to think there are too many topics on Mumsnet

[IthinkIamUndecided]

Did you know there is a Potty Training topic on this board? And one specifically for parents of pre-teens as well as one for parents of actual teenagers? There's a topic for car seats and well ... the list is almost endless.

AIBU to think that the reason people post unnecessarily in AIBU is that there are too many topics with not enough traffic in them so they use AIBU to get replies as they know they'd go unnoticed if posted in the relevant topic?

I think someone from MNHQ said the other day there's a 'site suggestions' category.

That's if there's any traffic there

YANBU - there are far too many boards with virtually no traffic. If you actually have a question about say, potty training, hardly anyone will see it and those that do are likely to be novices too when an experienced view would be better. It is fine to have, say a feeding board or education boards where some expert posters give lots of good advice and there are always lots of others at that stage. But at the moment it just means the boards are too bare and those seeking advice go unanswered.

There are far too many categories. They could cut it down by 3/4 and not lose anything. And I think they should. For example, you do not need a different section for every type of bloody pet!

There's SIX different sub-sections in the book club section!

11 sub-sections in 'Education'! ELEVEN. My god. Education is specific enough, for crying out loud! I'm fairly sure we can make it clear what we are talking about in the thread title!

The fact that there are a gazillion silly sections is the reason everybody is posting everything in AIBU!

They need to prune.

I think I might report this thread ? - Just to make sure MNHQ find it amongst all the other threads on the boards Do you think I should ?

I just reported the thread. I don't know if that was slightly naughty of me as no-one has done anything wrong here. But surely rules are made to be broken - especially on MN ! And I just wanted to make sure someone at MNHQ got to read the good ideas coming up here to improve the site.

Good idea. I think they need to remember that 'less is more' and stop trying to create a specific place for every possible type of conversation.

Although they did it in response to people yelling for a seperate topic every time they had a certain conversation more than twice.

Really, the lesson here is that MNHQ should learn to ignore us

i agree,mn seem to grant every request for a new topic.

Hi all, thanks so much for your comments. Please do continue to post your thoughts and we'll flag this thread up to the rest of the team.

Thank you Mrs Mumsnet

I particularly like pignatellis idea. Do you think something like that is even possible in theory?

It doesn't do any harm, that's true. But most people don't bother trawling through 30 topics trying to decide which is the specific option required.

For example. Do you have a question about education? Will you put it in Bullying
Education
Extra-curricular activities
Further education
Gifted and talented
Home ed
Preschool education
Primary education
School holidays
Secondary education
Special educational needs

Would 'Education' not cover it?

Suppose you wanted to talk books? Choose from
Adult fiction
Adult non-fiction
Book of the month
Children's books
E-readers
MN book swap clubs

What about pets?
Do we really need a seperate topic to talk about fish, chickens, 'super furry animals' (whatever the hell that is!) dogs, cats and horses? Surely a topic for Pets would be sufficient?

All that happens when you try to break it down that far is that people have to trawl through option after option after option - and they really can't be arsed. They want to be able to quickly and easily make a choice. You can put in the thread title what it's about! If you look at these sub-topics - many of them are barely used and people are instead putting things that could go into them in AIBU instead. Proof that people want a simpler system, I think

I think the difference is, not everyone wants to sit and search through past topics. I think most people want to start their own threads with a question even though it's been asked lots of times before in the past...understandable really since this is a forum rather than a factual site one could easily Google for an answer.

Also, no-one really wants to wade through pages and pages of posts just to find the answer to their question.

I think if a specific thread that's of interest to a lot of people keeps getting lost, MNHQ can 'tack' it to the top like most other forums do.

I think mnhq should do a poll. Set up a survey. Really get member opinion and go with the majority view.

What BeerTricks said is what I was going to say.

This belongs in Site Stuff.

It is Stuff, about the Site.

Proves my point With so many topics - put everything in AIBU cos it's easier

Yep, Mumsnet does suffer from Empty Disco Syndrome in places.

Something we're seeing more and more lately though is someone with a real problem...often quite clearly stressed/upset, dare to start a thread in the wrong category (because they weren't sure which out of all of them to choose from)

And some people can't wait to jump on them and make them feel like shit because they've posted in the wrong place.

Fine if they've started a light hearted or mundane thread, but I think it's pretty shit to go all jobsworth on them if they have a real problem and are clearly unhappy.

It makes me cringe to see the poster apologising profusely. It's only a category out there in cyber land FGS....nothing in the grand scheme of things.

And some people can't wait to jump on them and make them feel like shit because they've posted in the wrong place

Has that actually happened?

World Cup 2010 needs to go.

We were shit anyway, best forgotten.

Well, I am rather relying on people not piling in so perhaps unrealistic, given that it's Mumsnet . But I think 'education' could easily be a single place, in which people could post threads entitled Home Ed...... and What To Do With The Kids This Summer.... and so on and so forth. All things Education related is broader and therefore easier to fit your subject into.

I think that, really, we only need a few topics. Maybe something like
Parenting
Special Needs
Chat
Education
Relationships
Clubs & Groups (into which all your nobdies, book clubs, slimming groups etc could go)
Health
Products & Services
Business (for sale, small business, etc)
Advice
Employment
and maybe a couple more.

I reckon you could easily put everything that is ever talked about on mumset safely into one of those.

Yes Bibbity Have you never seen a poster having to apologise after someone pops up to smugly tell them they've posted in the wrong place?

It makes me cringe, especially if the person complaining has ignored the opening post and subsequent problem completely.

It's only a chat board, but to the OP it's their life they're talking about.

No I haven't, I don't think.

Completely agree with your list Bathy, by the way.