AIBU to think local pages on mumsnet aren't so great

[Valdeeves]

Largely because there's not alot of traffic?
I moved to a new area and met all my friends through Netmums - not one on mumsnet despite using the local pages - no one ever replied.
Why is this? Why do mumsnetters not use the pages?

[MrsCakesPremonition]

I think a lot of users don't realise that you have a separate NN for the local pages - so posting in MN Local shouldn't out your location on the main boards.

[LocalEditorSouthwark]

So why doesn't everyone on here start using their local sites more?

We all like to have a good bitch natter with people from all over the country but sometimes it's good to talk at a local level:

Children in need coming up - anything happening locally? start a discussion and get involved, raise some money for charity and have some fun!

Christmas - local markets, pantos, grottos, carol services ... we're doing our best to build these listings up for you but would welcome some help. There's one (possibly two) Local Editors for each area there are tons of you! Lots of us have kids at school/nursery - are they having a Christmas fair? List it!

How many of you have gone into a local shop be it an independent boutique or a poundland and thought bloody hell that's a good deal - spread the word, we could all do with a bargain.

Had a nice meal locally? tell us about it! had a shit one, tell us about that too.

Local politics - what the bloody hell do they think they're playing at

Been to a new fitness class that's BRILLIANT if you have small children (kids allowed in the class/great creche etc)

Just been serviced (oo-er) by a good plumber/builder/electrician - recommend them. This is a big factor for me when I need something fixed.

If you're in Southwark, post and I will talk to you. If you talk back someone else might join in. Visit your local Facebook page and follow on Twitter (Mumsnet Southwark and @MNSouthwark)

A lot of the local editor's are new and could really do with the support!

[jellyboatsandpirates]

My mission today is to find some things going on our local area and post on it!

[MissRee]

Travelincolour There's a great big button at the top of the Local desktop site that says "Go to mumsnet.com"

On the mobile site, there's a great big button right at the bottom that says "Go to mumsnet.com".

I personally have the mobile site bookmarked on my iPhone so it appears as an icon in the same way an app does

[LocalEditorSouthwark]

yay jelly!

[BeyondTheLimitsOfAcceptability]

Even as an ambassador I sometimes get so engrossed in the main site that I forget to go over there for a while.

I've just been over to my local board (thanks to this thread), had a quick flick through the active convos, replied on some and started some others.

How about everyone reading here goes over to their local board and posts one comment? There must be something you want to contribute :)

[jellyboatsandpirates]

OK, just tried to upload some local Christmas events. It's a right faff. Then typed in all the details and got "access denied!"
Maybe THAT'S why nobody posts any listings on there?! It's too bloody hard!
Netmums is just a simple form and a comment on what the place you are adding is about.
Then voila, you're done! Not sure what 'access denied' is supposed to mean. MNHQ? Any light?
So much for that, might as well stay on the national boards!
or letting netmums know the local goings on instead

[MissRee]

I'm going to ask MNHQ to look into that Jellyboats because that shouldn't happen

[trish5000]

When someone posted on my local one a while ago, she was actually already living in an area that had far more young mums than where I live. So I figured, that give her a couple of weeks and she would be awash with new local rl people. So t would have been silly for me to travel a distance to meet up with her, especially since I wasnt a new mum myself.

Also, I have since realised that if you post in local it comes up the exact area, when someone searches you. Who is going to want that? Not me, and not thousands of others, I suspect.

[BobaFetaCheese]

trish, I think that's where NM got it right, I live in a London borough and on there it's (for example) Southwark, not Camberwell, Peckham Rye, Dulwich Village, Borough etc all being different 'sites', it's too segregrated (i cant spell that word for toffee).
Maybe if there was a general SE london, SW london etc n board and then a borough/city list people would be more likely to post?

[jellyboatsandpirates]

Also, I have since realised that if you post in local it comes up the exact area, when someone searches you. Who is going to want that? Not me, and not thousands of others, I suspect.

