Threads that result in mockery of homes on rightmove, zoopla, etc.

[AuldWeegie]

Imo, there’s no need for these threads at all, particularly in aibu, and they are “not in the spirit” of MN

I agree entirely - they are so unkind, and so unnecessary!

I thinks it's odd unless a poster wants to buy or rent a place then what is the obsession with deliberately looking at property to make fun of it? Is it a hobby?

Aren't the majority of houses on sale houses that someone will have lived or currently lives in?!

I agree, especially when you can tell it’s an old person’s house. Maybe they died or aren’t well enough for decorating and maintenance, it feels cruel to laugh at them. It’s also mean when the house is well looked after but dated, that was someone’s home that they might have loved, it’s totally unnecessary to make a thread mocking them.

It’s a bit different if it’s the kind of house with life sized statues of Elvis in every room or something, but still not very nice to laugh at it.

We had our family home, which was for sale, in the newspapers. It was in very bad repair. There were mental health issues which contributed to the condition, and they resulted in one parent being sectioned, and the house was put up for sale. My other parent, in their eighties and mentally fragile themselves, was devastated at the intrusion and mockery that this led to. It wasn't even being sold as a dwelling, but as a development site because we knew it was in such poor condition.

Online comments hurt and are an unnecessary intrusion in my actual lived experience. You've no idea of the circumstances.

I'd definitely support pulling those threads.

Agreed completely. There is no good reason to make fun of someone’s home.

@MNHQ what do you think? Many comments on these property for sale threads are hurtful, and the threads themselves are distasteful.

I completely agree. Most people want to live in nice places. Often the houses being mocked are/have housed people in difficult circumstances with mental or physical limitations stopping them from fixing it up like a show-home. Others are often just a matter of personal taste. I think a home is something very personal and putting it up for sale doesn't mean it's nice to have people sneer at it.

I think it’s a bit mean but this is the internet. Mean things sometimes happen on the internet. Can’t you report the post so that MN can have a look at it and take them down if necessary?

I think if there is something crazy, like a swimming pool in the kitchen or the whole interior is pebble dash then fair enough. Just because you don’t like the fairly ordinary decor then no.

fully support this.

the easy thing would be to say, well it's the internet and it happens, but surely if MNHQ want to differentiate themselves from a general social media free-for-all then this sort of thing shouldn't be allowed.

it's actually quite nasty and bullying behaviour - and cowardly as there is no chance of the victim really responding to a pile on by strangers.

I agree. I can’t understand the mentality of somebody making fun of someone else’s home.

I haven't seen those but how weird. Obviously these people lack intelligence and imagination.

The threads I’ve seen have been a robust mix of ‘Time capsule- look at that bathroom, I grew up in one just like that, love it!’ and ‘time capsule, hate those coloured bathrooms!’.

Some have very distinctive decor that I imagine the owners love and recognise is very much their own strong taste- pattern on every surface. Again, there’s a robust mixture of ‘love it!’ And ‘ow, my eyes, that gives me a headache’.

I rarely see a nasty comment. And the comments are what the viewers going round in person would say.

It's a bit like the women on Instagram who make their whole identity about renovating a house and in the process spend a considerable amount of time mocking and denigrating the previous house owners decor choices. And they continue it years after by re-posting the before and afters.

There is one woman who regularly posts the 'hideous' before of her corner bath. Can you imagine? A CORNER BATH, the absolute horror 🙄

These threads are no different to pointing and laughing at the mentally ill and the elderly.

And all the threads on here saying wear what you want - interior decor is the equivalent of wearing what you want. It might not be to everyone's taste but so what. Be individual but only if your taste is the same as everybody else.

Selling a house is stressful enough without becoming a laughing stock. A poster might ask for support while getting their parents into a home and getting the house on the market to pay for the home, and they would get kind replies, then look on another page to see hundreds of people taking the piss out of their family home.

I would like to see these threads banned. Although at least they show people up for who they really are. So many threads are deleted for not being in the spirit but not these
I take it this means laughing at vulnerable people is very much in the spirit.

I think sometimes people seem to forget that MN is a business and we’re the product. The more traffic that is brought to the site is a win for the company. How do you know that MNHQ want to differentiate themselves in the first place?

Why are you assuming the seller is vulnerable? Do you think people with taste you don’t share are vulnerable?

There was a classic recently where the early 90s bedspread, wallpaper and curtains from a coordinated range was still in use. Why assume the owner is vulnerable, rather than well aware it’s dated but they like it so why change it?!

@KeirSpoutsTwaddle , they’re not always vulnerable but quite a few I’ve seen recently have clearly been hoarders homes.

Ah, ok. I haven’t seen those. I’ve seen idiosyncratic ones, ones with an alarming feature of some kind- shower in the bedroom, masked figure in the corner- and perfect time warp ones.

I really wanted to buy a late 60s/70s house- it was immaculate. All the features. The timing wasn’t right unfortunately, but I had a good chat with the agent, off the back of a thread on here.

I’ve obviously missed the nasty ones. I’d be sad if the interesting ones were banned because of the nasty ones.

Hi @AuldWeegie thanks for posting. It sounds like this is something we'd have to look at case by case - we'd encourage people to report anything if they feel it crosses a line.

Thank you @BeckyAMumsnet

Yep the response given is exactly what I thought it’d be. Report certain threads if you think they’re problematic but I don’t see MN banning these types of threads at all