AIBU to ask Mumsnet to reconsider a decision

[Mummyoflittledragon]

… to relegate certain threads from the AIBU board.

I imagine AIBU is probably the most active board on Mumsnet and therefore reaches the highest audience. Now when someone creates a thread about children’s boundaries being crossed by certain people and women being scared into silence and being attacked by certain groups, the thread quickly disappears out of AIBU and onto another board.

Once off AIBU, the thread receives far less exposure thus radically reduces the possibility to offer information to the widest possible audience. Information, which could be used to help people and particularly women make safety and / or safeguarding decisions about themselves and their children.

Mumsnet to me is like the BBC (in its hey day) of parenting sites. And as Mumsnet is renowned for being such an esteemed hub for information, AIBU to ask Mumsnet to not give in to outside pressure from certain groups and to stop relegating important informational threads without looking at the wider implications.

Unfortunately many women on here don’t see an issue with a female penis being allowed in a female only spa or care that women who have worked for years training for a special sports event are being cheated out of a medal. We’re just big fat hairy bigots or it doesn’t bother them because it doesn’t (yet) directly impact them

Was it about the LA Spa thing?

Are you talking about trans issues?

If so, AIBU got absolutely saturated with threads on the subject a while back, so I guess that's why they move them to wherever they belong.

Much like why they were asked to create a Coronavirus topic because lots of people were fed up of the subject.

I've put yabu as many (especially anything trans amd feminism related) gets put on aibu purely to bait more people into the discussion rather than using it for the purposes the board was presumably created for.

AIBU is widely misused and I get a little irritated by all the “AIBU to eat beans for dinner tonight” threads. As, of course you aren’t how could you bloody be.

I use the feminism boards a lot and I think the topic is very important, but I also think a lot of posters see there being a pretty one sided view here which isn’t open to much debate and using AIBU as a board just for traffic will get a lot of eye rolling.

It’s not just this topic - MN went though this for covid posts and royal family posts when they started taking over the board and moved them to the appropriate place, before anyone cries that MNHQ are unfair on it

It is noticeable, if you look, that only certain threads get shifted in this way. As I said on the thread itself - there are loads of corona threads on the front page of AIBU which don't seem to get moved.

If it was purely about thread classification rather than trying to make sure that some subjects don't reach a wider audience, why are they all still here?

YABU, I’m sick to the back teeth of having a minority of mumsnetters make everything about trans issues. You’ve got a whole board for it, go and post it all there to your hearts content

It’s not just this topic - MN went though this for covid posts and royal family posts when they started taking over the board and moved them to the appropriate place, before anyone cries that MNHQ are unfair on it

Exactly

AIBU is full of all sorts of crap that are purposefully written as clickbait to gain attention, it's disingenuous that the only threads repeatedly bumped off the board are ones that specifically tackle male privilege in one of it's most insidious forms.

@EndoplasmicReticulum

It is noticeable, if you look, that only certain threads get shifted in this way. As I said on the thread itself - there are loads of corona threads on the front page of AIBU which don't seem to get moved.

If it was purely about thread classification rather than trying to make sure that some subjects don't reach a wider audience, why are they all still here?

They only get moved if people report them and ask for them to be moved.

I think that kind of tells the OP what she needs to know.

@EndoplasmicReticulum

It is noticeable, if you look, that only certain threads get shifted in this way. As I said on the thread itself - there are loads of corona threads on the front page of AIBU which don't seem to get moved.

If it was purely about thread classification rather than trying to make sure that some subjects don't reach a wider audience, why are they all still here?

The amount of Covid conspiracy posting and media conspiracy posting is starting to do my head in too. It’s something in the post-lockdown zeitgeist, I think.

I have sympathy that MNHQ are trying to moderate lorry loads of this stuff, but I would like to understand the different approaches to different topics better.

YANBU. Women’s rights are so important and it’s crazy that a site primarily used by women is so against highlighting how women’s rights are being trampled all over.

OK - we'll see - I've reported one of the corona threads and will see if it gets moved.

