to feel let down by mumsnet

[cantbedoingwithit]

A friend has been raving about mumsnet and said that i should join as it is "like talking to friends who are supportive, friendly and who give sound advice." I have been lurking on mn and have been reading lots of threads and have been put off from starting a thread myself because i found some of the replies really quite un friendly (to say the least) and some sound quite rude. I realize that mn prides its self on being a 'no nonsense' type of forum and life isnt all flowers and fluffy clouds, and that sometimes the truth isnt always 'nice' but i was quite shocked at some of the 'un sisterly' comments.

It really annoys me when people say, "MN thinks X" or "MN behaves like Y" - Newsflash Different individuals have different opinions, personalities & attitudes. A talkboard populated by 1000s of people does not speak with one voice. End of Newsflash

Chat - is generally ok
AIBU - avoid
Relationships - just be aware you will be advised to ltb regularly. Or HIHAA - he is having an affair.
Mental Health - pretty safe.
Pets - pretty safe on the whole
Style and beauty - hmm. mixed
living overseas - very helpful
philosophy - robust debates
feminism - robust debates
baby names - mixed
teenagers - lots of good advice
step parenting - beware
conceiving - very good advice
legal - good advice
work issues - good advice
site stuff - fun

dont know enough about the others to comment

As you can see it is a bit of a mixed bag
So, if you have the misfortune of spending too much time in some topics, rather than others, then yes, you can end up with the feeling of "un-sisterly support"

When did you become the MN Oracle, Yam?

Tack room is good - although I always feel a bit stupid there because the people know lots!

All the topics I regularly hang out in are "Avoid", "Mixed" or at best "generally ok"

Portofino
I seem to visit a lot more topics than a lot of people

I could go on
slimming - good
nannying - good
General Health - supportive

~"Pets - pretty safe on the whole"

Have you been to The Doghouse???

Safe? SAFE?

Hell no.

Camping topic is fab, I go there when I'm feeling in need of a boost of loveliness

First poster I knew who got banned was Doghouse-based.

Its all bunting,fairy lights and campfires.

The Doghouse is much better now. You are allowed to talk about puppies.

I know 2 posters that got banned because of Doghouse threads.

Gardening is relatively sunny and calm.

I personally find the Changing Bags topic to be welcoming and just generally lovely.

I NEED TO know if OINKMENT got a new friend from Asda...

I don't understand the pushchair topic though.

I don't know what a bugaloo is.

Ethical Living is under-populated because no-one is living ethically.

PigletJohn is fab on DIY and GoodHousekeeping.

Yep, yam, I have to agree with Ferret the Doghouse gets nasty. The current fight between dog lovers and cat lovers dog haters about whether the former think the latter actually like dogs is something to behold...

soooo many topics

And people still put every bloody thing on AIBU just for the joy of getting told to "get a life" or, a "grip"

That is why I said "pretty safe"!
Fish is lovely, cats seem fine, the tack room looked good.I had heard that dogs wasnt!

oh yes Camping is lovely - but likely to make you jealous or very poor!

I never knew there was so much debate about pushchair a either.
I'm sure that this did not exist when mine were babies.
Either that or I was too stupid to notice every one pushing £2000 buggies

Mine was £70 from Mothercare. Back in the day when dd was a baby I thought that was fucking expensive.

Forgot Good Housekeeping - outstanding