Announcement re deletion of Wig and Robe/Judge Flounce threads

[carrie (mumsnet)]

Dear mumsnetters,

We are now able to shed a bit more light as to what actually occurred re the Wig and Robe/Judge Flounce episode. We are pretty sure (having received a confession of as much) that, as some of you suspected, W&R/JF was a non-lawyer masquerading as a QC. Given this knowledge we have deleted the relevant postings and banned the user from the site.

If nothing else the whole business is a salutary reminder that you can never be completely sure that folks are who they say they are and neither should you necessarily completely trust the advice, especially "professional" advice, posted on mumsnet.

As a result of some concerns raised by you we are looking into making parts of the site, the swaps and weight loss clubs for example, something that operates via mumsnet HQ so that people's addresses are not being circulated. If anyone has any other suggestions then please [email protected] or post them here and we promise to consider them.

We?d also remind folks that when organising meet ups you should take the same precautions you would when meeting anyone from the net - make sure you meet in a public place and that others know where you are going.

Having said all that, it would be a shame if this relatively rare occurrence of someone pretending to be someone they are not changed the warm, supportive, welcoming and caring atmosphere on mumsnet - and we're confident that you won't let it!

Thanks for all the supportive and helpful emails we've received from so many of you.

Carrie, Rachel and Justine

What's this 'Knowhere' site?

bloody hell ff- didn't she offer to represent you as well! She had more front than blackpool that one

I just could not believe someone could make that up. How on earth? live and learn I guess

The time I started to doubt JF was around Christmas when the thread started about her son and how she "would be seeing him at Christmas". That all sounded so false and really started to ring alarm bells.

When I say "well written" JanH, I mean rather than off the cuff and chatty.

Unbelievable, but it does happen. What about that bloke who sent emails to relatives of missing people in SE Asia telling them their relatives were dead?

Ah, you mean "carefully composed", soupy! That I do agree with

oh my god this has made me realise what a naive gullible person i am.

its sad someone has to do this to get attention.

Im just a bit cross at the crap she spouted about sexual assault, its a bit twisted.

& I'm sure there was some American woman years ago who wrote a blog about her non-existent daughter's terminal cancer

Carefully composed mawkish claptrap

Some people will say anything, sadly. There are people setting up phony charity appeals to get hold of tsunami relief money.

Sorry, not to be flippant I know that the bereavement could still be a reality, and yes maybe this is the real reason behind the deception. Just to be clear: JF/W&R is Steve, and Jane is his wife? or is it still as clear as mud?

We don't know, dw - I lean towards a joint effort - they both posted which is why some of it sounded so masculine.

No one knows the real names.

Wasn't there a women who told her daughter she had cancer when she didnt and shaved her daughters hair off to make it look more real?
Its a sad world somedays.

I told soupy on msn that I thought the prose was little over hte top int he berevament thread - soudned a but hrash att he time but there you are

They could well be part of the fantasy and not the posters real name at all.

It's probably best not to speculate on whether JF/W&R was either of these people because if they weren't, it could cause trouble.

Yep I check the whole thing out, and there is no files on it. One thing that confused me, was one the return address, it had Jane S...... C/O address..... Why would you put C/O for your own address? Umless you rented a room??

Yeah but expressions of bereavement often ARE mawkish - see your local newsagent for sympathy cards. And thoughts DO crop up at Xmas esp for 2 yer old

Like so many others on here, I feel pretty naive. Oh well. Put it down to experience girls (and guys). At least I know there are still going to be some nice people in Cardiff. (Another reason that made me suspicious was that although she asked me to e-mail her, she has never replied. If she does now, I certainly won't be replying back of course).

coddy, I told you on msn that it was bonkers!

well there is a Jane and Steve Schindler, whether thats who judgeflounce is - who knows?

I think mumsnet should write them a letter

And didn't he/she once admit to some posts being written by "colleagues in the office" when he/she was "too busy" ? which strikes me as a bit of a wierd thing to do on a site like this ? or am I just imagining that?