Blocked and Reported Episode 284: Taking Down Tattle (with Jessica the '80s Baby)
Nov 24, 2025
Jessica the '80s Baby, a researcher known for her deep dives into online communities, joins to unpack the notorious Tattle Life forum. She delves into Tattle's origins, contrasting it with Mumsnet's history. Discussions cover the gossip site's structure, moderation practices, and the psychological impact on users, including Jessica's own experiences. They also explore high-profile lawsuits against Tattle, the unveiling of its operator, and ethical questions around online anonymity and doxxing. The conversation reveals the stark realities of online gossip culture.
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Tattle As The Anti‑Mumsnet Hub
- Tattle positioned itself as an anti-Mumsnet gossip forum with better usability and stricter influencer-focused openness.
- It attracted Mumsnet refugees and prioritized forensic snark over supportive 'spirit of the site' moderation.
Structured Gossip Encourages Deep Forensics
- Tattle enforced strict thread formats and archival limits to keep discussions focused and searchable.
- Its wiki-like approach made influencer gossip forensic and long‑lived, with some subjects having hundreds of threads.
Brands Respond To Tattler Pressure
- Jessica describes tattlers contacting brands to pressure influencers, citing the Mrs Hinch doll house incident.
- The brand asked Mrs Hinch's agent to add an age disclaimer and she quietly dropped the product promotion.
