Skimlinks on Talk

The value of the site lies in the contributions of the members

Dicking about or not you are spending your time and they are monetising your time

We are not doing the work. We are dicking about on the internet. Sometimes we help and support each other. Mostly we chat about everything from feminism to baby socks. It would be nice to continue all that for free.

Why do so many MNetters fight any way MN can make money?
because we are the ones doing the work and generating the content
With an online newspaper journalists struggle to be paid for the work they do so the newspaper puts up a paywall to pay the people who write for the site

We are the people who write for this site

Didn't realise there was a thread on this.

The other day there was a very sensitive rape thread. There was a reply telling the op what the poster went through. She said there was a doctor who did something. The words doctor and who being written together turned into a skim link. Very insensitive on a thread like that.

I wish you would get rid of it.

Misspelling or breaking up words is problematic for dyslexics (as mentioned before) and especially for the visually impaired, unfortunately. I don't know what the solution is here.

I can't see the skim links but it makes me uncomfortable to know that I might be appearing to endorse or recommend something.

Why do so many MNetters fight any way MN can make money? It was the same with the Cadbury emoji. I don't mind a pink link for a brand I mention.

What's the alternative, a paywall? Donations don't work so well, see the big and intrusive begging pop-ups on webpages which rely on voluntary contributions.

I suppose we could all start misspelling things to avoid generating links?

It gives the impression that the poster is endorsing and recommending the product which is linked to
This seems particularly predatory, our words are being monetised in ways that we don't intend and have no control over

People who post on mumsnet spend their time creating content for the site, we do the work so that the owners can use us to make money

Just came across this when I was posting.

Absolutely no, no, no.

I come on here to discuss things, learn, share, laugh etc. My life, like everybody else, is bombarded with advertising. I can ignore the banners etc, no problem. But I don't want this crap in my actual posts. Like most people on here I have a hinterland - and it's not about shopping 24/7.

The issue of course is that by using those links, MN has no control at all over them.
They might be linking a very nice website r the one the poster was referring to but they might well be linking to other sites, just see comments and experiences from PP, that aren't as savoury.
You know a bit like when companies are using google ads and they ads end up in not so nice webpages and then people are campaigning or boycotting said companies.

I'm pretty sure that MN has very little control over that and that some words will link to dubious sites that we will all clink on by mistakes, fat fingers and all that.

Well I know that MN is a commercial venture BUT thanks you for using us all to make money wo a thought to the users.
People have said before that they don't like it.
People are saying again they don't like it.
But I suspect it will stay.

Just like FB has
And the articles in the DM, the Sun etc... straight from the threads here, even the ones in Relationships (a new low).

So I have a question for MNHQ where have you drawn the limit of what is or isn't acceptable to do with our posts???
Because it feels more and more dangerous to post on here anything that isn't neutral, and I am including posts on political subjects for example, relationships, the SN board etc etc.

Another voice adding to the chorus of "hate it, please at least change it to a completely different colour"...

Every time I or someone else writes the word breast pump I get a link to this page (I am in the US so might be region specific). It looks so spammy. I'd prefer people not think that I was linking to such dodgy content so another vote for different colour for non-user added links.

Just seen a really ridiculous one, someone saying they'd had to give something up for their DS, and it linked to amazon for a game by ninendo called UP, which I'm positive was not the OP's intention.

We used to pay back in the day. Well it was a donation iirc.

I'm wondering how much MN makes per user from ad banners/skimlinks etc... It cant be that much, there are loads of people who would pay.

I'm not sure the links create business. I have clicked them before. Post went like this: I bought a fabulous desk at John Lewis for just that purpose!

So I think, fab, just the desk I want, click the link, John Lewis homepage, not the desk I want. I can then search for "fabulous desk MNetter bought", but it isn't going to get me anywhere, so I close the JL page again.

Thanks, ItsAllGoingToBeFine and Trimpot

BIWI yes, that's right, your post contains a link to Sainsbos - which due to the AdBlocker you can't see, but we can.

BIWI That's correct, adblocker means you don't see the links, but to me it looks like you linked to S ainsburys in your post.

• Any links that may appear in this post were not me so don't click them...

@tribpot - so do you mean that although I can't see any of the links now, on this thread, that if I type one, e.g. Sainsbury's, that the links will be visible for anyone else reading my post?

That's shit. I don't want to have my posts linking to other websites unless I have chosen to do that.

Yeah, neither of those links in my previous post were mine, you can see the confusion

YY MNHQ - please change the colour in the mobile site so we can ignore differentiate, or preferably ditch the skimlinks altogether and have some other form of advertising. They really are shitty, I think it's worse because they are actually within the posts - perhaps go back to banner add between posts, or allow folk to pay to access an as free version of the site.

• Any links that may appear in this post were not me so don't click them...