Has this forum jumped the shark?

[Havalina]

I feel quite sad thinking this, it used to be so busy and enlightening. It just feels so crap and irrelevant now.

A mix of completely banal questions, troll fodder and behind the curve discourse 😬

@HennyPennyHorror thank you.

Funny when people say 'just google it's, I did and it wasnt quite right

@Iggi999 I am glad you have found mn helpful as well.

MN was very cliquey when I 1st joined about 12 years ago.
It’s much nicer now imo.
Much bigger so no one really stands out, I mean back then you recognised nearly ever username, now I rarely see the same name twice.

If you equate publicity with number of visitors and time they spend on site, then the phrase is entirely apposite.

It's an easy parallel to draw, once you realise that both telly shows and sites such as this depend on attracting and retaining advertisers.

Honest opinion... I know I take a break from the forum quite often as I get fed up with seeing how nasty some people can be toward others (sometimes they seem to take pleasure in it), it’s disappointing, especially when a poster has come here for help and they are bullied and belittled. It’s evident by how often we lose the OP. Not suggesting that everyone agrees or that we blow smoke up peoples arses but that whatever we say should be said with a certain degree of respect, remembering that there is a human being on the other side of the screen.

One improvement that I would like to see is to have a ‘like’ or ‘thank’ button.

I just voted, mainly to see the result, 50/50 so far,
yabu probably,
just hide the banal threads.
feminist board popular

A ‘like’ button would be great actually. As would a timed edit button for correcting SPAG errors.

"What was MN like before?
"This is triggering my FOMO!"

(Yes, joke.)

Well, in case anyone who reads that thinks 'good idea' rather than 'joke' I have two suggestions:

a) read up on some of the Classics from about 2007-2010 (after the site 'norms' were established, but before explosion in number of posters

b) pick a few days at random from same date bracket and just browse everything that was posted then (aim off for ephemeral drivel having been in chat, and so would be deleted)

I preferred Mumsnet in the post moldie period, say from 2009 to Penis Beaker and the big data scandal years. I liked to see names I recognised and feel a little connection with people because of that.

A "like" button would not be great. It is a specific response to user demand that there is not one (asked and polled)

You can use 'preview' if you want to check final published appearance of your post and correct spellings

I go back and forth to mumsnet. Sometimes the competitive sanctimony and earnestness on here bores me rigid and I find I cba posting for a while...like weeks at a time...but I always end up being drawn back in as it’s a place of variety that is ever evolving.

I agree Aibu isn't as good, or as helpful as it used to be, BUT from this thread I have learnt that I completely misunderstood both the origin and the meaning of the phrase jumped the shark. I thought it came from one of the Jaws sequels!

HennyPennyHorror

MN used to (in the very early days) be a lot warmer...it was a bit sharper...always been mean though. It had more of a cosy feeling as it wasn't as enormous

Thank you, Henny.
I was genuinely curious.
That was certainly my feeling about the message board on which I used to post. Except it really wasn't particularly mean when I first joined* (imo); however, there were always some that way inclined, of course.

The originally-being-less-enormous thing certainly rings a bell because, since various BBC message boards were being closed, a whole load of other posters sought refuge on the few remaining ones and completely changed the dynamic.

People have been moaning it's gone downhill for the entire 15 years I've been here.

Also rings a bell 😊

Although I enjoyed posting on the MB I mentioned, plenty more "original-and-well-respected-posters" kept saying how much better it was when it was all green fields around here... etc

Maybe these are stages all MBs go through, depending on when the person noticing the stages joins them?

Perhaps "Penis Beaker" (or similar) will become the message boards' equivalent of sitcoms' "Jumped the Shark"?

*Gah! Did I make it mean?! 😮

“Google hasn’t got it right”

I’ve been lurking on and off for maybe seven years? AIBU has definitely jumped the shark. Competitive mean-spiritedness is the order of the day.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_shark

I'm noticing the expression 'jumped the shark' is now being used as a fashionable substitute for 'passed its peak' which is a less specific phrase (not involving the desperate attempt to revive popularity that applies to 'jumped the shark').

I haven't been around long enough to say whether MN has or not.

By the way, say what you will about Netmums...they aren’t as sanctimonious or preachy as all the seemingly wonderful mothers here. Even if the chat isn’t quite at the same intellectual level as you find here, they strike me as a more down to earth and realistic lot. It seems less judgemental and more supportive. I don’t post there very often at all as the dark in me prefers the company of the cunts that post on here...but I wouldn’t knock it either. It’s a better forum for parenting advice, hands down.

AuntieStella

"What was MN like before?
"This is triggering my FOMO!"

(Yes, joke.)

Well, in case anyone who reads that thinks 'good idea' rather than 'joke'

Sorry - I meant my use of the word "triggering" was a joke.
My FOMO's pretty bad, but not to the point where I have to avoid triggers.

I have two suggestions

a) read up on some of the Classics from about 2007-2010 (after the site 'norms' were established, but before explosion in number of posters

Excellent idea. I have done this when time allows (although may now concentrate on the dates suggested).
Certainly wouldn't know about Penis Beakers otherwise.

b) pick a few days at random from same date bracket and just browse everything that was posted then (aim off for ephemeral drivel having been in chat, and so would be deleted)

Not so sure about that, but may give it a go when I'm at a loose end.

Many thanks for the suggestions 😊

Isn't this kind of post equivalent to people in an expanding village saying ' this is no longer a village' since only people who have lived in the village for at least 900 years count? I see that sort of sniping all the time on my village Facebook site and this is what these 'MN ain't wot it used to be' posts feel like.

I’ve been lurking on and off for maybe seven years? AIBU has definitely jumped the shark. Competitive mean-spiritedness is the order of the day.

I'm about the same and I agree. I've seen some extremely nasty posters on there lately and they have tended to spread their venom elsewhere too. I've even seen one particularly obnoxious individual derailing a long standing series of discussions on telly addicts! It's all starting to get a bit pointless for anyone whose objective isn't to spend hours bashing out insults. Feminism is about the only place with any chance of an intelligent discussion theses days.

are you trying to start a new saying?

😂

AIBU has been like fight club for pretty much as long as I've been on MN - 11 years now - so I don't think that much has changed, not really.

Trolls have always been on here - they haven't got any more inventive, if anything they're mostly easier to spot now.

There have been ups and downs with this site but mostly it's still entirely relevant and full of useful information - so long as you post on the appropriate board.
AIBU is still likely to give you more of a kicking than the help required, sadly, but there are still often nuggets of useful info in among the bashing posts.

Overall though, it's still relevant as an outlet for woes, however trivial they might appear to some, when you can't vent anywhere else.

Before MN jumped the shark everyone would have known what jumped the shark meant.

Pigwashed

No, it’s the equivalent of the village losing its library, community Center & village shop and consequently people not having a community any longer.