AIBU to imagine what other posters look like from their posts?

[NovemberMorn]

Do you conjure up an image of what certain posters look like? If you do what do you base that on?

IABU....because I am judgy like that.
IANBU...who cares?

I think usernames can influence the way we see someone too, though I usually forget them as soon as I come off whatever thread I am interacting with them on.

The odd few stick in my memory, usually th nicer posters. I won't mention names, but one lady seems to think the same as I do on lots of posts, but she has a dreary sounding name....and I don't see her like that at all.

I agree with you. I don't remember many user names but I do remember a few of the posters that I really respect , another couple that seem to think very much like I do, and two who I know I absolutely invariably disagree with.
Some people have brilliant user names. I've changed mine loads of times but I'm never able to come up with anything to match some of the great ones other posters come up with.

I don't imagine their looks but sometimes I think about who they would be if I knew them.
So if someone has a startling viewpoint that I don't share, I think "imagine if that was Jane from the gym" (who seems lovely).

If I was imaging their looks, I usually think that the people who are especially critical of say, a dress or something that the OP likes, then I usually think that they won't be as attractive as the OP anyway to say such a thing.

I know it's a personal thing, but I hate the way posters change their names around so much.
I can interact with someone, think they are great, then I never see them again, or if I do, I don't recognise their username.
Alternatively, someone can be nasty (it happens) and I could be all sweet and nice to them on a different thread becase I have no way of knowing what an arse they were somewhere else.😖

I imagine everyone is super confident and stylish, even when their own posts give evidence to the contrary!

I do picture posters on one of my regular forums as you can't help but build up a picture when you've interacted with some of them frequently .
Like characters in a book, as a pp said.

I imagine everyone to look like a work colleague who I once noticed was reading mumsnet in the break room (purely because she's the only mumsnetter I know IRL).

I am on a much smaller forum, and I know what most of the posters look like there because we show pics sometimes.
Here, it's huge, so imagination has to come into play.
I agree with KeyLimeCake that the critical posters, especially when someone is asking for advice about clothes, looks etc, are probably not half as nice (or as rich) as they like to portray themselves to be.

I read that in a Scottish accent no idea why 🤣🤣

So yes OP, I do conjure up ideas in my head!

At the risk of being called out as a hypocrite I agree with you on this. I really miss some of the user names that I used to have an affinity with.

I don't change my user name as much as I used to but I suppose I do so because I I want to try to remain anonymous. I'm conditioned to not let any one see the real me in real life as well

Various. I just read the titles; if they appeal, I dive right in.

I often get a mental image of how posters may look.
The ones who post with humour and kindness are lovely inside and out, the bullygirls and the snippy ones probably look as mean as they sound, and the posters who brag, I imagine have nothing at all to brag about, and possibly speak with a Birmingham or Liverpool accent.

@NovemberMorn I imagine you with beautiful auburn hair and clear blue eyes as your name sounds autumny!

That's lovely thank you.
Not quite right though, my hair WAS very dark once, it's now white, and my eyes are brown. x

Your user name is beautiful, it's very romantic,

All the doyennes in Style & Beauty have long limbs with thigh-gap and good hair.

Nooo! S&B is the one place you can actually gather Intel on this. I've learned that s lot of MNetters are a curvy size 14, apple shaped but with a defined waist, with 'a bit of a tum' and good legs. They have fine hair (but lots of it) that is bra strap length and won't hold a wave.
They wear barrel jeans that they think don't suit them with fine knits and oversized blazers and never know what shoe works best now white trainers are dated.

Ooh, gosh yes! There is one particular poster who posts on political type threads who I can clearly visualise in my minds eye - early fifties, straggly Brown hair, thick glasses, lands end cords and birkenstocks with socks, rp accent and posh! Rather old fashioned and out of touch with the modern world. I obviously can't post a username but I'd love to know if my assessment is accurate!

Nope, because I can't picture anything at all in my mind, it's just a black void. I'm jealous of all of you who have that skill.

But that’s us mortals who consult them! The Olympians whose natural habitat Style & Beauty is and who kindly reply to our quandaries upon request are surely graceful creatures. Or at least they are in my head!

Some posters I imagine as Amanda in Amandaland

Wow, I have never heard anyone say that before.

If you can't picture people, surely you can picture a past event in your own life.

😆

I have seen threads where someone has posted a perfectly nice dress, asking if it would be suitable for a certain event.
Right on cue, some self-proclaimed style guru will tut tut...post her own version of what would be suitable, which can often resemble a bell tent...at 5 times the price of the OP's budget.

Guess i'm also a bit weird 😂

Is it ann Widdecombe 😂

Nope, literally nothing. It's called Aphantasia, and I didn't even realise it was a thing until about 6 years ago. I just thought that people saying they could picture things in their minds or "their minds eye" was just a saying, a metaphor for thinking about something.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia

On the link above, in the image with the apples, I'm a 5. Every so often I can get a hint of something for a second, but I can't hold it there, and even then it's only really a 4.

I get what it must be like for other people, because I can hear things "in my minds ear" perfectly. I can replicate entire songs that I've not heard for years, but couldn't picture my daughters face if my life depended on it.

It has its downsides.

I can't tell when DP has had a haircut, because I've got no mental image to compare to.

I can't do anagrams, because I can't rearrange the letters in my brain.
I'm awful at picture matching games like Dobble.

I'd be useless as a witness to a crime, because I couldn't describe someones face, or remember the colour of the car they drove off in.

I once had an entire conversation with someone I vaguely knew, before walking off and 7 year old DD saying "You know that was your stepbrother, don't you?"

On the flip side, I read ridiculously fast, because I don't have to picture things as I read them.

I never get lost, I presume because I don't build up a possibly inaccurate map in my mind, I just somehow know where I am.
People with Aphantasia are also apparently much less likely to worry, and less prone to conditions like PTSD, because we're literally incapable of picturing the thing thats caused the trauma. Luckily, I've never had to put that one to the test.