MN the old days

[Boredasshit]

What are your most remembered threads or posters ?

I know this has been done before but I'm bored shitless.

@SophiaElizabethGrace I think shiny had a cheating bastard boyfriend who she catfished into a non existent convoluted date which ended in the penguin enclosure.

MNers volunteered to go and capture the look on his face.

Omg. Yes. Thank you

Although I just searched for it and all shiny”a posts are withdrawn so doesn’t make much sense now

Mummylin was a lovely poster, wonder if they are still around

@penelopepipsqueak 💐💐💐

Yes!!!

Hope she is well wherever she is

Oh, thank you for the VSC thread. I knew it was Slubber!
The High Sift 😂
And then there was a MN baking competition.

I loved Slubber’s camping threads too. Her wonderful Albatross tent and midge proof sandal arrangement.

Tell me you are still here Slubber!

The VSC thread is an absolute classic, such pleasant wit rarely seen now.

I started using MN in 2005 I think

Have dipped in and out since around 2010/11

Agree it’s really nostalgic seeing some of the usernames. I remember the extremely helpful Ticktock, as that’s how I discovered MN - by searching for breastfeeding advice.

It was very witty back then. I was in awe of some of the posting, genuinely - very funny, very wise and at times, there was real camaraderie.

Its a bit bleaker these days it has to be said

I have vivid memories of someone called Minifingers who had a nightmare teenage daughter she posted in detail about. I was always a bit uneasy about reading her threads as they felt a bit voyeuristic and she had a habit of biting other posters’ heads off if they upset her. I often wonder how the daughter ended up.

I've been here since 2004 and have name changed about 700 times. I recognise so many names on here, feels like a completely different world now. I thought Cod was really funny, loved the crap typing, yes I do recall her being outed but she, like others, were so recognisable, details of pets names, where they lived etc. No one would do that now which in a way is really sad as everyone seems so anonymous. I loved that feeling of being able to relate to posters.

I was on a horse forum for years and in the beginning we actually had our real names on our profiles, unimaginable now 😔

When I joined there was the option to put details in your profiles, including photos!

Again I think it was a different stage of the Internet- I loved the witty comraderie but I don't think we could go back to that time. It was before facebook took off big or around then too.

Anyone remember the Penguin bollard thread?

I have been around on MN since 2000 / 2001. Have taken many breaks!

I think that there's still funny, brilliant posts and posters. Just takes a little longer to find them. There was definitely a sense of MN royalty. Some posters could have written anything and others would have enthusiastically agreed and rounded on anyone who dared to say otherwise. MorningPaper's weekly roundup added to that. You thought that you "knew" people well, in some cases that was true.

Met at least a dozen posters in real life. Have made one friend for life.

The 'MN royalty' trope is weird really, as is the continuing irritation with Cod that you always see on these threads. They were only royalty insofar as anyone cared. For the most part they were just getting on with chatting the chat they wanted to chat. Forum tides and currents pulled their posts to the surface, and because we were relatively naive about internet dynamics it just felt more personal than the internet does now now
MNers then were women who had been fully formed in the pre-internet era. We were encountering the strange new social nakedness/openness that characterised online talk in those days. It was heady stuff and we lost our heads a bit (eg Moldies). We were all a bit of a dick sometimes, not just cod and the 'royalty'. But most of us were lucky enought that our dickishness didn't gain much of a purchase.

Yes I think it was part of the excitement of the "newness" of that level of connectivity and perhaps more open and naked o line than we would be now or we'd advise our kids with Internet safety etc.

Morningpaper's round-up was hilarious though. I don't rmember her ever being a dick, except in a good way.

All the meet-ups that used to happen too. Stuff we'd specifically advise our children not to do!

I pulled right back from meeting up with people after a particularly unsavoury fall-out after one of them. Which was a shame, as I met some lovely people. Friendships still endure, but over different social media/platforms, and very much at arms' length these days.

Well, maybe calling what’s her face someone who shoots rockets into Palestinian/Israeli (can’t remember ) territory wasn’t the best thing to do 🫤

@Cod that whole thing was hilarious. I remember her name but daren’t post it 😆 I think MNHQ got into trouble at the time

PS when did you learn to type? Used to crack me up reading your posts. Joined in 2005 but never posted loads, lurked a lot

Think this captures it perfectly

Everyone was a digital immigrant back then.

I joined in 2008 when TTC with my now big strapping 14yo manchild. Name changed a gazillion times.

I met some outstanding MNers on the 'Frolickers' thread in 2008 - some of whom I am FB friends with and we keep talking about a meet up but it hasnt happened yet! I have no idea what their MN names are now but I know them in RL. It is lovely to see the 'Frolicker' babies all grown up now. We held a virtual wedding reception for one of us complete with dad dancing and champagne! 😂

I agree it was the newness of it all which was the charm, I had my wedding photo on my profile and my cats - along with my hometown - I mean FFS I would go mad if DS did that now!!

I miss BOF so so much and was so gut wrenched when I saw her bucket list thread. It was lovely though in a way as so many of us could tell her how lovely she was in her last months and share with her funny stories of old. She always used to uplift a thread which was on the way to bonkers or a bunfight.

I remember the New Year outage, and Jeffrey, Brian et al

I used to recognise so many names back then as the forum was a fraction of the size it is now. One of my old usernames was a lovely 80s song and the sister of the guy who wrote it DMd me to thank me for using the song title!

When I went through a dark time with many miscarriages and a stillbirth I made some wonderful connections on the 'TTC after miscarriage' board - sadly i lost touch with them all - one of whom might still be on here @mandahugnkiss she would know me as 'Marff' (not my username but a nickname she gave me). If you are here Manda, I came good - I have a gorgeous 9 year old boy who is my double and mini me! 🙂

Oh yes ghostspirit - such a sad state of affairs - she had a tough time of it, IIRC i think she didnt listen to a lot of the sound advice but kept posting her problems, people ripped her for it but many of us could see there was a lot more going on underneath. i hope she is ok

the lady who fostered a baby born with addiction was amazing - again it was heartbreaking when she later passed away

on a lighter note i do remember somerville - again it started sad as she posted through her bereavement but i remember her thread when she started dating again - and later married him - she deserved so much happiness

Yes, I guess that's right . One of the earliest 'Oh my god someone said something awful on the internet' media spasms ever recorded.