What is this ‘You might also like’ clutter?

Wondering why mnhq aren’t responding re the promoted threads angle to the 30 day thread in active point? Such an easy fix without the unintended consequences. Or change promoted threads to only be those which are 30 days or fewer old if they simply must be there?

Another voice of support to OBBYK’s succinctly put point that some threads are long running but very current and new people pick up all the time because they are trending or in active. People don’t know what they don’t know and it seems like such a shame for people to remove them from active without knowing they are even there unwittingly. Please can we not make that change?

@JustineMumsnet @LilyMumsnet @YetAnotherBeckyMumsnet I was hoping that someone from MN would have come back onto the thread and looked at this today.

The more I think about it the more I'm puzzled about the 30 day rule. There are lots of long running threads, esp those in relationships talking about the lengthy divorce process and requiring a handhold. I tend to read threads via trending, active and "I'm on" and I doubt I'm the only one.

Surely this feature was only valid when we had the troll bumping up zombie threads and the sites own suggestion box? Remove both of those and the 30day rule is no longer needed...or am I not seeing something?

I'm another who would love to have this option back again. I don't want to hide threads that are more than 30 days old. Some long running threads are interesting and develop over time. They're not the same as a zombie thread being bumped because of the new feature, and it's frustrating that MNHQ's only solution is to lump them all together. 😔

Also an update on the edit button would be appreciated. Surely it must be ready by now, even if just for premium members?

I agree Bore, I was getting a bit wound up in responding to Dappled. Hopefully mn will put this right when they come back on shift in the morning.

This is a start, I guess...

I'd like an option to stop old/zombie threads being bumped by idiots and showing up at the top of my "I'm on" list, also.

I'd really like an option to return to the threads I'm on list to show only those I've been active on in the previous few days - as it was prior to the "upgrade".

I doubt it's deliberate, OYBBK. More like unintended consequence. It applies to the several excellent and long-running series of threads on UK and USA politics and Ukraine War too.

MN are choosing to deliberately suppress long running threads, by not allowing them into trending as well as the option of opting out of them in active. That includes threads such as the cancer support thread. It doesn't seem to be in the spirit of the site as once was quoted a lot.

Maybe no one will notice the changes isn't a great defence! If they aren't going to be used, then why have them?
They will get used by people like me who are more irritated by old threads popping up than others are! The people who wouldn't have been drawn in to long threads generally anyway.

So for the fast majority of users Active will be the same and traffic driven to your threads from there, plus from people already invested in them makes it unlikely you'll see much difference I suspect.

Maybe no one will notice the changes isn't a great defence! If they aren't going to be used, then why have them? Also, we've been told that they will never, ever be in trending. That simply isn't fair to those who put so much work into their online community.

But the changes to settings aren't going to be widely advertised. I don't know how many people outside of those following this thread will make it so the numbers of people seeing older threads in Active isn't likely to change much.

The bigger change is moving the similar threads bit below the reply box so fewer people will see it and bump zombies and those of us who really actively don't want to see old threads can hide them.

Can't see it will affect genuine long threads, as opposed to randomly revisited zombies that much.

"Yes, from my personal pov, they very much do. They don't know they will be interested until it suddenly becomes personally relevant."

I agree with this. Threads might bob along for weeks with a sprinkling of comments here or there and then there is a flurry (nod to YBBK's great weather threads there 😁) of activity.

People will miss out on long running threads. I suppose it will also lead to similar/duplicate threads being posted.

Do many people really join those types of long support threads from Active? Maybe they do but it seems a bit odd to me

You know they're there because you see them in active. So you know they exist when you need them. And you know that that side of MN existed (past tense, because I do think there's a real risk it will be lost)

Exactly. If few are seeing them what is the point of creating the thread and putting time into it? It feels incredibly sad to contemplate stopping them and moving on, but by attrition, that is precisely what will happen. People won't post into empty air.

Yes, from my personal pov, they very much do. They don't know they will be interested until it suddenly becomes personally relevant.

