Why are you on MN, and how did you get here?

[StuntAcorn]

I can't remember exactly but I think it was googling intermittent fasting and reading the posts on here for inspiration.
Now it's become a regular port of call when I need some inspiration for holidays or what to have for dinner! 😅

I went on YAYW (you and your wedding) when I first got engaged. There were a load of issues so someone set up a new site called A wedding forum (AWF). That was a nice fairly small community. There were posts there about Mumsnet and in particular AIBU. I came over for a look and ended up signing up.

I don’t think AWF exists anymore and if I remember right you needed a link to join. I think there are some people on here that were on AWF. Pretty sure Wilfs Mum was.

I googled a dress from The White Company that I was considering buying and a Mumsnet thread about it was the 2nd suggestion from Google. Clicked on it and the complete contrasts of ' oh what a great dress for the school run; pair with a bright lip and havianas and you're good to go' and 'what! you actually bother to get dressed for the school run? - I just go in pjs / yesterday's outfit / whatever is top on the floordrobe' had me hooked!!

Guessing about 14 years ago.

My sister told me about it. I thought I'd have a look too. Been on it for years and have no regrets.

I was watching a documentary on tv about something frothy years ago and ' penis beaker ' Mumsnet was mentioned ( plus Matthew wright used to steal threads for his own show) so I thought I'd have a look and hey ho I'm here.

Yes I made an error on the primary education forum - I dared to say that a very small number of children don’t “ learn” to read by the phonetic method. I was called an incompetent teacher/ someone who obviously trained in the dark ages/ wouldn’t want to work with you etc.
Ive been an infant teacher since 1978 and have seen the wheel reinvented several times
Ps I know the vast majority of children learn by good phonics teaching!

Came for the feminism (and the lie that men can be women) and stayed for Style & Beauty, TV, travel, chat and the infamous AIBU.

I'm an American, and MN is not widely know here. I read about it in The Economist back in 2017 or so, decided to take a look and have been a regular ever since.

I've always been a bit of an Anglophile, and MN has given me a way to interact with lots of Brits and learn more about your culture.

Had a baby, was going insane, needed company. She graduated uni last year. Still driving me bonkers.

I remember when all the talk threads were on one page, and it were all fields around 'ere ...

I was Googling something, and one of the replies was a post on Mumsnet so I read it and realised I could read the whole thread.
Then I discovered I could read other threads. Found I could read so much without being a member.

Then one day I wanted to comment :) so joined.

Still not sure where to find anything/everything, I tend to find threads via the ' last hour ' or ' trending ' and of course ' notifications '.

I know that IRL the first rule of MN is you don't talk about MN but i actually make it really known that I'm on MN. (Not my user names though - clearly!).

I've turned many people onto it including my BFF who does not have any children and who is now a very enthusiastic contributer. I think her first thread was the screaming at the sistine chapel one. We link each other into good threads often.

@RuggedHairyTortoise I'm the same, my little circle of friends know we're on MN but we never really discuss it per se, it's just mentioned in passing but it's no big secret.

I googled something to do with newborns and ended up reading penis beaker 'live'.

Ah, I joined shortly after - and now I can’t even remember what she was called. It was someone who wrote a very strict parenting book and sued MN for libel because so many people didn’t agree…

I came onto the site over twenty years ago but I've taken myself off a few times. I've been stalked on here and IRL but I stay for the advice. Great money, tax etc.
I've been helped enormously on the alcohol thread and had the confidence to tell self serving friends to bog of with the support of MN.
I miss my original name but you can't get them back sadly.

This was me, but with my second child, 14 years ago. For 12 weeks the longest she went was 45 minutes, and we waited 5 full years for a full night's sleep...

I got here by accident. 😁

My friend's baby was about 1 when I got pregnant and she highly recommended this website to me. That was about 16 years ago.

I googled it, found it, joined up and was hooked. I found it so useful in those early days of motherhood, the sweariness suited me and it was great company for the night feeds.

I thanked my friend when I saw her a few months later. She said "Mumsnet? No, I've never been there, it was the Bounty website I recommended to you" 😂

Slight difference!

Gina Ford! I wasn’t here back then (was a child myself) but it’s been much discussed since.

(Actually, am I allowed to mention her name or is there still beef?)

I somehow stumbled across Penis Beaker.... (on its original run)

Been here years and years .
My youngest is 25.
I watched ladies who founded it on Lorraine one morning.
Plus back in the day I read Daily Mail and it was always quoted in it.

I started watching Mums the Word on TV when ds was born 19 years ago (think it was run by the ladies who started MN).

A friend told me about someone on MN going through a similar issue I had been dealing with and I posted to give the OP some support. Just got kinda pulled in after that 🤣

Whenever I googled something a thread from mumsnet would come up in the search results with the answer, and it drew me in.
I started by just looking at AIBU and voting, then it became a bit of obsession! I don’t use fb/X/Insta, so this is my thing. I change usernames a lot to hide how frequently I’m on here! 😂

Buzzfeed (I think) mentioned penis beaker so that brought me here.

I’m another that was on the wedding forum (YAYW) years and years ago, but it got boring after my wedding so I found my way here.