@KundalinRising:
‘There has been a very marked difference in the general feel of the place (supportive to corporate) and yes the disregard for the safety and privacy of members has at times been shocking.’
Agree. Back in the day the amateurish feel somehow seemed more acceptable because it genuinely felt like a supportive venture started from the kitchen table (albeit by a group of very privileged mummies with time on their hands)
Over the years it’s evolved into a massive corporate entity but it’s approach to data protection, accountability and management of the forum has not improved in parallel with this.
It smacks to me of wanting to have your cake and eat it... all the benefits of being big corporation with a huge financial turnover and some pretty hefty profits stacked up over the years, while also playing the ‘look we’re just an ordinary group of women and we need a helping hand here.’
What shocked me most about the data breaches was not just that they happened (though that was bad enough) but the MN response. I remember the early messages put out about it- MNHQ lightly joking about it as if they’d made a schoolgirl slip up. And over the years they’d suckered some posters into falling for this- I remember the early responses from a few posters, along the lines of ‘oh don’t worry MNHQ, you’re doing your best, here, have some 
Of course the majority of posters then told it like it was: that this was a serious data breach, which potentially left users extremely vulnerable.
There’s been annoyances over other things over the years - the huge inconsistencies in moderation, the way certain public figures are fair game for abuse while threads on others get pulled the moment anyone posts anything that’s true but negative. But it’s the data breaches and the totally complacent response which did it for me.
No way would I feel safe paying subscriptions in the light of this, and aside from that I honestly don’t feel there’s enough to make me want to pay anyway even if it felt secure. The content, whether useful information or entertainment is pretty much 100% supplied by the users, it’s not comparable with other platforms which inform or entertain
Will be interesting to see how this plays out but I feel it’s a bad move.