To ask if you’ve ever seen a post about you/someone you know on here?

[WoesFromAuntFlo]

I read a post recently that made me think the person who wrote it might be someone I know IRL. I didn’t say anything, but it’s been playing on my mind a lot.

I know people are worried about being too ‘outing’ with details but does it actually happen? Have you seen a post you think is about you or someone else you know?!

Posting here for traffic and as it’s the place I’d least want to see a post about myself 😂

Yes, I've come across 2 people I know in real life. One was because their situation was very unusual and identifiable. The other, I recognised their style of writing. It has made me much more wary about what I say and how I say it.

Can I ask how you even change user names?!

My sibling posted once and I instantly recognised them. I replied to the post and they text me straight away as they realised it was me replying.

Yes I have ,my sons step mum commented on a OP asking about my sons school and she mentioned me ,( was clearly her I looked up her username found out quite a few things ) , my ex partner cheated on me with her , luckily it was an old Thread and I’d had many years to get over it all .. but she was quite an contributor on here at one point …

I've recognised three people on here.

All of them had usernames that if you knew them would make you think of them.

I think two of them knew they were identifiable, they only posted things I already knew about them, things like funny anecdotes from childhood or how they chose their children's names, just things they would happily chat about with anyone.

I don't the third one realised how easily recognisable she was. She posted quite a lot of personal stuff. When I first recognised who she was I felt quite vindicated that she came across as much of a twat on here as she did in real life, but then I saw her post about something really difficult that she was going through and I didn't know what to do with that. I didn't know if I should tell her I knew and offer sympathy. I didn't because I doubt she would have wanted me to know and there was nothing practical I could do to help her. Things did turn out okay for her in the end though.

@clickyteeclick
At the top on the right, locate the body icon. Click on the downward pointing arrow to the right of the body icon.
Select Settings, then Change Username.

Yes. My ex best friend made several posts about me, trying to convince herself that cutting me out of her life was the right decision. She even twisted the facts to make what I had done sound worse than it was, so the answers she got from the other mumsnetters would suit her narrative. I suppose when reality doesn't match your choices, you have to find a creative way to bridge the gap.

Yes, someone posted a few things about her partner, and I immediately knew she was talking about my ex.

Coincidentally, it was on a thread about coincidences!

I'm surprised no-one has recognised photos from people asking to guess their age!

Not someone I know, but there was a thread by a very unhinged woman complaining about her widowed DIL “taking her grandchildren away” from her by remarrying following the death of the woman’s son… and the DIL is someone I recognised from another MN thread.

My post warning the unhinged poster that her DIL is on MN got deleted, and so did the whole thread later on, as she must have realised her DIL could come across it.

I remember thinking it was a crazy coincidence and to think twice before posting anything too personal myself!

I've had the opposite.

I used a mn phrase with a guy I knew, he realised it was a mn phrase because he also posted on mn and searched me out on here, then found a post or two I had written about him (he had a good reason to be able to guess where I had posted). He was annoyed by what I had written. I didn't really care about him being annoyed but I wasn't happy about him doing the stalking.

I did name change and stopped posting in that section .

There are at least two people who post on here who use names very similar to ones they used on another, now extinct, forum many years ago, and I know them both in rl. I've seen posts by both, but never a thread started by them. I use a totally different name now, plus change a bit, so they wouldn't know it was me. I think I did reply to one of them once in fact.

I sent ChatGPT a link to a thread I had posted on and asked it to find my post. It knows me quite well as I use it daily.
It couldn't identify it.

It took four threads, the final being one I had posted on a few times, with more detail, plus me telling Chat some stuff about my username, before it got me.

It did tell me that it was a fun exercise!

Mamy years ago I saw a post from someone I definitely knew. She’d got herself into a predicament so unbelievably odd and very specific that it could have been nobody else. Her situation was so bizarre (and her perspective on it so tragically naive), that posters on her thread were convinced she was making it up.

I always think of her when people cry troll on threads that sound implausible. Truth is often stranger than fiction.

Yes I recognised a recent very high profile thread: the poster had also put it on Facebook. I also felt slightly guilty knowing I knew who it was.

I have also been recognised a long time ago by a friend. It unsettled me quite a bit because I thought I was pretty bullet proof!

When I post about my personal life nowadays its always under a different username.

I tend to change a few details for that reason. I did get recognised once but thankfully it was a moany post about parking.!

No, but I did get to know someone (a friend of a friend) whom I then recognised as having posted quite a lot on here.

My ex-husband posted on the relationships board offering advice as he was going through a divorce - from me! I joined the thread eventually and it caused such a furore MN deleted it.

I went to school with and recognised the poster who did the famous "your minge" swimming pool classic thread.
I vaguely knew her when her kids were little and she named them on her, and was awful about them and her poor fella. But she was awful to them in real life too. She called her daughter something like "devil child" to her face. I hope she treated them better when they got older.
She was banned on here eventually and I haven't seen her for years.
I also spotted my friend by her username as she likes a particular painter, asked her ans was right. And my auntie who wrote about my cousin. Didn't tell her but it was too close to the details to not be her on an unusual situation.

Actually yes I saw my dad's other daughter indulging in some serious cognitive dissonance about what a great and lovely fair minded person she was who wouldn't dream of mocking kids surnames, as a teacher.

This was after she would take the piss out of my kids surname for being " funny and foreign " and tel them their mother is a c@nt

When I say " other daughter" I suppose some people might even say " sister ".

It was hilarious to see the difference between her lovely fair minded posts and her real personality. Made me view all posters a bit differently thh.

I’ve been identified (by more than one person) in the past, in a unique and evolving situation that started as a general chat about stormy weather and ended with us needing to move out of our house

I now use one username for anything that might be identifying (where we live, job I do, age of DC etc) and another for chat that doesn’t include any identifying details.