Covid got it's own subject, the royals got their own subject. Why does it need to be different for the trans debate? Mumsnet isn't one mass of people on one side of the debate and that debate doesn't need special treatment. You seem to want it left in AIBU so that you can tell more people how wrong they are for their beliefs while also moaning about the fact that they believe you are wrong for your views.

YANBU. This is supposed to be a site for mothers. Why can't we be allowed to discuss relevant parenting issues on AIBU?

Why does it need to be different for the trans debate?

I don't think it was a post about the trans debate, but about a man exposing himself to children in a spa.

Can't vote because I'm on the app but YADNBU. This got worse over the weekend with a tiny number of hooded demonstrators hassling and intimidating women. Zero Police support. We absolutely need to call this out. Really disappointed that thread was moved

@KilljoysDutch

Covid got it's own subject, the royals got their own subject. Why does it need to be different for the trans debate? Mumsnet isn't one mass of people on one side of the debate and that debate doesn't need special treatment. You seem to want it left in AIBU so that you can tell more people how wrong they are for their beliefs while also moaning about the fact that they believe you are wrong for your views.

If you look at AIBU now there are two threads on covid, 2 threads on relationship issues, 2 threads on dogs/pets. These aren’t being moved into their respective category but if a post references my thing to do with women’s rights or trans it’s gone in two seconds.

@KilljoysDutch

Covid got it's own subject, the royals got their own subject. Why does it need to be different for the trans debate? Mumsnet isn't one mass of people on one side of the debate and that debate doesn't need special treatment. You seem to want it left in AIBU so that you can tell more people how wrong they are for their beliefs while also moaning about the fact that they believe you are wrong for your views.

Sometimes something crosses subject boundaries, though.

A thread about the LA Spa mini-riot, might be considered “trans” or “news”.

A thread about an Olympic related ruling on a trans athlete might be “sport”, “news” or whatever the new gender whatever it’s called board.

I can remember being heartily sick of seeing Brexit threads going over and over the same old ground. Now I feel similarly about a lot of the Covid threads, but if there’s a new development or someone has a fresh take on those things, I would like to see it, even if I’m avoiding the dedicated boards.

I’m sure there are posters who are overwhelmed by the size of the trans debate but, for example, would be interested to discuss the Los Angeles, incident. You still need threads on which people of all opinions participate.

@beastlyslumber

Why does it need to be different for the trans debate?

I don't think it was a post about the trans debate, but about a man exposing himself to children in a spa.

Even the “TWAW” chap in the footage, backtracked and admitted he was wrong. That woman complaining was redoubtable.

I can see both arguments but think MN can't win TBH. I personally prefer when lots of threads about certain things are contained within a section. Feminist threads come up in my active threads all the time though.

If you look at AIBU now there are two threads on covid, 2 threads on relationship issues, 2 threads on dogs/pets. These aren’t being moved into their respective category but if a post references my thing to do with women’s rights or trans it’s gone in two seconds.

Have you tried reporting them though?

MNHQ are always saying they can't do anything about what's posted and where, without reports bringing things to their attention.

Oh god, again. Have your trans echo chamber anywhere but AIBU, there’s some good threads there without the same trans diatribe.

Lots of us don’t share the vehement cannot be female horror, and get tired of it. There was a couple of weeks where AIBU was littered with it (obviously some pm arranged protest - ‘let’s all bomb AIBU’).

This is a TAAT, please delete

I reckon the AIBU board should be for all, and only, threads which are properly formulated with a clear YABU/YANBU choice.

If it's generic and not a real AIBU, put it in chat.

Otoh, if certain types of thread (even if properly constituted as YABU/YANBU choices with voting on) are moved, then there ought to be voting elsewhere. Either voting on other boards in general or a 'serious issues polling board' or suchlike.

AIBU should just be renamed General. Most posts in AIBU could go elsewhere

Also it seems that a lot of posts in AIBU actually start with "posting here for traffic" so the poster knows it's in the wrong section