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26 replies

Roussette · 04/04/2020 17:37

I just wondered why it has changed?

You can't now search by Username. You can only search by word. So that means I can't look back at posts I posted from ages ago.

Or search anyone's previous posts on here.

Is this permanent?

OP posts:
DameXanaduBramble · 04/04/2020 17:37

Yes! Where is it?

DramaAlpaca · 04/04/2020 17:43

Well, that's a recent change. Since yesterday I'm sure. How annoying.

Roussette · 04/04/2020 17:46

It is since yesterday.

For the first time just about ever, I searched someone on here, and that was yesterday. Occasionally I search myself if I can't find a thread I posted on.

Now can't do that.

OP posts:
DramaAlpaca · 04/04/2020 18:00

I wonder why it's been changed?

@MNHQ could you enlighten us please.

myrtleWilson · 04/04/2020 18:01

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/site_stuff/3870999-Search-by-poster-gone

They've answered on this thread

DramaAlpaca · 04/04/2020 18:08

Thanks myrtle.

PieceOfMaria · 04/04/2020 19:38

I’ve just come here to ask the same question. I think MNHQ want an easy life these days and want to stop Posters challenging others based on lies or the rewriting of history based on what can see seen from other threads.

It is a very poor show. A very poor show indeed. This might well be the nail in the MN coffin for me.

PieceOfMaria · 04/04/2020 19:40

Ah, so it’s temporary? Maybe the bug they are talking bout is the one where you AV and it comes up saying ‘oops we can’t find this thread.’ That happens a lot at the moment.

bruffin · 04/04/2020 19:53

I hope it is temporary, not just trying to protect trolls.

PieceOfMaria · 04/04/2020 20:08

If it’s not then I’m off. I was quite happy lurking, I only re-regged so I could AV people.

Roussette · 04/04/2020 20:34

Sounds like it's temporary. I hope so

I very rarely use it, but when i want it, I want it!

OP posts:
pleasepleasepleasehelp · 07/04/2020 08:56

@Roussette Why can't you search your old posts?

They will be in your 'threads I'm watching.'

Also, why are you (and other people apparently,) so desperate to look at other peoples posting history?

PieceOfMaria · 07/04/2020 09:59

Also, why are you (and other people apparently,) so desperate to look at other peoples posting history?

To catch out the liars and get a more realistic idea of the back story. Why else?

There is really no point in being here without advanced search by user name. If they don't bring it back I'll de-reg and go back to just reading and lurking.

bruffin · 07/04/2020 10:34

Pleaseplease
They are not in threads I'm watching and threads I'm on only go so far back.

pleasepleasepleasehelp · 07/04/2020 13:03

@bruffin

Well, when you post on a thread, it should automatically be in your 'threads I'm watching.'

If you want to only read it (and not comment,) then just click 'watch this thread.' If I didn't do that, I wouldn't be able to find the thread again, purely based on the name of the poster. I'd never remember it.

pleasepleasepleasehelp · 07/04/2020 13:05

@pleasepleasepleasehelp

Why are you desperate to look at other peoples posting history?

@PieceOfMaria

To catch out the liars and get a more realistic idea of the back story. Why else?

There is really no point in being here without advanced search by user name. If they don't bring it back I'll de-reg and go back to just reading and lurking.

WOW. Confused

I think if that is what you come on here for, to trawl through peoples old threads to try and 'catch them out,' and throw stuff in their face, then it's probably a good thing that you DO de-register.

That kind of behaviour is pretty bad form, and is very much frowned upon by mumsnet you know. Hmm

Most people don't LIE, they just change a few facts so they are not recognised in real life. Then when they post another thread, they forget what they said about themselves before.

No wonder people namechange when they post threads. It's because of people like you.

I hope @MNHQ don't bring the 'search username' function back.

bruffin · 07/04/2020 13:26

Well, when you post on a thread, it should automatically be in your 'threads I'm watching.'
They are not on mine, but its not really easy finding a thread from last year trawling through Im watching and Im on only does last 50 posts

Most people don't LIE, they just change a few facts so they are not recognised in real life Think you are a bit naive about MN.
TBH i dont give a damn who searches my posting history why should I. . IMO namechanging should be banned, if you need to post something sensitive then MN can grant permission so NM is not abused.

