Some people on here are ridiculously gullible

[SkipperTheEyeChild]

Honestly, some of the stories posted on here are so far fetched it’s laughable, yet people lap them up and spend hours earnestly replying.
Do people genuinely not question anything they read? Some of the threads are so obviously made up, I can’t believe how many people fall for them.

AIBU?

Most replies are as far fetched as the post.
A lot of the advice is unhinged and not something people would actually do in real life.
Much of it is mumsnet only advice that you never hear or see in the real world.

They’re no more wasting time on MN than you are.

OP, I think you’re gullible for thinking that people necessarily believe the threads are true. MN is no more than interactive entertainment for many.

Tbf I don't need anyone to point out that a story could be fake - that's baked-in in my head with everything I read, and allowing it simply means all threads potentially get derailed with whether or not it's possible to have happened. So I agree with banning troll-hunting on threads.

Yes, I had one of those. In fairness, I was posting on behalf of a friend, it wasn't my scenario but she had asked me to! It was deleted.

I was asking for advice about an encounter of sexual abuse. I had been on here for donkey's years at the time too.

I take everything on here with a pinch of salt and assume the majority is absolute horse shit.

Hmm I initially voted YABU, not because you're necessarily wrong but because I don't really see how it matters. Either way I'll never actually meet the DH with the sex beaker or the interfering MIL so does it actually matter if they're real or not? Nobody is forcing anyone else to respond.

But then thinking about it there are some people who do get sucked in, and, in extreme cases, send money etc. Also while 5-10 years ago talking about Russian influence and bots information farming etc would have got you funny looks, unfortunately it's no longer tin-hattery. One made up thread with a thinly-veiled implication regarding immigration or benefits or whatever is one thing, multiple repeated over months to an audience of 8 million, can influence people, subliminally or otherwise, particularly when a fair number of MN users are perhaps a bit more socially excluded/nervous then the general population.

The fact that so many people can't tell when posts are so obviously AI-assisted or completely generated is worrying as well.

The sheer number of poo threads is amazing. It fascinates me to see how many posters add their poo stories.

Grim.

More than the ones on here. It really does make sense. She's saying I've heard more stories in real life that on the face of it seem more unrealistic than the ones on here but I know they are true.

Well, let's settle on the fact that the post is poorly written? My point still stands.
@HughJarsed should do better. 🙂

Maybe notorious George Clooney-stalking troll 'Poo Shoes' has forsaken Reddit for MN?

Why believe everything you read?!

The thing is, @HughJarsed , earlier on you criticised @SkipperTheEyeChild for being 'smug', "condescending and lack[ing] self-awareness ", because she said some people on MN are gullible. I agree with her pov and don't think it is remotely condescending.

After taking this swipe at @SkipperTheEyeChild , you then say you're a 'consultant psychiatrist of 30 years standing.' You must know perfectly well that this info. gives a particular weight to what you say. So, when you say someone is 'condescending ', it seems like it must be true. I could say the same thing about me being 'unnecessarily snide.'
IMO, people should either post in their professional or private identities and not mix the two. This also applies when people write "I have been a GP for x years" if their opinion is questioned.
Since you've been on a consultant's salary for 30 years, it does seem odd that you recently posted on another thread that you have to budget to afford a weekly take-away. I'm sure there is an explanation, but, if you want to present yourself as a professional entitled to make judgements on other people's mental health, then I think you should be careful about how you portray posters, and quite honestly, mindful that you're representing your profession, and use language properly.
No doubt I'm being a frightful xxx, but this is my pov..🙂

Some interesting things come up for me here!

If I post that I am a landlord, people assume I am loaded.

If I post that I have an M.A, people assume I am in an academically focused career, as well as loaded.
More so if I post that I am also a centre manager of a company (as well as working).

Reality? I own the houses with someone else. Landlord profits are minimal, stamp duty is extortionate.

I have never managed to settle into a career. I have tried several, had two redundancies, been bullied out of 3 more. I have a face that does not fit. I am single.

I retrained as an adult and got another degree-equivalent qualification but now my job pays not much more than minimum wage. My mortgage is just over £900 and my wage is around £1700. What doesn't go on the mortgage goes on bills.

My company does well and is my safety net but nothing is guaranteed and I can't put my eggs in one basket.

I am not knowledgeable (i.e. haven't paid enough attention to the thread!) to comment on anything else but, I can see why someone with a good job might have to budget depending on their circumstances, where they live, other unavoidable outgoings etc.

If I posted on a landlord-ing type thread and then posted that I couldn't afford to buy my friend a bottle of wine for her birthday, or couldn't afford car-repairs, or whatever, I can see people on mn thinking I was lying.

But it is entirely possible that that could happen, if I had had an emergency bill/repair/other social activity that month or whatever.

If I posted that I worked in a very low-paid job,and someone had seen that I had mentioned I'd been to university and had two degrees (3 if you count the diploma equivilant) they might also think I was lying.

Someone in the south might think my mortgage sounded very cheap, and I must be lying that I can't afford XYZ on a professional wage, if I posted in a budgeting thread, if they had no experience of the fact that a lot of graduates do not manage to find work, or were made redundant during the recession.

I completely get your point.
OP will have been on £150,000 or its equivalent for ten years, on £115,000 for fifteen years before that.
So , it’s not really about assumptions, although I agree she might have a huge mortgage or other outgoings.

I love that idea! A giant work of fiction with multiple endings.

I have always said similar regarding outgoings. It's what you spend that dictates your financial situation more than what you earn.

I have university friends with graduate jobs 20 odd years down the line making 6 X what I make, but without assets, spending extortionate amounts on rent, with lavish lifestyles. They may have slightly more disposable liquid than I do, (they're all coupled up)but it isn't a huge disparity considering what they earn, and they're without a safety net. I am definitely not judging, I envy their high-flying titles sometimes but ultimately I feel okay with what I have.

Meh, I’m here for entertainment, not to give back to society. If replying is entertaining, I don’t actually care if the poster is genuine. And someone else might take something from a post on a totally bogus thread.

I am actually pretty cynical and sceptical in real life. It’s nice to put that down and take everything at face value on MN, because it literally doesn’t matter whether it is real and true or not.