Are you aware of the more obscure boards of MN Talk? Share some of your gems

[DadDadDad]

For the first time in ages, I actually had a quick skim through the list of all the boards on MN: www.mumsnet.com/Talk

Virtually everywhere I went someone had made a recent post (June 2021), often to my surprise, eg the completely non-descript Other subjects or the less topical Wimbledon, World Cup, Skiing and Christmas.

There's even a board called Ethical dilemmas which appears to tick along ignoring its noisy neighbours in AIBU.

The most inactive thread I could find was Refugee crisis which apart from one poster realising they were responding to a zombie thread hasn't had an on-topic post since 2019!

So can you find one that's even more obscure? surprising? Do you know a board with less traffic that you'd love to see get more attention?

Bonus question: what board should exist that doesn't?

Well, this is going well.

I think there should be a board dedicated to Maths and Science.

Is there still an unanswered threads link?

In the old days there was and every now and then, somone would start a thread encouraging everyone to go to it and start answering threads so posters didn't have comlpetely ignored threads. I used to enjoy that!

@HUCKMUCK I used to love the unanswered posts thing. I used to lose hours going off to see if I could help or bump something. Not seen it for years.

Unanswered threads is available on the Talk menu - see screenshot. I occasionally go on there to see if a thread needs a kickstart.

One last try to see if the Saturday morning crowd have something to contribute. Otherwise, I'm guessing those who go on the quieter boards want to keep it that way (it's like when a newspaper publishes "Top British beaches - the 10 best-kept secrets" and those beaches are then ruined by the sudden crowds).

There is a particular board that I sometimes pop into to see what’s going on - it doesn’t show up in Active and it’s kinda semi-hidden. Not going to name it though as its inhabitants don’t want to be found.

I also used to check unanswered threads and try to reply, particularly to people in emotional distress. I thought that function had disappeared so thank you for flagging it!

My favourite remains Sporners’ Corner - oh, the joy when that one was given its own home after years of posters traumatised by walking in on pimple popping/ear wax removal videos on AIBU, Chat etc - but I like Unanswered Threads too.

I wish the news board was busier, I was quite disturbed by some stabbings and other things a few days ago.

I'd like a weight board and also would like to go into feminism but am terrified of saying the wrong thing!

There is a weight board @Frownette. I don't know how to link to it but it's definitely there.

Flouncer's corner used to be epic.

I love the unexplained board. Spooky stories and very random threads!

Are people nicer on the quieter boards?

New to MumsNet and lots of really nasty people on here.

Lots of really lovely people too, thankfully.

@tiredanddangerous more about putting weight after illness?

@spacegirl123 some people can be quite blunt on the busier forums, the smaller, specialist ones are quieter and peaceful. But of course people go to chat/AIBU for traffic

@Frownette

I wish the news board was busier, I was quite disturbed by some stabbings and other things a few days ago.

I'd like a weight board and also would like to go into feminism but am terrified of saying the wrong thing!

Please do read and post on the feminism and women’s rights board, it’s one of the busiest on MN.

Four things that piss off the regular posters there are

1. Nasty goady threads that are clearly made up to gather screen shots for Twitter.

1. Threads that basically say “ I’m too lazy to read the internet or books about this topic so please educate me, that’s women's work “.

1. Posters who start threads saying “ You are all hateful bigots and I don’t want to talk to you “ , refuse to answer questions or discuss, then flounce.

1. Posts from men saying “ You women are imagining things “ and NAMALT.

So if you avoid starting threads like that you should be ok.

BTW I’m assuming you are a woman @Frownette.

For men who are thinking of posting there , here is my advice . If you were a white person thinking of posting on a board for black people, how would you approach things?

“ Hi BAME people - white man here. I’m just here to give you a white mans perspective . You need to listen to us and see things from our point of view and do it our way otherwise you won’t get what you want. Your movement should be all lives matter and the liberation of all people . You need to centre white people in your thinking “.

No I guess you wouldn’t. You’d STFU and listen. You’d think you were lucky to be allowed in their space and to learn . Education is a great gift.

I've never heard of the unanswered threads board.
Stupid question but how do you know your post is going to be unanswered when you make it to know to put it there?

Feminism is ok but there have been lots of posters coming in and not being genuine. I mainly lurk with the odd post.

The gifted board was "interesting" lots of people coming in and behaving the equivalent of the description posted above of white people on the BAME board.

Some of the health and SN boards are friendly, useful but a bit quiet.

@Frownette

I wish the news board was busier, I was quite disturbed by some stabbings and other things a few days ago.

I'd like a weight board and also would like to go into feminism but am terrified of saying the wrong thing!

I'm aware of the weight board - just in passing. The feminism threads are eye-opening. I've been following the gender critical discussions and taking notes - I don't think I'd have understood how important the recent "victory" is to women re their right to hold and express beliefs around sex and gender. Until 6 months ago, I don't think I even understood what "gender" is actually about.

I have found some of the reactions and conversations on the Film page interesting.

I need to read the feminist threads more often. They express so well the things I am thinking, yet can’t seem to voice myself.
I was having a bit of a ding ding on Facebook yesterday with a bloke regarding the use of the word cis and how I defined myself. I was rubbish at expressing myself. I could have done with the help of someone on here.

There were a series of threads in the section OTBT (off the beaten track) with some fun women who would jolly along threads that were floundering. My memory is faulty today, I can't remember what they called themselves. MN deleted all their threads and said they were goady. Such a shame, as they were just funny.

And FWR is full of feisty and intelligent women. My favourite kind. I wouldn't class that section as hidden gem or anything, though- if I remember correctly, some stats about traffic to mn were published a few years ago and it was the #1 source of site traffic by a huge margin.

@Bezzi

I've never heard of the unanswered threads board. Stupid question but how do you know your post is going to be unanswered when you make it to know to put it there?

It's not a board @Bezzi, it's a button (like "Active Convos" that brings up all the unanswered threads, and you can just trawl through them, like reading Active. It's good to go through them and be helpful

The number of different boards which apparently do the same thing make my teeth itch and I long to merge them.

Work/Employment Issues
AIBU/What Would You Do/Ethical Dilemmas

The Education, Health and Parenting boards seem particularly prone to having multiple areas that appear very close in purpose.

The whole replacing of Chat with 90 Days Only still baffles me.

I also forgot to mention that there’s a board called ‘Other Subjects’ but given the sheer number of subjects already covered by the millionty other boards, I cannot imagine what people could find to discuss in there.

Moving threads to the correct boards would help promote a lot of the more tumbleweed ones but MN won’t do it.