Mumsnet needs your help - anyone signed up?

[LaureBerthaud]

I keep getting a banner on the site saying Mumsnet needs my help. Has anyone signed up for Premium - is it worth it?

I don't think MN should censor opinion but I think they should be able to prevent the posting of multiple threads on the same topic.

This is what I think, @Nicknacky

Plus they are very touchy about trans threads - either moderate all or none.

No. I’m not paying a fee for what is a very basic site. No edit, like button, quote etc these should be standard. They need to move with the times

No. I can't understand why anyone would pay £50 a year for absolutely nothing.

The data breaches, the cavalier attitude towards them and the really shitty attitude I've seen of late from some of the mods, coupled with the fact that it's apparently known that MRA come over from Twitter and report content here which results in members being penalised, the statement of accounts I've seen and the fact that from looking at LinkedIn, every member of staff seems to be head of something or manager of something and yet the site is really not that great in terms of structure or content.

I'd also never post anything of importance here for fear of it being splashed across the daily mail the next day. There were a lot of journalists on the employees list.

It's a bit rich asking your users for help when a lot of them will be having financial concerns.

Don't be ridiculous. They've not made it compulsory. Some of us appreciate why MN is having ad problems and are very grateful to still have the platform.

there are TRA's trying to get advertisers to pull out of Mumsnet and actively pursuing companies who advertise here.

Too right. I hope they are successful as it will make MNHQ really think about how transphobic they are. If I owned a company, I certainly wouldn't want it to be associated with this site.

But no, I won't pay to use mumsnet. Its a bit rich for them to be asking.

Yes to edit button, but no to quotes and likes.

No. On principle I won’t pay for any forum because generally the members are creating the product and content (which is used to sell advertising space). I don’t think the content MN creates is worth much particularly in terms of selling advertising space so by paying for ‘extras’ I would feel I’m paying to shoring up a part of their business that just doesn’t pay for itself while still generating content as a forum member myself. I presume they sell space based on number of visits/clicks that likely just wouldn’t happen without the forums because there’s a billion baby name list articles out there.

There are forums that are paid membership only but they’re generally not supporting a business the size of MN and really restrict non-members access. I can’t see MN doing that anytime soon since that would really affect their ad revenue.

I like MN forums and have used them a lot over the years. But I never read their articles, use their vacancies or use their offers etc. I would be more inclined to donate to a fundraiser if this was genuinely a short term difficulty but I think the pandemic has hastened plans they had anyway.

I also don’t like the way it’s been marketed as if you’re buying something but at the same time as a donation to keep them going. Either is fine if that’s what they want to do and people paying are happy with that but call a spade a spade. At the moment they are offering nothing of value/use and it’s very vague about what will be implemented. No one is buying anything right now, they’re signing up to donate (I would also be concerned if I worked at MNHQ that at some point this is going to be picked up on and people will start questioning what they’re getting for their money. You can’t just take money off people for ‘extras’ that aren’t available yet. There’s a word for that).

No I haven’t and won’t. I don’t come on here much ( and even less recently as it’s the same old threads time & time again). I could afford to & I’m not bothered about edit or quote or anything & I’m not that bothered by the ads - I just don’t want to.

I wouldn’t be that concerned if it disappeared

Yet here you are, Greyhound. Adding to the clicks.

I agree @GreyhoundzRool it's an awful site filled with a lot of toxic prejudice.

Why are you still posting on it then?

very happy to pay for less adverts

And thats the key word isn't it?

Less

Not no adverts, less adverts.
I can get no adverts at all with an adblocker so paying for 'less' adverts and no other features whatsoever is a bit daft to me. Especially as every other forum I use has these features built into their platforms as standard.

I haven't. This site is just light entertainment. Paying for it would feel like paying for the newspapers in the Sainsbury's coffee shop. While the store manager pays himself shitloads. Bugger that.

I have started using an ad-blocker.

Why are you still posting on it then?

Because I want to? I also find it quite entertaining to see all ridiculous threads and the hilarity of some of the posters reactions. There is no rule saying you can't be critical of a site and still use it.

@AdobeWanKenobi (love the username btw ) I agree.

Personally I’ve never blocked ads because I understand it’s important revenue for sites like this. I like it when a site thanks you for not using an ad-blocker and have noticed these sites generally run pretty non-intrusive ads. There’s been a few instances here and elsewhere where the ads have made the site unusable but they are self limiting since people just stop trying to use the site.

I don’t think offering less ad’s is worth £5 a month when blockers are widely available.

Maybe they should offer the product testing to premium members only although I don’t know if that makes it more unappealing for companies.

On principle I won’t pay for any forum because generally the members are creating the product and content (which is used to sell advertising space).

Exactly. The members are the product, they're not customers.

FEWER ads, it's FEWER not LESS.

sorry, I just had to get that off my chest.

@yolopenguinseatfish

Sorry!

This site needs fewer pedants. Annoying fuckers.

ads don't bother me personally, i just ignore them so won't be subscribing to premium. but then i don't spend much time on screens either.

No. I might have but I object to MN needs your help. As if they are a charity rather than a successful business. It was the wrong approach IMHO.

No I won't be, I can't afford any more subscriptions. The ads don't bother me and I don't use an ad blocker.

On the whole, the ads don't bother me. Occasionally they can be irritating when the site lags and you end up clicking them as a result.

I find the amount of pinned posts which are usually ads of some sort dressed up as posts, and the really amateur mumsnet ad at the top of the screen for premium or discounts on harmony to be far more annoying.

No chance! A fiver a month???