News item about Mumsnet trolls and Liz Fraser

[paddEpower]

Apparently a "parenting writer".
Anyone read it?

It might be helpful to point us in the direction of what you are talking about.

This article? https://archive.ph/07Op0 Archive version to get round the paywall.

Oh sorry. Yes there.
Really interesting comments too. Lots of misogyny. And a man called Frank is very invested.

Hate to be ‘that’ person but I’ve genuinely never heard of her nor recognise her. Maybe I’m too young, not being middle aged and all

I searched MN for her and found a couple of threads with very invested posters. I don’t really get why people get so caught up with the lives of other people, and determined to out every untruth they share.

I would have thought it wiser to just assume everyone in the public eye is busy spinning for 5heir own reasons, and not believe a word of it.

Interesting item and interesting comment section… and not in a good way. So much misogyny directed towards MN which, despite various spats, is overall such a force for good.

As for “trolling”… people who live in the public eye surely have to be thick-skinned. And in several cases I can think of, those crying “trolling” are often somewhat economical with the truth. “Recollections may vary” seems to apply generally.

Did you clock Frank?!

Oh also anyone who expects the police to be involved with online spats might be a bit optimistic

No idea who she is but she seems to be bitching about Tattle Life the most.

Is this another Tattle reverse thread?

Yes Frank seemed to have a bee in his bonnet!

I’m certainly not going to defend Tattle Life. Though some of what’s posted on there (not about this particular individual, but others with a higher profile) seems to be actually true. I can think of a blogger with a lucrative substack business and a sob story, but whose real life is rather different. On the other hand, caveat emptor I guess.

I was wondering if anybody would post about this. Just to be clear, I’m not on Tattle & don’t condone it. But I do have a gripe with Ms Fraser. Ages ago when I was in the aftermath of a really horrible break up, somehow she popped up on my Instagram. She looked like she was going through an awful break up too, she published a memoir about her partner’s alcoholism, and set up a Substack asking for money. At one point, she said she could not afford to heat her house. Our kids were about the same age. We’ve been through what sounded like similar things, and I was feeling possibly a little bit deranged from grief & general midlife shit. For some reason I sent her £100 as a years subscription: I can’t explain why either. She never even acknowledged it. And she never really posted again on Substack, but keeps up her beautiful lifestyle posts on Insta, including her parents swimming pool, multiple houses etc. Caveat emptor as the poster says above. But that’s the only reason she came to my attention, and if she’s done that to lots of women, I can understand why they might be a bit annoyed with her.

I don’t know what I was thinking. I could hardly afford it. But she must realise that if she’s in the public eye and taking money/ donations/ subscriptions it’s kind of a devil’s bargain. Not that anybody deserves to be hounded or bullied. I’m not saying that at all. But it seems as if she has a history of not following through on promises or delivering to schedule. And, basically, treating other women quite poorly. Yes, I was a fool and I deserved to be taken advantage of. And I’ve never written a mean thing about her. But I can see why other people might have been moved to do that if they’ve had similar experiences.

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. What a "nice" thing you did.
I know a few other people who have sub stacks that are not maintained and rely on people to do spontaneous things like yours or forget they've got a subscription.

There was that chef wasn't there or should we say food writer, who've got a lot of grief for similar?

So interesting that a lot of the comments take everything the author writes at face value, question nothing, then use insulting language about people they've never met. What are the Times proving here? That people believe what they're told then comment accordingly? Often in an unmeasured and unkind way? That people read stuff on-line and immediately rush to criticise? Seems to me that all they have achieved is proving the very thing the author is writing about is just life! Not specifically related to her.😂

It sounds like her ex is stirring things up to me - usually they are the only people invested enough to spend this much time and effort. I think she might be blaming the wrong people and starting gossip as a result. It is common for men to make the woman appear mad and unhinged and for men to stalk exes on MN.

Never heard of her even though my children are around the same age as hers. Obviously her readership demographic is very different! I think it’s odd to say that a week in Venice is your “rock bottom”. As a journalist and author you clearly need public attention so in that sense criticism is inevitable and a thick skin is essential. The trolling seems pretty harsh though…

I remember her. She was the first Yummy Mummy so her kids will be grown up now

Once saw her in a shop getting free stuff, an early example of influencer. It was cringe, but it’s probably always cringe.

This type of business model is ultimately the problem… it’s transactional and the public generally don’t like that and ultimately the influencer faces criticism, especially if they have acted questionably

I think that’s the price influencers pay for participating in this business model. The really popular ones have more control over what they choose to do. But everyone’s at risk of falling foul of public opinion and their actions will bring out the critics and trolls.

It’s the price they pay for choosing this life. I couldn’t do it.

Yes this is so true. If you are trying to profit from that business model (eg getting people invested in your personal life for attention) this is the predictable downside… that people say things about it you can’t control or don’t like.

she wrote a book about trying to cure an alcoholic. I read it years ago and had not linked it to her.
She sounded reckless that she let her kid live with him/them and be subjected to their highly chaotic and abusive relationship.

Didn’t she play Nana in The Royle Family?! 😆

thank you for the DM. Kathleen Stock on this kind of content

https://archive.ph/AJEvI

Never heard of her. Sad she’s trying to use MN as something it’s not.

THE Liz Fraser was a much-loved comedy actress from the 1950-1970s.

Pic to follow. In the middle. Very talented and survived in a tough, competitive world. RIP.

Thanks for the UnHerd link @paddEpower - that Kathleen Stock article sums the whole thing up pretty shrewdly.

“Here is Liz flushed after another marathon; here she is drinking champagne and toasting the camera; here she stands on a mountain peak. Here is a picture of her brunch in Salzburg; here she is in the bath again, muscled legs stretched out glistening before her. The accompanying captions try to convey humility and likableness, and her wish to “make a small difference to some part of the universe”, but the pictures themselves scream success, money, desirability, winning at life.

Viewers are obviously supposed to covet what this woman has, for there would be little point in the laborious display otherwise. What they are not supposed to do, presumably, is imagine Fraser taking a photo of her own legs in the bath: tucking her chin, craning her neck awkwardly back and perching the phone on her chest as she tries to get the angle right, wiping the lens intermittently with a washcloth to stop it getting fogged up. The anonymous posters on Tattle Life imagine all this sort of thing and more, providing a brutally deflating commentary to the curated exhibition that is often as funny as it is biting. Egging each other on, they virtually gather to dissect, mock, speculate, bitch, and generally have a lovely time at Fraser’s expense. And they are particularly scathing about the way she likes to photograph her own legs.“ https://archive.ph/AJEvI

Loved the Kathleen Stock article. Love Kathleen Stock, tbf. The idea that she has read some of Rhino's posts makes me so happeeeeeeee.

Btw, I have managed to lock myself out of the other place. Can't work out how to get back on. I am metaphorically locked in the cellar. Send bananas!