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Original poster

Anyone else here been on MN since it started?

265 replies

Quarks69 · 08/01/2022 13:36

Am not trying to be Clichy, So forgive the reminiscing.... but my eldest is now 22 and I remember MN becoming a thing about the time she was born, and today she left home good and proper...so it feels over, the whole being a clueless mum thing. The questions on here are on repeat and yet the answers are both the same and yet different as mumsnet was the ONLY social media out there at the time!!.

I Do remember being at work and keeping on clicking on the MN website, where the chats wouldn’t change all day! And then there was an amazing first meet up of all the mums, and I couldn’t make it and felt a bit jealous!

Justine et co must feel so proud of what they have created now, and their babies must also be grown up too, as is this website. Who could have guessed this is where it would be?

OP posts:
Yubaba · 08/01/2022 18:57

I joined in 2007/8 when I had very tiny children, my number is 133920.
I definitely remember being on the pregnancy boards with DS1 and he’s 13 but I’m sure I used nethuns with all their shiny banners when I had DD in 2006.

DrMadelineMaxwell · 08/01/2022 18:59

My number is approx 33000, I thought it used to tell you when you'd been a member since, but if it did I can't find it.

I joined for the miscarriage info and baby names initially. DD1 was born in 2001 so it must have been a little bit between then and when DD2 was born in 2004.

samandpoppysmummy · 08/01/2022 19:00

I joined in 2005, when I was pregnant with my now 16 year old DS :)

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Families
Original poster
Quarks69 · 08/01/2022 19:28

@LIZS

Pretty much, joined 2001.
LIZS..hey I remember you..I was called Lil back then, but you have kept your name...no idea what my number was, sadly.
OP posts:
BIWI · 08/01/2022 19:29

@Random789 I know! I look back on it with wonder these days. Yet it was so hurtful at the time. (And it wasn't just us who thought it was shocking - it made not only the national press, it was also reported in the press in New Zealand!)

Original poster
Quarks69 · 08/01/2022 19:41

@sadpapercourtesan

Oh god the Moldies clusterfuck

And She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Grin

I ducked out for a few years, so no idea what Moldies was about?

but GinaFord omg, you were on one side or another for that debate. someone gave me her book at the time But like someone said..she seems to have gone the way of Spock!

OP posts:
guffaux · 08/01/2022 19:42

my number is 356961- cant remember when I joined and i was a lurker for ages before joining, I was around when there was a big flounce by several posters- only I was on holiday at the time so never found out what had happened lol, and this has been a bit of a theme - always somewhere with no internet when something interesting is on the go

I remember some really great threads and posters, some of whom I think are still around, under different user names

I think there were some very wise, up-front and witty posters who I dont see anymore, and dont recognise any of their posting style currently

Huckleberries73 · 08/01/2022 19:50

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

Notthisnotthat · 08/01/2022 19:55

I joined in 2008, after lurking while pregnant, wasn't allowed to join the November 2008 antenatal chat as they had already bonded! So I lurked some more after that. A few name changes and I've enjoyed a meet up when local groups were a thing, we had an amazing local group leader, her username was Tunnocks tea cakes if I remember correctly.

PermanentTemporary · 08/01/2022 19:56

I joined in early 2004 having bought Mumsnet on Babies at the local Borders. Borders doesn't exist but I'm still here.

My number seems to be 1359669 which suggests I've reregistered at least once. I remember flouncing when Bonsoir was rude about me, nobody noticed and I came back about 6 months later... I was never a cool girl, am still not, and I like that I started here on breastfeeding and am now on Elderly Parents and Bereavement.

Original poster
Quarks69 · 08/01/2022 19:57

At the beginning of 2000 I could only log in via the BT landline, so could only dip in and out for short intervals,probably better for my health.

but the big question was always what was Justines nickname, as Am sure she must have joined in debates anonymously!

OP posts:
Tillyvonpantsalo · 08/01/2022 19:59

I've been here since 2003 but have changed email and name changed many times after realising how outing it can be here.

I was mostly on SN so remember Jimjams, Davros and FioFio.

Also remember Cod and was it Wigandrobe who made up lots of stories?

It was a smaller place but there have always been posters who've lied or appeared to be angling for money.

Its sure helped me through some bad times when I've needed support.

JaffavsCookie · 08/01/2022 20:06

I don’t actually know when mn started, or when i joined, but I definitely posted a birth report for ds4 and he was 21 some time ago

Original poster
Quarks69 · 08/01/2022 20:06

Aha 713 😀 never was a witty poster though..no change there!

