AIBU to think that some people have a pretentious view of MN

[allsquareknickersnofurcoat]

Dont get me wrong, I love this site! But I saw someone type this on a random thread, and it sums up my thoughts perfectly...

"And finally, I think that people need to stop seeing mumsnet as all great and powerful.

It's a website. It's a chat forum. It's information which we choose to access. It is a facility that we use. It is not Life, The Universe And Everything"
(I hope you dont mind me quoting! I wont name you, just in case... :))

MN is a website. And not just a website, but a business that (at the end of the day) is run for profit. The company itself is not responsible for righting the wrongs of the world. If individuals or groups of posters choose to, that is fine, but why assume that MNHQ share the views of all of us? After all, 90% of the time we dont agree with each other!!

So, I've been brave typing this and now I think I'm gonna hide! Does anyone agree with me??

Well, best not to ask me as I've been here all night, barely spoken to DH (same room) and generally acted as though I had no other life than MN.

Agree totally. I mostly stick to the lighter hearted threads, I get a reaaly good laugh at so many of the posters.
It is a website and a good one but that's all.

Oh, I have no other life

But I see a lot of posters talking about MN as if it were a person, on par with Jesus!!

Hmm, I think pretentious may be the wrong word

Think I need some sleep!!

Jesus was a person?
Like a real person?

silly computer autocorrected it! should read Jebus

Jebus was real. Led a campaign against fruit shoots and greggs sausage rolls in 33AD...

Well I see our point but MN IS very influential and it DOES afford the users some power. So that shouldn't be ignored or underestimated.

What happened to Riven proved that.

It's influential enough to get a user on the front page of the papers and on the telly within hours though isn't it?

As for the biscuits and Boden....I don't think that type of person is in evidence much these days. As far as I can see it's far more diverse.

what is the obsession with fruit shoot and pom bears? as a newbie could someone please enlighten me>

I think you are tryintg to express what scottishmummy expresses in just 4 words, it's just "words on a screen"

it has an impact..it is, of course, just words on a screen

however it is also a canary down the mine I think for some ideas and testing of public opinion

not much but it is "of worth"

my boss calls it "angry mums" does make me laugh.
For me it was the discovery of strong, up front hard and straight talking women that kept me hooked,i honestly thought i was the only mum who swore a lot and held strong views about more than my kids.

I agree with you.

And furthermore, I think an overinflated idea of its own importance(This is Mumsnet. We are Mumsnetters, hear us roar...) will leave the site open to ridicule.

Has already left it, actually.

It's a website. I think people like to feel important. - I'm part of Mumsnet, we can bring down the government...

It's a parenting website where we spend more time talking about bumsex than actual parenting. and I wouldn't have it any other way but when you go on about how powerful and fab you are, you always sound like a twat

Pretentious? Moi?

(someone had to)

YANBU. I couldn't believe that the EU wasted even more taxpayers' money sending MNHQ on a jolly to Strasbourg! And I cringed when Justine wrote to the BBC on behalf of MN to complain about a fictional storyline in a crap soap.

I really enjoy MN, some days it's a lifeline, but tis just words on a screen.

You just wait.

The media hypes in order to savage. Always.

You just wait.

Hec....Bumsex! that's true enough! But I don't think you can underestimate the importance of a place like this in some ways.

I learned about Feminism here...it's a place for education too....I have been able to speak to more intelligent women here than I can in real life.

There are many women out there who are really isolated....by various factors such as class, abuse, poverty....they can come here and receive real help and advice; practical as well as otherwise.

That IS influential.

isn't it just?

See though, imo, what you've just said, that's useful, not influential. It's a useful site, it's a fun site, but when people start thinking they have global importance because they're on a website, they make themselves a laughing stock.

YANBU. But personally I see it as a reflection of low self-esteem in a generation of women - there are many here whom I feel are drawing comfort from a "community of words on a screen".

I'd rather tackle why women need to operate in a pack to be heard - but, if people gain some strength by feeling part of something which is essentially just a chatroom - let them be. :)

For me it's just somewhere to whine about the trials and tribulations of motherhood because I'm big enough and ugly enough to accept that nobody else gives a fuck!

But the usefullness IS influencial....inn introducing women to the power of feminism that WILL change the world....in giving parents both male and female a place to voice the injustice's they may be suffering, and the support of knowledgable people, that IS power....what happened to Riven was questionable in some senses....but it did prove that the media will listen to people from this site.

You don't hear of "NetMums anger at childcare opportunities" do you?

Or "NetMums in Bumsex Scandal"