifiable, so super stressful. Thankfully MN took it down but I've been much more cautious with anything I post online ever since.

Not on MN although I know people who use it. I’ll change name when it’s too identifying and I use a few names on here anyway.
The person I knew was on a different site years ago (smaller). Everything she was posting I was thinking ‘I’m sure that’s X’, then I actually asked her - are you ‘name of poster’ she denied it but I never saw her post again in there!!
She’s one of my closest friends still though. All very odd!

Somebody recognised me which was a bit disconcerting but they were very nice. Does make me pause before I post and I don't know how to name change. I did start a thread just before Christmas which had the potential to be outing as i was very upset at the time and not being careful about the details I had included. Asked for it to be deleted for that reason and was happy that MN obliged. I've never recognised anyone but that is never at the forefront of my mind when I read posts

I’ve been recognised and I was fuming about it and gave the poor girl a piece of my mind.
but when you start a post “I’m a member of a fb group, but don’t want to post in there because I work with one of the mods, so posting here for anonymity” don’t then screenshot the post, send it to all the Facebook mods and go “does anyone know who this is?” And then dm me on Facebook saying how you worked it out. Clue was in the post - I wanted anonymity 🙄 (it wasn’t an exciting post - it was about bra measurements). So now I change my username often.
ive never recognised anyone though, I don’t really pay that much attention tbh

I’m surprised how many people have spotted people on here that they know irl given the millions of users that likely use it - I suppose it really is a small world.

Ive had DMs when I’ve created threads under other usernames, but I never respond to them because I always wonder if it’s someone who knows me who is digging for more information to verify the fact.

I've recognised a few people! A couple who I was on other forums with and then Facebook friends, they posted the same things on Facebook that they did here. They've probably name changed as I haven't seen them recently.
Another who is a friend and told me her username at the time. I don't think she Posts anymore.
One posted about their hobby and put on a pic of their equipment, which i recognised from the same club we're in (national club, with a Facebook group) So in that case it was actually an outing hobby!
I didn't do any advanced searches.