Has MN changed?

[Hichic]

Do you think MN had changed since you joined? How did it used to be?

I have been here several years. A few years back it seemed quite nasty In places .but it seems better now. Does not seem to be so many attacks on posters or bun fights . Seems to be better debates without it getting overly nasty.

@Sparklingbrook

ha! I saw a weather worn shopping list the other day and was so tempted to pick it up!

One of the big turning points for me where I feel the tone of the site definitely changed was last year after covid hit, and we all got an email off Justine asking us to subscribe to premium membership, alluding to not being able to “keep the lights on” as if Mumsnet was skint, they practically had the begging bowl out as if they were a 1900’s street corner seller with a bunch of ragged starving children to feed.

IIRC she then made some snide comments on one thread about people who use this site and have ad-blockers.

The whole thing was completely tone deaf, ill thought out and terrible timing, seemingly completely forgetting that we are the commodity that this site sells to advertisers.

I first discovered MN in 2007 🤯

There is a lot more shite to Wade through (ignore). Also I don’t think there are the bizarre, random, subtly funny threads there used to be. Occasionally these pop up on feminism but get quickly deleted.

I think everyone was more naive at the start, there used to be a Christmas secret santa thing, there were also a lot of trolls with sob stories rinsing people for whatever they could get. Don't see much of that anymore.

I’ve dipped in and out over the years. I used to find MN much more interesting and supportive. Now I know exactly how a thread is going to play out before I open it. It’s just the same old discussions going in the same direction with the same old points being used to drag people down.

I find the pile ons particularly disturbing and think it’s only a matter of time before the real life impact on the poster is revealed and things blows up for MN. There was one thread in particular that went on all weekend before MN took it down.

But I’m sure the site is more profitable now than it ever was so I doubt it’s going to change.

Agree with PPs, the woth used to be more nuanced, sardonic. I think there's a lot of pisters now who are quite literal and would be horrified at some of the mickey take threads.

Smaller and cosier it was.

Still a incredible resource and a space for valuable debate

I lurk more than I post these days, some RL shit and diminishing eyesight make joining in effectively harder

Lovely to see some actual old faces on here, and some now anonymous faces, who I reckon I'd "know" of they revealed themselves.

to old and new

penis beaker was a turning point.

and the SWAT attack prank.

I've been on mn 11 years. I wouldn't say it's changed too much. It did feel more cliquey maybe 5 years ago when it seemed like the entrenched regulars were starting to be called out for being a bit smug. I didn't mind the regulars at all but they did used to really wind some people up. It was quite amusing if I remember rightly!

Ooh @ChaosTrulyReigns

Lovely to see you.

[quote ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba]@Sparklingbrook

ha! I saw a weather worn shopping list the other day and was so tempted to pick it up![/quote]
You should have! Posted it on here and got told how mean and judgy you were.

It's very different. I joined just after ds (dc2) was born in 2002. He's 19 now. My registration number (on my profile) is in the 3000s.

I remember when all this was just fields!!

It's not as friendly a place (I have several really good friends from mumsnet's early days) and it's a lot easier to pisspeople off.

That said, it doesn't have Mnhq making up threads to keep the place going.

Like I said, very different. But the whole www is very different to 19 years ago!

@TooWicked I agree, paying for mumsnet was a terrible idea.

I wonder how many people did subscribe.

I'm only here for the forums, have literally NO interest in any other content, not bloody paying

@JayAlfredPrufrock

Ooh *@ChaosTrulyReigns*

Lovely to see you.

Ya utter doily.

Give me friffing clue

For starters posters started putting "lighthearted" in the posts and started using asterisks instead of proper swear words.

Which is all very very wrong.

I don’t think there are the bizarre, random, subtly funny threads there used to be.

Yes, I agree with that. People are more impatient and more suspicious of anything that isn't a straightforward 'my MIL parked across my driveway and gave my toddler a Fruit Shoot' rage-fest. I used to enjoy the quirky threads.

On the rare occasions I go to the supermarket now I leave my shopping list in the trolley in the folorn hope someone will pick it up.

@ChardonnaysPetDragon

For starters posters started putting "lighthearted" in the posts and started using asterisks instead of proper swear words.

Which is all very very wrong.

Just spotted a lighthearted in a thrrad title in Active.

Abd rushed back to dreamily dream of days of fields and threads where the lighthearted could be inferred

High five?

Chaos!

@Chicchicchicchiclana

On the rare occasions I go to the supermarket now I leave my shopping list in the trolley in the folorn hope someone will pick it up.

I still get an urge to turn the divider so it points up the belt rather than across the belt.

Cant remember how long ago that was a MN 'thing'

Infer at your peril these days Chaos.

I've been around about 12 years. It's changed but then it's got bigger. I like it here

Oh god

Chaos is pisted again

at @Geamhradh. Well hellair.

Back in the younger days(!) of MN , Pre ads etc there was a fee. The site started as something of an echo chamber with chat, reviews, sparring between posters. The SWMNBN controversy was one watershed moment, then Moldies/MSN/Reddit, the poster who used threads for a DM column, cyber attacks, trolls have gradually eroded that early innocence. Perhaps as much a reflection of how the www has developed too.

Oh I often do the divider thang.