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?!

Believe it or not, I’ve actually identified the same person through three different name changes simply by chancing upon her posts on the active threads at a time when she had lots going on in her life and obviously spent quite a bit of time on here.

Her way of speaking and sense of humour were really identifiable. She always posted exactly what she had vented to me, but with slightly exaggerated details on here to make her either look better or be the undeniable victim of the situation and get the responses she wanted.

The last post I read was her desperately asking for a potted history of a certain topic that the man she was after was in to and pointers on things to read up on etc so that she could pretend she was also into it. IRL to me she was playing it really cool like “if it happens, it happens” but it was clear from her posts on here that she was making damn sure it was going to happen!

It was funny but a bit sad as she totally reinvented herself for him - think along the lines of changing from far-left to far-right - and pretended she had been like that all along.

Yes!
I was once asked to sit in as a chaperone when a client was meeting the mental health team manager at the place where I was working. She brought in reams of print outs of her MN threads. Strangely enough her story told here was at odds with the care she was offered and declined.

Yes I have, but they used their real name as their username, and have extensively detailed their faith and career across multiple boards.

They'd be mortified if they knew who I was and knew the sort of thing they say.

Yes. An ex friend started a thread about me... Awks.

Yes, unfortunately. Someone I am NC with for the reason they were the subject of a thread!

This exact thing happened to me too. It was word for word copied from my story and it was creepy af 😳

It was not good! Especially as the C&P was to one of the more...ahem... combative sections of MN so by the time I saw the post there were a bunch of posters absolutely tearing me to shreds, along with the other people mentioned.

Oh wow! I wonder if we know the same person or if there are multiple people out there stealing stories from FB. 😨

If they've used their real name as their username and dropped loads of identifying information, I'd assume they're fine with not being anonymous.

Well you see I would agree, but the person they are online is not the person they appear to be in real life, and I think they'd want the ground to swallow them whole if they knew I know who they are. Extremely outspoken online, quivers at any confrontation in real life.

I suspect it's more that they think the internet is such a vast place, they would be unlikely to encounter us everyday folk.

They're not an unapologetically them sort of person.

Yes I spotted a friend when she posted something specific about her dc and an aquaintance with a chaotic life who posts a lot on here under many different usernames but is easily recognisable

I recognised my sister, she had a delicate medical issue that she had already told me about.
I didn’t look for other posts and didn’t tell her.

Yeah, my mother is on here. I nearly started a thread about it because she spouts parenting advice that bears absolutely no resemblance to how she parented me. She also shares some views that I doubt she would say to my face. 🙄

I’d have to start threads that you know she’s want to comment on to see if she bites 😂

My NDN is on here. I never make a point of remembering her username, so outside of the same batshit fabrications she reports in RL that she posts on here, I don't recognise her, but on the neighbour threads it's obvious.

Apparently, I am a loud, hoarding, unemployed, benefits-fiddling, drug-dealing prostitute who makes her life hell.

Usually, she gets the same responses on here as she does from me, which is to get a life and stop spying on her neighbours 😂.

It was the other way round for me. Someone at work told me in detail about an unusual experience they'd had, very specific, and I recalled reading a thread about it on here. It was so specific I don't think it could have been a coincidence. I didn't recall the username and didn't search for it afterwards.

oh lawks...what happened; did you tell them that you had seen their thread?

Yes. It was a work colleague who had just been notified of redundancy under a structural reorganisation (role was disappearing) and the details were so recognisably specific as I was working in the same team! Added to personal details about why it was at the worst possible time to happen etc I knew exactly who it was. Didn’t do anything - thought me saying I’d seen her post in MN would not be useful or helpful at the point in time.

To add: they got very good advice on the thread which I saw them putting into action.

Some posted about the trouble they were having with their child’s schools (they’d moved the child twice)… from the school I worked at, to the school I used to work at, then to another school. It was very identifying.

The issue wasn’t the schools; it was her.

She is, unfortunately, quite random in which threads she comments on. They’re often the same as me though. I just have a wry smile……. for now.

Yeah I have recognised my sister after she told me she had recognised me. I don’t mind we are very close. Both name changed now and I know she is about but not who she is. She will know my new name I’m certain because I can’t keep my personal details out if replies and I have a writing style and spelling mistakes she would know anywhere. She doesn’t say if she’s spotted me and I’m think that’s for the best. Occasionally I comment how my sister has been my rock, I half want her to read that. She’s an amazing person it feel weird to say to her in real life too often how grateful I am to have her as my sister lol

Yes another parent at my child’s school.

No. We hadn't been in contact for years so it would have been weird. We just grew apart, compounded by a significant difference in outlook. I don't really want to be friends but it was sad.

I recognised my daughter and didn’t frequent here for some time as I felt she needed a space to vent and I had something confirmed by a post she made that I’d been suspicious of but I’ve never told her I knew as I think it could ruffle her marriage if it came out. I’ll take that to my grave.