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!

[darisdet]

CAT-ing people. Was it £2.00 or £5 per year!

Photos and locations casually posted on our profiles.

[ArseInTheCoOpWindow]

You don’t see much of Terry Wogan’s cock anymore

Ha ha, l remember!!!!

l remember when a load of the ‘mouldies’ had a mini tantrum and stomped off to chat on a new site they set up. Wonder where they are now?

lt was a much nicer place 16 years ago. I miss the fact that nearly everyone was left wing leaning.

[ilovesooty]

@SleepingAgent

This is now going to drive me insane as I know exactly who you mean and I can't think of her name!!!

CognitoErgoSum?

[Crikeyalmighty]

Sadly I think the world has got harsher, nastier and I think the mumsnet demographic has changed too

[SadOrWickedFairy]

lt was a much nicer place 16 years ago. I miss the fact that nearly everyone was left wing leaning.

And there we have it - it's not nice now because there are different views and opinions and mine is not sacrosanct, revered and agreed with 100% of the time.

[ArseInTheCoOpWindow]

And there we have it - it's not nice now because there are different views and opinions and mine is not sacrosanct, revered and agreed with 100% of the time

Hmmm exactly the sort of comment l mean🤨

[MelodyPondsMum]

😄 ironic @SadOrWickedFairy that you're proving the point but not the one you think you're making. Trying to create an argument because you don't agree with someone's politics wasn't what MN was like. There were different politics on here but less spads and much more acceptance. Sometimes it feels like a party political broadcast for the government on here now - which makes absolutely no sense when you look at the demographics of posters.

Are the Woolly Hugs still here? I also have fond memories of the wedding threads when MNers would wear hats and celebrate alongside.

[Doubleraspberry]

I think a lot of Flying Monkeys were sent in for Brexit and, obvious though they were, the single issue ranting did shift the tone of some parts of MN.

[TabithaTittlemouse]

@MayThe4th

It absolutely isn’t kinder now.

It worked differently because A, some people knew each other off board by virtue of meet-ups etc, also because there were so fewer threads people recognised each other and their circumstances from other threads so a thread was more of a conversation rather than a contest to see who can stick the boot in hardest, such as is now the case on AIBU.

Trolls were well known. E.g. judge flounce was the first troll and she was outed on the boards, as were many others. Now there are so many it’s just not possible to recognise them.

Also it was a community. When misdee’s dh had his heart transplant everyone followed his story from the beginning right up to the time he had the transplant.

When onlyjoking’s dh had a brain tumour a group of MN’ers arranged for food to be delivered to them on a regular basis.

Glimpopo’s 2 year old dd died from SIDS, and MN’ers arranged “mile for maud” in rememberence but also to raise money for the SIDS foundation.

But there were the trolls such as the one whose name escapes me who was fleeing an abusive husband in Japan. And again MN’ers arranged collections for her, for clothes and toys for her children, for someone to put her up.

One of the reasons these things were possible was beause it was a smaller site so people could find out who you were as you were more likely to share your real identity.

So with the positive things that was beneficial, but in the case of the troll someone contacted her family as part of the plan to help her and was then told that none of it was true.

Posters went all out to help some, but when serious trolls like that came on some people were far more deeply taken in than now.

This is what I miss.

[ThisUserNameIsAvailableOk]

If you don't remember the slobbering and arse licking it's probably because you were part of it and therefore not one of the Great Ignored 🙄

[HauntersGonnaHaunt]

There's a lot of looking back with rose-tinted glasses when it comes to Mumsnet. There was a really nasty poster that I haven't seen in a while but people still fawn over to this day.

[RafasLeftBicep]

I miss those <<brackets>>... why have they fallen out of usage?! <<head tilt>>

[HauntersGonnaHaunt]

@ThisUserNameIsAvailableOk

If you don't remember the slobbering and arse licking it's probably because you were part of it and therefore not one of the Great Ignored 🙄

This probably does apply to some posters.

