It's advent for the Playmobil people in our house...

[SoMuchToBits]

...and so each day up until Christmas I'll be bringing you some festive scenes from Playmoland. Today Franziska and Heinz are putting up their Christmas decorations.

Yes, they would have come and fixed it on 30th December, but we were travelling to see my sister that day, and the next day they could do was today! But the house is now toasty warm and I can actually get some washing dry!

Looking forward to lots of Playmo construction tomorrow and fun playing on Saturday!

I have just had the best afternoon with my friend and her 8 year old daughter. Daughter absolutely loved the Playmobil I set up for her, it was so much fun. She is such a polite, well-behaved girl and didn't want to leave! We will be arranging more sessions like this, I'm sure!

I would have loved playing with those sets too, and I'm far older than 8! 😂

Haha, so am I! I've just spent the morning putting the sets away again.

Thank you and I hope you'll be back next Christmas, although maybe the Playmobil family could do something in the summer?

Yes, I'm thinking of some possible summer projects!

Yay! Playmoland on a summer holiday

Just to say to anyone who follows my Playmo threads, I'm unlikely to be able to post anything in the near future which requires photos, due to the disabling of this function following last night's problems.

I had hoped to post some stuff during the spring, but this may well now be on hold due to the aforementioned problems. In the meantime, all good wishes from me and from everyone in Playmoland. Lots of love from SoMuchToBits and the Playmobil people. xx

Hopefully it’s just a temporary pause and photo uploading will be allowed again soon (with appropriate safeguards).

I hope so @ChessieFL , but understandably it may take some time to investigate thoroughly and put in place appropriate safeguards, which I completely agree is essential.

It would be a great shame if there were no workaround solution.

@SoMuchToBits I'm sure it will be sorted and that you will soon be back posting. xxx

@SoMuchToBits another one hoping there will be a work around - if not then perhaps we could lobby MN to allow a number of very long established posters like you to be allowed to continue to post threads like this that bring a little joy and happiness to all who come across them.

I think the problem you get with only allowing certain posters to post images, is where do you draw the line? It could get very complicated.

But the latest statement from MNHQ does say the ban on posting images is temporary and that they are working on ways to filter any unwanted content, so I'm hoping that eventually I'll be able to post again. Obviously this may take some time, but I'm happy to wait if it means the site is properly safeguarded from unpleasant content.

In the meantime fortunately I don't have any planned events with time constraints (like Olympics or royal weddings).

Justine has said that they are now looking at AI technology to filter out any indecent images, but also other tech alongside this, so I'd like to think it might all be resolved in time for your starting your next Playmobil adventure @SoMuchToBits

If not, I'm actually looking at a way around things for the long running thread I host. My solution is going to be to link to either a dedicated Instagram page or Flickr account (so you can post the daily links here and people will still be able to view the photos, - just not directly on this site - and I believe users wouldn't need membership of either accounts to view)

Anyway, something to think about.

Thanks @RainbowZebraWarrior it's worth thinking about those alternatives if the problem doesn't get solved for a long time. I'm not on Instagram and don't use Flickr, but would consider using it if it would work.

I'm now interested to know what your long-running thread is about!

I host the Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles readalong @SoMuchToBits. It is in the Christmas topic, and had ran for about four years, but we have now decided to run the chat all year (it's not just about Nigel Slater, but about food, the seasons, nature, weather and small moments of joy)

Here's a link for yourself or anyone else that thinks they may enjoy it. I know there are one or two of our regular posters who follow your wonderful Playmobil threads (it's been mentioned as a source of joy before 😊)

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/christmas/5228480-the-nigel-slater-christmas-chronicles-readalong-2024-part-3?reply=141909988

Thanks @RainbowZebraWarrior I'll take a look at that - it sounds like my kind of thing. I do use some of Nigel Slater's recipes and am very much a cook from scratch person, and as you can imagine (from my Playmo scenes) I get a lot of pleasure from small moments of joy!