AIBU - that sadly, MN is losing its way?

I agree to a certain extent OP, I feel like I come across the really amusing threads / witty pithy comments less frequently. I’ve slightly lost track of how long I’ve been on here and whether I’ve noticed an uptick in the really unnecessarily mean responses - definitely do see a fair number of those where it feels like some people are deliberately misunderstanding the OP for the sake of picking an argument. But do still see a good number of the really helpful supportive and empathetic threads - I posted this year about a very very difficult situation and had so much support and helpful advice, and so many handholds, at a time when I really did need it, so I like to think it’s still very much there in that sense.

MN has been my community, my salvation, my first choice for crowd-sourced wisdom, my pick-me-up, my fashion advice and my secret mid-working-day source of amusement for many many years.

Sadly, it has definitely changed, and not for the better. All your points are well made, OP.

Friday nights used to be absolutely hilarious. Now there’s…..tumbleweed….it’s almost impossible to find a good, quirky thread, and it feels like most users are way less invested in making this a fab community.

I think the increased commercialisation of the site has had a huge impact - it feels less of a community effort these days. Of course MN Towers are entirely within their rights to make some money from this venture, but the volume of ad-led content and threads, the shift to forcing cookies or a paid subscription, the lack of genuinely independent product reviews…..even the reduction in product tests, all of these things make a huge difference.

My dcs are now 15-20 years old, so I guess I’ve had a good run, and I don’t want to sound ungrateful. But it feels like the years in which we would hop on the tube heading off to a meet up with a roomful of total strangers wearing MN username stickers are very much in the distant past.

I love a good laundry thread when I'm stressed and awake at 2am, despite being the type who just opens the washer door and flings it in. But it's not for Aibu, there is a section for those type of threads.

I have noticed a change in tone - someone will ask for advice and suddenly there a massive pile on for no good reason, not sure if it’s a DM invasion but it’s awful. Name calling, bitchy comments - the support is almost non existent.

Maybe we should start a regular post for ‘good news only’ - where people can share uplifting stories or positive news🙏

Yes it’s full of bots and bullshit, but I can’t say that we’re crying out for more threads about laundry. There’s already a batshit amount of washing chat, what else is there to say after a quarter of a century?

There are far more pile ons now - I mean I know AIBU can be harsh, but it’s feels worse somehow now than 10y ago.

I've been here since it were all green fields and yes, it's changed, but then so has social media as a whole. Aibu was always a bear bit, you knew you needed your big girl pants to enter, but Chat was great, such a mix of threads. One minute you'd be crying and the next laughing, yes there have always been posters who were outright fantasists and the occasional onslaught from male groups out to cause trouble. But there's so much nastiness now and obviously manipulative posters, Ai and people with such a polarised viewpoint of politics and left/right division. People just pile on with glee and the thread derailing drives me scatty, especially when people just seem to make up what the OP has said.
I stick it out, mainly because it is my night-time reading when I can't sleep and the more specialist sections of MN are still fairly OK.

How has this wonder of hiding threads passed me by!! goes to check

🙏🙏🙏

This pretty much sums up my feelings too..

So many PP’s on various threads just itching for a row and putting inflammatory words in OP or other PP mouths.. It’s rife!

There are defo a lot of bots advertising AI & clickbait threads.

I also think it’s confusing there are so many American posters who don’t introduce themselves as being not living in the UK. Most people are under the impression we’re discussing shared references, but we’re not. It’s not Reddit.

I regularly lol at the wit I see on here. There's some genuinely very funny remarks. It depends on your humour though I guess, as light hearted fun threads don't really do it for me anyway. I prefer the subtle one liners that appear in the middle of the ordinary. I think there's some great debate too and I learn a lot from other people's posts.
The last couple of weeks have had an unpleasant flavour on some threads, with the influx of Kirk supporters with very strong views, and then our home grown racists, emboldened to say things they'd not have said without our new friends getting the ball rolling.
That does seem to have died down this week though.

Typed in the wrong thread

I'd say it's a lot more right wing that it used to be.
But I've been here 25 years so maybe it's just the way things go.

It’s the LTB culture that made me start to respect posters less. Superficial feminism with no effort to work on communication and relationships.

YABU to write a thread title that doesn't make sense.

I seem to spend a great deal more time hiding stupid content scraping no-return OPs than ever before. You can absolutely tell when an OP isn't going to come back. There's one right now about pubs closing. Obviously rage bait and I wish people would see it for what it is. But yes, it's the endless hiding threads that tells me how much it's changed.

I have been here 22 years since DD was born and yes I agree. There was always bitching and fighting but it has got much worse. I do still love it but the bots and the endless posts where the OP doesn't come back and engage drives me nuts. I think I see a lot of lazy journo click bait threads too which turns things in a different direction. I guess it is just more people on the internet than 20 years ago and far more 'keyboard warriors'. I probably being unreasonable and many will disagree but I hate that men are on here too.

There are several threads in Site Stuff where posters have asked Mumsnet to intervene on lots of these threads but they won’t!

They say to challenge in the thread & report any hate speech , personal attacks!

I’ve been here about 10 years and up until the August Bank Holiday I’d never reported a post, now it seems I report at least one per day!

The site has definitely been infiltrated by Bots, there is no intelligent debate just a goady opening post followed by pages of hate! The OP disappears!

Comprehension levels are somewhat lacking which spoils a lot of threads. Then many posters want to just argue which is boring and derails interesting debates. Plenty of bored users who seem to revel in jumping on the OP and twisting what they say. I definitely come on here less now although still find some threads helpful.

I’ve been on for 18 years now, it’s less funny and intelligent than it used to be.
Have to scroll for a while to find anything worth reading
I agree that the FWR boards are still great.

I miss the Friday Night Drunk threads.