To think people need to engage their brains before posting?

[OMGitsnotgood]

Ok, so it’s not a huge deal in itself but it really irritates me.

2 examples from the Facebook group for our local area just today but countless other examples.

Our local police force posted about a teenager who seems to have gone missing. Someone commented ‘try looking at her Facebook, Instagram etc ‘ . If the police hadn’t already thought of doing that then the country is in a worse place than I thought.

Someone posted that they’ve lost their keys between shop A and shop B. It was suggested that they contact shop A, B and those inbetween to see if they had been handed in.

These are only a couple of examples, so many similar.

I know people are just trying to be helpful but for some reason these ‘stating the bleeding obvious’ posts really irritate me. Maybe I am being unreasonable but feel better for getting it off my chest (and another one ‘contact her mates and see if any of them have heard from her’. I mean really - and these are suggestions to the police!

Not forgetting the people on here who only half read a post before typing their tuppence worth. For example, people asking about whether budget is enough to fresh up a house with new kitchen cabinets and people reply saying it's not enough for an extension. Read first before you waste your time.

Every school communication ever;

Header: School Name - Year 8 x Activity FRIDAY 23rd Month Year

Year 8 will be doing x activity on next Friday 23rd Month. The activity will start after morning registration and end at 3pm. They will leave school at the usual time of 3.15pm.

They need to wear full school uniform.

They will need to bring a packed lunch and drink or if they are in receipt of Free School Meals, you can complete a short form <here> to have a packed lunch provided by the canteen. The direct link to request it is <full link rather than shortcut>.

Any further enquiries, please contact theusualenquiry@theschoolname as this email does not accept replies.

FORM (title School Name Y8 Activity FRIDAY 23rd Month Year)

Child's first name
Child's surname

Does your child have any dietary requirements or allergies/intolerances? (eg, vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, dairy free, nut and seed allergy). Please give details here;

The responses (a quarter of which are found lingering on the server because they copied the NOREPLY email address and pasted it into the To box and 45% are sent to form tutors, heads of year, admissions and the one for private hire of the sports hall)

When are they doing it?
What activity are they doing?
Do they have to wear school uniform?
Can they come in late?
Can I pick them up after lunch when it finishes?
Why aren't you providing food?
Are the packed lunches free?
We don't get FSM, can we order a free packed lunch?
Where is the form to order a lunch?
What about if we want them to have a hot meal?
What are the details?
Can they go to McDonald's?
Why haven't we been told about this activity I've heard about from another parent? (sent by replying to the email telling them about the activity)
Can they do y activity that isn't on offer instead?

And the form responses usually have at least 7 people entering their name instead of the child's, 3 aren't using the name they are recorded on the MIS for, 2 have put down their other child's name instead of the one that's actually in Year 8, 1 has done it for their 27 year old, 1 for their 4 year old, 4 have used nicknames and the allergy/intolerance/dietary requirement question has answers such as Yes, Epipen (who? You didn't give their name. And WHAT? There is no record of this allergy once we've tracked down which child it is), one tells us they're deathly allergic to vegetables and chicken with bones in and another throws in a lengthy description of why their child shouldn't have detention on Tuesday, culminating in 'this has been reported to OTFSEAD'.

Get to the day, kids turn up in shorts and crop tops at 9.30am because 'we were told it was non uniform', 4 haven't got any food, 5 FSM kids don't fancy it despite their parents requesting it but have food of their own, so the 4 are offered the FSM packed lunch, one parent calls complaining their kid isn't home yet at 2pm and 9 don't arrive at all because 'we thought you said the school was closed'.

The following Monday, there are 3 AI generated FORMAL COMPLAINT emails because we a) didn't provide free food, b) provided free food the kid didn't like, c) didn't take the kids with no food to McDonalds, d) never told anybody they were doing this activity so when the kid didn't come in they missed out and it has to be done again (and this child happens to be in Y7 anyhow).

No, if they are genuinely trying to be helpful. What if the OP erroneously thought that the keys were lost between A and B? What if they keys are either in A or B? And no, the police cannot be automatically presumed to have looked at FB or Insta, no. You give more credit to the wrong people - the key losers and the police.

Remember these people's vote counts just as much as yours. Grim isn't it.

I think they are all genuinely trying to be helpful but I cannot image losing my keys between shop A & B and not asking in those shops and any inbetween. And if it’s a wrong assumption that I’d expect the police to check a missing young person’s social media then that’s a bit of a worry.