Further to what I posted above, the reason I think that option will kill those such threads is because everyone who activates that option won't see those threads, or even know there are long running support and interest threads.

And the site loses out by that erosion.

It would be a highly unfortunate bit of collateral damage from the (highly unwelcome) 'similar threads' fallout

But surely with the long running support threads most people on there have been there a long time. So are watching or on them. And when one is full and then a new one is started it will pop up in Active.

Do many people really join those types of long support threads from Active? Maybe they do but it seems a bit odd to me.

What's the point of a long running thread containing weather warnings if only those already on it can see it? People lurk on them rather than posting, because they often aren't the sort of threads they want to contribute to, they just want the information when it is relevant to the part of country they live in.

If they only see them when a new thread is created, then the weather is now old news.

This sort of thing will apply to other long running threads too.

Please don’t prevent threads older than 30 days appearing in Active threads. If an old thread is active there’s a reason for that.

but yes change the “threads you might also like” so it doesn’t suggest ancient threads.

two totally separate issues.

I think the removing of threads that are more than 30 days old is an absolute shite idea, unless you actively want to kill off long running support threads - everything from the Cancer Support threads to the hand-hold during school applications rounds, via OYBBK's seasonal weather threads, to the weight loss mutual support threads

I like the idea of the suggested threads being other recent threads from the same section, or perhaps using keywords in the OP to guess which MN section the person might be interested in (in case they have posted somewhere general like chat or AIBU) and posting threads from that section.

This seems more constructive to keep new threads visible and avoid people accidentally clicking on something which has already been resolved.

I do think it's a bit of a shame how clicks are the only metric that matters - remember MN used to have "Discussions of the day" where 5 threads were highlighted, by an actual person (not an algorithm) and linked to in the top right, often with an amusingly paraphrased title. They then swapped this for Trending and when I said I preferred DOTD, someone from MNHQ (sorry I can't remember who exactly, it might have been Justine!) said "But more people click on Trending"

.... well .... yes. They probably do. But of course they do if you think about it, because DOTD only changed once a day, so you're getting max 5 clicks from each user, someone isn't going to click on a thread that doesn't sound interesting and it's not going to get more interesting over time, plus you won't click on the same thread more than once (at least not from there, maybe from I'm on). Whereas trending is changing constantly, so loads more possible threads for anyone to click on, and it's already picking out the titles that people are already clicking on, so you know it's an intriguing title that makes people click. Quite often what you get in trending are clickbait type titles, like "You'll never guess what..." There's one right now called "This is the height of unprofessionalism" - it's human nature to want to click to find out what the OP thinks is so unprofessional, even if the thread itself turns out to be rubbish. I even find myself clicking on trending threads more than once because I'd forgotten I'd already found out the answer because it's a boring answer.

Trending probably gets more clicks, but TBF, you probably would have found that exact same thread just by clicking through Active, whereas DOTD highlighted interesting, thought provoking, or funny threads that you might not have clicked on otherwise because the original title wasn't always particularly one to draw you in.

But more people click on it. And that's what matters apparently. I think it's a shame. The same thing has happened here. Rather than thinking about what would actually be useful or interesting or enhance the experience of being on the site, it's just about what is going to get the most clicks and what is going to keep people clicking endlessly.

I know, I know, I know you're competing with social media which is actually addictive and you have to do the same stuff to have a hope of surviving and I know I'm being grumpy and objecting to change or "Yah I remember when it was all fields" or whatever, but MN used to have a particular fun tone and a user-centredness and I don't think it has that any more. Quote of the week used to be brilliant. Nothing like this any more. I don't even get the talk round up (do they still do that?).

If you are part of a long running thread it will still appear in threads you're on.

And if it's part of a series of threads then whenever there's a new one that will be in Active/Trending for a while to pick up new followers.

I also didn’t tick that option for that exact reason. Plenty of threads are over 30 days’ old but still active and current.