OP posts:
BIWI · 08/01/2022 20:07

C+P of an old post of mine:

Moldies in a nutshell:

Some long term MNetters (old MNetters, in the sense that they had been on MN for a while, hence 'Moldies') didn't like the way the site was developing as it grew. Felt that it didn't have the same intellectual calibre. So they set up their own site. Having done that, secretly, they decided it wasn't enough on its own, and that they needed to invite others to join them. But, it was also agreed that only those that they approved of would be allowed to join. People were nominated and there was a small committee who would decide if they were to be accepted or rejected. Justine inadvertently outed them in a MNHQ blog, and they blew up about it - got really cross that she had blown their cover. Lots of people on MN who hadn't known about it until then - but had wondered where many of their MN 'friends' had gone -were left feeling terribly hurt/rejected.

This also happened at around the time of the Christmas meet up, and lots of people were socialising with other MNetters who, they were later to find out, were Moldies. And, for some, that they had been nominated/rejected.

Matters made worse by said Moldies continuing to return to MN to post that they couldn't understand why anyone would be upset by it. It was car crash MNetting and it went on for days over Christmas 2008. There was a special dispensation for threads to run beyond their 1000 posts, and some of them ran to around 3000 posts. (Many/most are deleted now, I think).

WhiteJellycat · 08/01/2022 20:11

Been here for 18 years. The things that stick out was the lady who had lots of prams and asked it was ok to feed her baby mashed up nuggets. Baby was teddy bear as found out when she posted a picture of it in a sling.

Also hairy handed troll who turned out to be a man. They was a very long standing poster. They used to upset the larger family board.

I was on the SEN boards. Changed my life for the better

AllThingsServeTheBeam · 08/01/2022 20:12

@BIWI

C+P of an old post of mine:

Moldies in a nutshell:

Some long term MNetters (old MNetters, in the sense that they had been on MN for a while, hence 'Moldies') didn't like the way the site was developing as it grew. Felt that it didn't have the same intellectual calibre. So they set up their own site. Having done that, secretly, they decided it wasn't enough on its own, and that they needed to invite others to join them. But, it was also agreed that only those that they approved of would be allowed to join. People were nominated and there was a small committee who would decide if they were to be accepted or rejected. Justine inadvertently outed them in a MNHQ blog, and they blew up about it - got really cross that she had blown their cover. Lots of people on MN who hadn't known about it until then - but had wondered where many of their MN 'friends' had gone -were left feeling terribly hurt/rejected.

This also happened at around the time of the Christmas meet up, and lots of people were socialising with other MNetters who, they were later to find out, were Moldies. And, for some, that they had been nominated/rejected.

Matters made worse by said Moldies continuing to return to MN to post that they couldn't understand why anyone would be upset by it. It was car crash MNetting and it went on for days over Christmas 2008. There was a special dispensation for threads to run beyond their 1000 posts, and some of them ran to around 3000 posts. (Many/most are deleted now, I think).

Wow! That was a bit before my time.
Dumbledoresgirl · 08/01/2022 20:17

I'd still love to know why I was vetoed for inclusion in Moldies and who by. Not that I would want to be associated with such a group, but the exclusion was so galling.

I smile now when I remember Christmas 2008, and also the de-robing of WigandRobe aka Judge Flounce. My children could have run amok with the carving knife and I wouldn't have noticed at the time. I do recall they ate some extremely burnt dinners because I could not drag myself away from the PC.

PippinAndMerry · 08/01/2022 20:27

I've been here since early 2000s regularly name change tho. Also went to a few meet ups back in the day.

RainbowConnection1 · 08/01/2022 20:30

I've been here since 2006 when a friend introduced me to the site. I remember ShineOn not going to the penguin sanctuary and the Mouldies. Even in 2006 the site was much smaller than it is now.

MissAmbrosia · 08/01/2022 20:31

I joined in 2006 and have been on several meetups in the dim and distant past. Not sure I would bother these days. Have made quite a few real life friends via MN. It's definitely not the same anymore. I remember so many truly funny threads and the shock and outrage when someone was outed as a troll.

prettypinkflamingo · 08/01/2022 20:35

I joined in 2010. Many name changes since then though. Mumsnet has helped me through pregnancy, traumatic birth, raising my child, divorce...I'd be a little lost without it tbh

Ragwort · 08/01/2022 20:42

Also been here since 2000 - totally addicted, did have one year break. Many happy memories throughout the years ... and my DS gone through all the phases and I still get support - now on the Uni threads Grin.

FreddieStandensBFF · 08/01/2022 20:44

Since 2005 when I was first pregnant. Usual story, came for the pram reviews, stayed for the feminism.

gildalily · 08/01/2022 20:48

I've been here since 2003 but in that time I've have had quite a few name changes and one de-reg when the big data breach happened.

Mumsnet helped me hugely when my dc's were small and has done periodically since. I have laughed and cried with people on here and I have learned loads.