That kind of behaviour is pretty bad form, and is very much frowned upon by mumsnet you know. hmm
No it isnt

honeybeetheoneandonly · 07/04/2020 13:49

I hope they bring it back. Surely, searching for threads by a user isn't all about trolling!?
The last few user searches I did was to:
A) find a previous thread that was referenced but not linked
B) find more threads by a poster who was really funny and I enjoyed reading
C) find a thread I hadn't added to my watch list but wondered about and I remembered the username.

bruffin · 07/04/2020 13:50

Just realised you have to tick the box for "watch" when you post on a thread, never bother as i dont see the point at all as there is "threads im on"
Either way as i said before it really isnt easy to find old threads on either. Much easier to do AS with the specific word/s and Poster Name

C8H10N4O2 · 07/04/2020 19:34

I quite often search out threads by username - I can remember usernames, can't remember thread titles. I also look for posters I like when active is full of 5m threads on the subject of tehe day.

If I'm doubtful about an OP's motives I'll check out their history before spending time responding to them.

AS is very limited use without the username option.

LilyMumsnet · 07/04/2020 20:43

Hi all,

We know that this is really frustrating - we'll post as soon as it has been fixed. Shouldn't be too long now.

Roussette · 07/04/2020 22:56

@pleasepleasepleasehelp
Also, why are you (and other people apparently,) so desperate to look at other peoples posting history?

Don't assume.
I'm not. Once, just once, I looked back at someone's posting, not bad going is it, in 16 years of being here? That was someone being so unreasonable on a thread and was obviously a troll. Glad I looked. However, I don't make a habit of it.

I look back at mine. But having been here for that long, threads I'm watching would not work. And just sometimes I want to find something I wrote. Not a problem is it?

OP posts:
bruffin · 07/04/2020 23:40

Roussette I spent a whole the other day looking at threads I was on 10 years ago hen DC were starting secondary school
It was fascinating, and s few things I had forgotten

PieceofMaria · 08/04/2020 06:58

pleasepleaseplease no one jumps on anyone and accuses them of lying or trolling for small and irrelevant detail changes that are obviously done to protect identity. No one cares whether your baby is a boy or a girl or whether you live in Derby or Leicester. I’m talking about the people who regularly rewrite history in order to paint themselves whiter than white in any given situation in order to manipulate posters and get the responses they want.

Sometimes it’s deliberate and calculating, other times it’s because they are frustratingly deluded and in denial about their own behaviour or mindset and how it repeatedly impacts on their relationships or personal situations. Either way, when something about a thread sets your radar beeping a bit of Advanced Searching can be very enlightening.

Sometimes posters come on here with sob stories and huge dramas involving bitch MILs or unreasonable DHs or not a penny in the bank to feed six kids and I think ‘hang on.....weren’t you the one who only last week said that blah blah blah? That situation doesn’t sit right with this situation so somewhere along the line you’ve not been entirely honest with us about the backstory to this.’

A made up example would be someone saying they’ve just paid 10k loan for a boob job/butt lift and then wailing because they are at risk of being evicted for huge rent arrears a week later.

I’ve lost count over the years of the posters who come back time and time again with the latest instalment of a long running drama that could have been solved if only they’ve listened to the advice they were given the first seven or eight times. New posters offer advice and sympathy in good faith without realising they are being sucked in by a self absorbed emotional vampire who does nothing to help themselves and instead just prefers to moan, attention seek and play the victim.

There are women who regularly paint their partners or their parents or their stepchild as completely unreasonable and emotionally abusive or whose employers/colleagues are bullies and whose landlord is the landlord from hell or whose child’s teacher is a cow or whatever, and it’s not unless/until you know the backstory you realise that actually, things aren’t quite as the OP would have us think and they need to be told a few home truths. I always think that’s far more helpful in the long run than twee platitudes and endless tea and sympathy.

Roussette · 08/04/2020 08:17

bruffin exactly! It is like a diary of life and how it was then! Also I looked back at 'me' the other day on the hunt for a recipe I just could not find. I knew I'd typed it out for a poster on here, and I managed to find it! I'm stuck at home and wanted to make it

PieceofMaria I agree. To be fair, I don't look back at posters' history (apart from the one time I mentioned above) because I usually find my bullshit radar picks up something when it's off kilter, but I'm grateful when someone can point out... hang on, you only said last week blah blah, so why are you saying this now. There are trolls and fantasists on here who waste time and I don't want to be emotionally invested in helping someone who is just pulling a fast one.

And there is absolutely nothing wrong in saying you live in Manchester instead of Birmingham or changing a few minor things about yourself, for privacy's sake. I don't care a fig about that.

OP posts: