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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

AIBU to think that MN are letting us down?

236 replies

MsHarry · 29/03/2018 13:35

I have really enjoyed MN in the past, both for advice and sometimes for a laugh or a debate. I don't use other social media and feel I can express myself more freely amongst mostly other women and within the relative anonymity that a username provides. However in recent months i have seen thread after thread appear in the Daily Fail and now The Mirror and a live conversation on ITV's Loose Women!! Some of the subject matter is sensitive and could give OPs away. I know it's a public forum but sharing on here is not the same as publishing in a newspaper or an interview on TV . AIBU to expect a forum like MN, that used to feel pro women, to do more about this?

OP posts:
Wheresthebeach · 29/03/2018 14:35

I get where you are coming from OP. There's a difference, IMO between posting on MN and wanting to, in essence, write an article for the Fail. Sadly everything here can be reposted anywhere. It will be the death knell of forums like this I think; as people will increasingly post only banal stuff.

Original poster
MsHarry · 29/03/2018 14:36

Exactly Wheres Grin

OP posts:
Weezol · 29/03/2018 14:41

One of the reasons for the increase in thread stealing is because news media have been cutting jobs in huge numbers, journalists, copy editors and researchers are thin on the ground these days.

Why pay a professional when you can get an intern, point them at the internet and call them a trainee content analyst? You're not paying a wage, NI or providing employment rights and you're not paying a contributor. The shareholders are happy and your editorship job is safe for the next three months.

YourWanMajella · 29/03/2018 14:43

the content is different, it can be quite personal given that it is heavily populated by women and parents discussing children and relationships not whether they's fly to Benidorm in August again. Surely you can see that

But that doesn't make the slightest difference to whether it can be reprinted or used. Public is public.

Roussette · 29/03/2018 14:44

Times.. they have changed. I've been here over a decade and back then it never felt like anyone would lift anything and use it but now... journos are desperate for stories, however daft or mundane and everything is fair game.

Having had my fingers burnt badly by giving too much away once and just once, I learnt a short sharp lesson. Now I don't post anything personal, identifying or incriminating. It's a bit of a shame because there has been the odd occasion when I've needed the collective wisdom of MNers and been itching to post a thread but no... the risk is too great. The last time I wanted to was a wedding dilemma but it was very very unusual and identifying for the B&G so couldn't. I just imagined it ending up in the DM or on LW and how awful I would've felt so I had to sort it out myself.

Bluntness100 · 29/03/2018 14:45

You could classify reddit as very similar to mumsnet in terms of personal content. The point is, they are all open sites where the members create the content.

And if uou look at the daily fail they lost reddit or trip advisor content very regularly too all of the old red tops do.

And lying I don't think everyone does understand it's not a safe space to post. If the op understood this, she wouldn't have started this thread as she wouldn't have been surprised and she wouldn't be saying she thought it was copy righted.

Roussette · 29/03/2018 14:46

Totally agree weezol

And wheres, I know of a couple of forums that have died a death for that exact reason. Privacy

ArcheryAnnie · 29/03/2018 14:48

So MN allow because it gives them free publicity? There are no copyright laws involved? Or do they receive payment?

It's not a question of MN "allowing" anything. It's a public site, which lazy Fail journalists can read just like the rest of us can read it. It's like all the stories that the tabloids rip off twitter - it's easy for them to do. How do you imagine MN could stop it?

Original poster
MsHarry · 29/03/2018 14:49

No I didn't think it was copy righted, I'm not familiar with each legal terms. I just thought it wasn't good form, that MN would prevent it but as you've said, they can't. As I said in the OP, I know it's public and that's why we use usernames. I am just surprised. Interesting point Weezol

OP posts:
Original poster
MsHarry · 29/03/2018 14:49

*exact legal terms

OP posts:
Alabama3 · 29/03/2018 14:51

www.mumsnet.com/info/about-us

Mumsnet was conceived in early 2000 when JustineMumsnet embarked on a disastrous family holiday. Her idea was to create a website where parents could swap advice about not just holidays but all the other stuff parents talk about.

Seventeen years later and who'd have thought it would come to this? Mumsnet is now the UK’s biggest network for parents, with over 12 million unique visitors per month clocking up over 120 million page views.

UncleNugget · 29/03/2018 14:55

This has been happening for years. As have the 'why don't MNHQ stop it' threads.

TragicallyUnbeyachted · 29/03/2018 14:55

Threads have been appearing frequently in the DM for years. Years and years and years. Back in 2009 it was getting so annoying that lots of us changed our usernames to say rude things about the DM on the basis that that would put them off quoting our posts.

See this thread and its successor, for example.

Original poster
MsHarry · 29/03/2018 14:55

They also say this :we do not accept advertising from a number of companies including Nestle, because of their aggressive marketing of formula in breach of international standards, and for a number of products, including formula milk, cosmetic surgery or anything that we believe does not sit well with our philosophy – namely to make parents' lives easier.

Really makes lives easier to see your problems splash over the media!

OP posts:
Original poster
MsHarry · 29/03/2018 14:56

Ok I hadn't realised, only been on here a few years but have only noticed the thread lifting in the last year.

OP posts:
RunMummyRun68 · 29/03/2018 15:00

Not read entire thread but mumsnet is all over

Reddit for example..... there's a mumsnet section where pretty much every thread ( not the mundane or dull ones) and op is dissected and discussed in great detail!

TragicallyUnbeyachted · 29/03/2018 15:02

The Wright Stuff regularly mines Mumsnet threads and uses them as discussion points too.

Bluntness100 · 29/03/2018 15:02

I'm not sure what you are hoping for here op. A few posts ago you stated you thought it couldn't be reprinted because of copyright
You then state you did not think it is was copyrighted. You seem to think thr content some how makes it different in terms of the internet. It doesn't.

Your thought "it isn't helpful to see your problems splashed all over the media" when you are the one who puts it onto a site with twelve million visitors a month is highly illogical. If you don't want your problems airing the last place you should post it is to 12 million people.

thanksjaneshusbandatcaresouth · 29/03/2018 15:02

Hello Ms Harry,

I'm a copyright lawyer.

Yes, our posts are protected by copyright which we own. It's part of the deal that mumsnet gets a licence.

As non-exclusive licensee it can't sue the Daily Mail.

You can though. Would you like some advice on how to do so?

YourWanMajella · 29/03/2018 15:04

And wheres, I know of a couple of forums that have died a death for that exact reason. Privacy

If they were always public, how did they die a death cos privacy?

Doesn't seem to be putting people off posting here, does it?

thanksjaneshusbandatcaresouth · 29/03/2018 15:08

sorry, with some excepts as set out in S101A CPDA 1988.

Original poster
MsHarry · 29/03/2018 15:08

Ah a real expert! Well as I have said this is not about my privacy, my fingers have not been burned but I;m sure we'd all like to know how to sue the pants of The Daily Fail. Go ahead!

OP posts:
CotswoldStrife · 29/03/2018 15:09

I also think there's a difference between discussing something online and having it on national TV both here and abroad.

I'd like to point out the following clause in the MN terms and conditions of use of the site, because I think it's breached a lot.

We rely on you to present us with User Content that contains accurate and factual material.

So trolls are against MN T&C. But MN rely on those of us with a good trolldar to point them out a lot of the time. I'll be less likely to do that now tbh and I have a good rate of trolldar accuracy!

Original poster
MsHarry · 29/03/2018 15:10

bluntness I said copyright or similar, not familiar with exact legal terms.

OP posts:
Jux · 29/03/2018 15:11

It has always happened in one way or another. It is just like village gossip, it's just the village is global now. That's nothing to do with MN.

I do wonder what you think MN could actually do about it though? What do you actually expect?

Remember, lack of knowledge of thenlaw does not excuse illegality, and the same principle holds when you post in public. Just because you haven't thought something could happen as a result, doesn't mean it can't, or won't.

I'm sure that poster didn't expect their business to be discussed on TV, but that's just the risk you take isn't it?