The old days of Mumsnet when…

[Anon778833]

Back in 2003, there was a section entitled ‘introductions’ and people would post identifying photos of themselves and their dc. And a post about themselves.

How times change!

Just looking at the corner of my bedroom now, where my computer desk sat.
With massive block monitor, pc, waiting for it to warm up etc till I could log in.
Difficult days where my ex DH had walked out on baby and I.
Baby is now 20 ☺️
I lived on the lone parents forum. Think I got a gift once and it meant alot.

Ive been here since 2004 and always posted under my old username of BigusBumus. I got banned for a week a few years ago for retaliating when someone was rude to me. And after that my username never worked again. 😥

I miss the drunk Friday nights when we would all talk about sex, mainly bumsex.

Yes. A stuffed toy fruit bat.

www.soest.hawaii.edu/expeditions/mariana/forkids-easterupdate.htm

Wasn't there a tab for "unanswered threads"? I seem to recall frequently going through those so people didn't feel left out, I can't imagine that now!

I thought that was what ‘New’ is now. I still go through it and try to post on empty threads where I can.

Wait,, there no tab for unanswered threads anymore ? I haven't looked for that since the upgrade !

I think a big part of what taints MN are the GC posters that see trans boogeymen at every turn. Even perfectly normal threads don't seem to be immune to it these days.

I joined back in 2006? ish. My friend talked about a hilarious thread and the fact that swearing was allowed. I mis-remembered and ended up on netmums to begin with which really confused me!

And yet - you bring this up, first.

I've been here since 2007. It might not be kinder now but it's bigger and there's less air kissing and sycophantic slobbering over a small group of posters, many of whom seemed pretty toxic anyway.

Used to mean more iykwim, now endless threads that I just don't click on, watered down. Still some marvellous posters and help but not much fun and a lot of drivel. It only seems to be the long running ones that build up any sense of community.

there's less air kissing and sycophantic slobbering over a small group of posters
this is brought up in different ways a lot but I don’t remember it like that at all.

Message in a bottle!

I’ve been here for years with a few breaks, what I noticed when I returned was that nobody seemed to RTFT any more and you’d just get pages of people replying just to the OP and I couldn’t make sense of it. Then I downloaded the app and now it all makes sense - the interface is awful, just turns threads into one long page and doesn’t automatically bookmark where you were.

It explained a lot about why there isn’t as much back and forth as there used to be!

< returns to rocking chair with tartan rug and ear trumpet >

I suspect the two points

People posted identifying information
and
People were nicer

Are very much related. 😁

I don't remember it either. I tend not to pay attention to that kind of crap though so might not have noticed.

I wonder if part of this is because posters used to be "friends" off board and this came through. I'm not sure you get that so much any more now it's so big and there aren't the same number of meet ups. Not that I went to any meet ups 😂

I used to enjoy the times when everyone would rally round to ensure there were no unanswered threads every so often!!

Been here almost since beginning. Compiling MN's views on things using a spreadsheet. Meeting up for Christmas lunches in London

MN makes me laugh a lot less. I don’t think it’s very kind now; many posters appear to have lost all empathy they may ever had had. So I suspect it feels unkind in a different way as it used to be more that people got challenged in a way that would have felt unsupportive but now it’s just people who seem to enjoy kicking people when they’re down. It’s a subtle difference to me that I probably haven’t expressed well and others may disagree. Also not reading the OP’s post and understanding them often makes for unpleasant threads.

At the root of it for me though is probably that I’ve seen pretty much every thread a few hundred times as I’ve been here so long, and that’s not the fault of MN. Times passes, new parents appear with the same worries, and it’s not up to them to entertain old gimmers like me.

I joined in 2009 (ish) after I divorced my H. I wish I had known about MN when it started as I really believe if id started a thread about my H I would have been helped to see what was going on, that it wasn't ok and that I needed to get out before he totally wrecked my life and our DDs.

The site has changed a lot over the years and is better in some ways, worse in others but it still provides a lifeline for a lot of people who are in a bad place for many and various reasons. And I still feel as if I learn a lot on here about politics, relationships, feminism and where to get nice towels .

I remember you, your name used to make me laugh 😊

I have to say there have been threads saying “it used to be better” for decades (it is meaner now I think but I probably don’t put so much into it). I miss the old crowd on MNSN.

We haven't had a good penis beaker type thread in a long time 🙁

Thank God for that, it went dramatically downhill after that made up nonsense.

I don't think it"s better or worse, it's just different. It's like comparing a small village School with a huge urban comprehensive.

Penis Beaker marked a big change in posters I think.