To think that AIBU sucks the life out of the rest of the Mumsnet forum?

[Asterion]

I mean, it's none of my business how Mumsnet choose to run their forum but in the relatively short time I've been lurking, and then posting, so many people say they are posting in AIBU because the other sections are much quieter.

So you get threads that aren't really about someone BU at all, but end up in AIBU for the traffic.

Well rather than starting this thread, why not spend your time in those other forums?

It has brought a nasty tone to MN ever since it was introduced.

I hate the way people post in AIBU 'for the traffic'. Makes it a self-fulfilling prophecy!

I think it's hard to find the good stuff on MN as AIBU overshadows it all. I think MN should close AIBU for a month and see what happens.

Potentially MN Mods could have a blitz and spend 4 weeks moving threads to the right boards. But it would cost them a lot of effort.

I see AIBU and Chat as the BBC/ITV of boards - they cover a bit of everything, compared with more specific channels like 'Yesterday' or 'Dave'.

I agree with you then we get the AIBU thread started people reply then the same person posts 'troll don't reply' then the thread gets pulled

@contrmary

Well rather than starting this thread, why not spend your time in those other forums?

Oh I have, but it's also instinct to click on Active threads, which seems to be dominated by AIBU. Hence the life-sucking.

Quantity over quality.
It's purpose wasn't discussion or debate it was for quick 'is it me?' scenarios.
It's polluting all the threads because succinct, blunt replies end up out of place in other threads upsetting folk and AIBU is stuffed with any old guff yet if you mention it you get neeenawed at for policing the thread.

Completely. This forum is almost entirely useless for anything other than AIBU. And then people comment "why don't you get this moved over to X topic?". Like, obviously because it would be helpful for someone to see it and someone to respond - unlike every other forum. I honestly think Mumsnet should get rid of AIBU so other areas stand a chance.

I entirely agree.

I haven't started many threads but those I have disappear from Active within minutes.

Only AIBU seems to garner a response which means that it inevitably attracts all sorts of things which aren't really asking AIBU at all.

@FjordFiestas

Completely. This forum is almost entirely useless for anything other than AIBU. And then people comment "why don't you get this moved over to X topic?". Like, obviously because it would be helpful for someone to see it and someone to respond - unlike every other forum. I honestly think Mumsnet should get rid of AIBU so other areas stand a chance.

Actually I hadn't even thought about that - everything being in AIBU means that the forums where those threads can do some good for future readers/posters never get them!

I think they should create a 'Gloves Off' thread instead, so there's an official bear pit for all the posters who like that sort of stuff, and ageism, racism etc on any other section, three strikes and you're out.

If you are accessing MN through a web browser, at the bottom of the page are four links under "Talk": two of those are Chat and AIBU, so it's hardly surprising that they get the lion share's of the traffic - and I think that does stifle other boards.

One of the other links is to "All talk topics" which is not the most friendly page for finding which other boards are active.

So, I agree with your main point, OP, and I think the layout of MN is part of the cause of the problem.

One of the problems is that if you report and request a thread to be moved to the correct board you get a response that says MN is leaving it in AIBU because it is promoting an interesting debate or some such excuse.

This happens with the millions of corona threads that people have hidden the specific board to avoid seeing and are then faced with in AIBU.

Never mind how upsetting it can be for some, let's just bung them everywhere and people that struggle with it can fuck off. And then they ask for money to keep the place going because people have gone elsewhere.

Hmmmm....

@DadDadDad

If you are accessing MN through a web browser, at the bottom of the page are four links under "Talk": two of those are Chat and AIBU, so it's hardly surprising that they get the lion share's of the traffic - and I think that does stifle other boards.

One of the other links is to "All talk topics" which is not the most friendly page for finding which other boards are active.

So, I agree with your main point, OP, and I think the layout of MN is part of the cause of the problem.

Oh yes, good point. They actively link to only those two boards!

And I clicked on All Talk Topics once - it looked like a nightmare, too much to choose from and half of them hidden!

I agree. I find that posts posted under the correct topics tend to disappear. Maybe they should temporarily shelve AIBU for a while?

I think we ought to be able to report non-AIBU posts that are in AIBU and have them moved. I've generally found my non-AIBU posts get answered reasonably quickly.

It's a very entertaining section at times and I wouldn't support its removal.

I wouldn't post in AIBU for traffic because for some MNers, "AIBU" seems to be shorthand for "this is the place to be an absolute shit if you feel like it". And you get endless people who don't have a clue what they're talking about offering opinions. If I have a question about my son's SEN and how they aren't being met, posting on AIBU will get me more responses more quickly, but 99% of them are likely to be useless bollocks: it's worth posting in the relevant forum and waiting a little longer to get fewer, but useful responses.

I'm on the three other "special interest" topics and they have a very different feel from AIBU. Smaller number of posters, so you get to know different posters and their likes and dislikes. All three are well populated - a couple of dozen posts each day, maybe more.

Without AIBU and chat, you'd have to find a different topic for every post you wanted to make, so I think AIBU is useful for random chat and for hearing points of view that you might not otherwise meet. I could do without the ageism. But I thinks that's probably simply a reflection of how society as a whole sees older people.

I only come on here for aibu.

Yabu btw!

@malificent7

I only come on here for aibu.

Yabu btw!

You know, I think it might be nice if we could alter our settings so that our Active feeds only show the most active on a subsection of boards that we're actually interested in. So you pick your boards of interest (as many as you like) and only see them in Active unless you rock, 'show all'.

*tick, not rock

I wonder if putting a topic in stickies each month or whenever apt, General Health say when covid started gaining traction or Primary Schools when it's going back et c would help.
Maybe it makes better financial sense to keep AIBU busy.