What do you mean it comes up with the exact area? Does it pinpoint your street or something?!

[MissRee]

Boba I'm not sure I follow? Southwark is it's own site as a Borough and then it has the towns within.

Greenwich is a borough which includes Plumstead, Woolwich etc under that same umbrella.

[MurderOfGoths]

Boba Outside of London it's a totally different story, I often find in the Herts board that I am nowhere near a lot of users.

[MissRee]

Does the back button not work? Sorry, I don't think I've ever come across this before. Or are you using the app?

[trish5000]

jelly, my area is sparsely populated. No streets for miles around. So no, I dont want to be zoomed in on thanks. I post some personal stuff.

[BobaFetaCheese]

Rubbish at explaining myself; missree, I mean that in London I don't see the need for the camberwell board when Southwark covers it all, and your posts end up on the Southwark board anyway.
My local board has (active) next to only one town so I think it might put people off from posting because it looks like there is no one in their area (hope I've made some sense, feeding ds atm and singing to bubble guppies so ny brain is mush atm)!

murder, i'm guilty of the narrowminded Londoner way of thinking! Forgot there's massive counties outside of the big cities.

[MissRee]

Ohhh, I know what you're looking at now. The boards in the Local Meets section are for discussing details of upcoming meets in that area, i.e. deciding specifics (meet you outside etc). If you want a general chat with local people, you should post on the Local Talk board (for Southwark, that would be here: local.mumsnet.com/Talk/southwark/local-active)

Within the Local Meets section, an area will only show as "Active" if someone has volunteered to be a Local Ambassador. Its frustrating because people complain nobody uses the boards and that there are no meet ups but nobody is willing to step forward and actually volunteer to arrange those meet ups!

[wigglesrock]

I had the access denied thing as well a few months, it seemed to fix itself but it is a nuisance all the categories - opening hours, one off event etc info needed to add a simple park listing. I know that when the new MN local was launched which I think now was a year ago or so, I flagged up the issue of postcodes needed etc when I just wanted to let people know there was a decent park beside the bus station.

It was taking me 10 - 15 minutes to get all the listing info correct & stop those bloody red asterixes winking at me. I couldn't be bothered with that when I had a list of 15 parks etc to put in, so I didn't do it.

[MissRee]

That's really helpful wigglesrock, I'll flag that with MNHQ. It will allow you to add just the first part of the postcode (i.e. SE10 for Greenwich) so I don't know if that helps?

[LocalEditorSouthwark]

I think the point of having lots of areas within the meet ups particularly in the London boroughs is that they are huge. So, in my borough, Southwark for example someone who lives in Bermondsey probably doesn't want to schlep over to Herne Hill. My meet ups only have 1 active at the moment because I've only been doing this for a little while and have only set 1 meeting up. As MissRee says the talkboard is not area specific it is borough wide. HTH

[jellyboatsandpirates]

jelly, my area is sparsely populated. No streets for miles around. So no, I dont want to be zoomed in on thanks. I post some personal stuff.

You don't have the same nickname on there as you do on here, though, so don't understand the personal stuff reference?
You can have a completely different name on the local board.

[SamInSouthWales]

Since I became an editor in May/June, my site has gone from tumbleweed to having nearly 500 followers on Twitter. Just in the last two weeks traffic has really spiked and the local boards are starting to slowly take off. It's not going to happen overnight.

If Mumsnetters use their local boards, the whole thing will snowball. I have also noticed that Netmums seems to be uploaded centrally as there is not a whiff of a local editor in my area. If there is, I haven't seen her on Twitter or Facebook or having any kind of local presence.

It's worth remembering that once upon a time Mumsnet was just two women on two laptops in a kitchen in 2000. Look where it is now.

[SamInSouthWales]

Also, my name when I'm, MNing is totally different to my Local Editor name, so I have total anonymity when I want to wade into debates on AIBU or talk about private stuff.