[MelodyPondsMum]

Not all of us need to be slobbered over. Not all of us feel personally offended when other posters are liked or have friendships with each other. It reminds me of toddlers screaming on the floor because the other toddlers don't want to play with them as much.

It used to be ok to have a thread without others coming on to kick. Now if you started a thread saying i love dogs, you'd have twenty posters saying 'what about the cats?!?'

[SoupDragon]

@HauntersGonnaHaunt

This probably does apply to some posters.

Maybe a tiny minority but it's basically a shit comeback for when people remember things differently to you. It doesn't make it true.

[SadOrWickedFairy]

@MelodyPondsMum

😄 ironic @SadOrWickedFairy that you're proving the point but not the one you think you're making. Trying to create an argument because you don't agree with someone's politics wasn't what MN was like. There were different politics on here but less spads and much more acceptance. Sometimes it feels like a party political broadcast for the government on here now - which makes absolutely no sense when you look at the demographics of posters.

Are the Woolly Hugs still here? I also have fond memories of the wedding threads when MNers would wear hats and celebrate alongside.

How am I proving the point I am not making?

Not trying to create an argument at all, the comment I commented on was bemoaning the fact that MN is not longer a predominantly left wing leaning echo chamber and somehow this makes it not nice. You are kidding yourself if you think there was any acceptance of anyone with a differing political view, most posters who held a different view knew very well not to mention it presumably that's why you and others preferred it.

Not all of us need to be slobbered over. An awful lot did though, the sycophancy was off the scale at times.

Not all of us feel personally offended when other posters are liked or have friendships with each other. It reminds me of toddlers screaming on the floor because the other toddlers don't want to play with them as much. Not the point being made and interesting how you justify it and turn it round.

[MelodyPondsMum]

The thought process that makes someone who hates cats post on a thread of people saying they like cats is so alien to me.

[ThisUserNameIsAvailableOk]

"Maybe a tiny minority but it's basically a shit comeback for when people remember things differently to you. It doesn't make it true."

Oh the irony 🤣

[5zeds]

I think it’s more common to post things that are designed to hurt, undermine or just make people feel uncomfortable.
If someone didn’t respond to my posts in the middle of a discussion I don’t think the conclusion I’d jump to would be “they are shunning me”. If the same point is made by someone else soon after you I’d just assume it was 50:50 which name they responded to not a preference. I certainly wouldn’t remember it ten minutes later or ten years, that’s just looking for upset.
I do remember heated discussions but usually followed by peacemaking.

[SoupDragon]

@ThisUserNameIsAvailableOk

"Maybe a tiny minority but it's basically a shit comeback for when people remember things differently to you. It doesn't make it true."

Oh the irony 🤣

?

[ssd]

@kimchifox

Also when people could have simple three letter usernames like "Cod".

😚

[ThisUserNameIsAvailableOk]

You can have a 3 letter username now.

[FlibbertyGiblets]

Woolly Hugs are still going, thrre is a dedicated board in Body and Soul but not in use since 2021 as far as I can see. I have however seen Woolly hugs threads in chat more recently. There is a Facebook page that is active.

[MissHavishamsMouldyOldCake]

I think it’s less cliquey but I definitely don’t think it’s kinder. So many aggro people determined to say YABU to an OP no matter what, even if the OP sounds a bit sad and vulnerable and doesn’t sound in the slightest bit unreasonable. It sometime approaches the online equivalent of a blood sport.

Interesting that someone thinks more misogyny is allowed to stand. That may be correct but I saw a very old thread about a celeb that had been resurrected and the celeb had been described as having a ‘five dick mouth’. I don’t think that a post like that would stand these days.


Politically it’s definitely shifted more rightwards but I suspect some of the 'I love the Tories' posters have been directed to post here. I also get bored of the pre-occupation with all things trans.

I think overall the site is less witty than it used to be, although still lots of clever and funny people amongst all the YABU snarlers.