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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think mumsnet has become a lot less popular?

166 replies

Duckypoohs · 09/10/2021 03:44

Is it just me who thinks the volume of threads and replies has lessened? It used to be so busy and good, now you can reread a thread and hardly any more replies have been posted.

I'm sad about this, the Internet is becoming more and more condensed. It also seems like the demographic has shrank. Bah, sad times.

OP posts:
HugeAckmansWife · 09/10/2021 07:20

I've been on here over a decade and have used it for advice on so many aspects of child rearing.. Outside of AIBU and Relationships is still quite a nice place. As a single parent I really use it as my interaction with grown ups on the dad I'm not at work. I do dislike the 'oh this again' response to thread topics. OK, I worked out the prevalent MN stance on P&C parking a decade ago, but someone who's just a had a baby won't have and wants to have their say, not just read an old thread. Doesn't matter that the points made are the same.

user6598 · 09/10/2021 07:24

Covid and Brexit made it much worse, posters try to shoehorn these subjects into a lot of threads making them not very pleasant places to post

Roystonv · 09/10/2021 07:25

Just doesn't seem as fun to me, of course there will always be the need for the serious topics but has it got a bit worthy everywhere.

singlemama91 · 09/10/2021 07:27

Ive only just joined Mumsnet but am becoming quite addicted to it and find it really supportive. I hope that it doesnt shut down or anything

user6598 · 09/10/2021 07:29

I have only ever started threads in places like Telly Addicts, it's not a place I would start a thread for advice

Why2why · 09/10/2021 07:30

It is not very diverse and can come across as uncaring of ethnic minority women. It only caters for a certain demographic of women.

NoWordForFluffy · 09/10/2021 07:32

I agree, Royston. There used to be loads of genuinely funny threads (and people didn't have to label them 'lighthearted' to convey that humour was intended). Now, threads which make me laugh are few and far between.

Coffeeonmytoffee · 09/10/2021 07:34

The potential to end up as a story in the daily poxy mail makes me think very carefully about what I post and reply.
That has changed mumsnet for me.

AutistAwayWithUrConditionalLuv · 09/10/2021 07:34

I think MN is great for new people and those who need support. I think where it gets "same old" is if you look to it for entertainment.

I also like the interface.

AuntieStella · 09/10/2021 07:37

It's definitely slowed down, in the sense if fewer posts.

It's losing its identity - the distinctive lingo is vanishing, the 'outdated' platform has been tweaked for the sake of being the same across all deceived, which means the things you could see on Active on desktop, like who had posted last on a thread and when, have been removed, taking away a bit of that sense of community, because there's no easy way now to see who's about. And I don't get the idea that because you can't do it on a mobile, it should be gone everywhere.

And of course the amount of trolling is ridiculous, and deleted threads are these days expunged completely sometines - you can't see what happened from your TIO as sometimes they've gone from there too.

MNHQers no longer seem to join in threads from time to time (would we still know who had a crush on which film star?) and seem to exist only to tell us off - sometimes for long-term discussed and approved things for which policy has changed (fair enough) but if no-one tells us we don't know you don't like it any more. That might seem like a petty thing, but it shows a difference in MNHQ towards its content creators, and people don't like being taken for granted and being on the receiving end of uncommunucated changes.

Also, because the levels of trolling us so high, there is a (I think) an expectation that threads are not true. MN was never a safe space (no open Internet site is) but it used to be a place that it was worth taking your problems to. It's nit that any more either.

I'm still here because, despite all that, I still like the place better than many others. But it's a shadow of its former self

AuntieStella · 09/10/2021 07:38

Oh, and something really need to be done about the ageism

singlemama91 · 09/10/2021 07:39

Is it possible to actually make friends on mumsnet?

MichelleScarn · 09/10/2021 07:39

@Dragonpox

I think a lot of people switched off when the covid hysteria hit hard. Real life was nothing like as hostile as Mumsnet. It felt bizarrely unsupportive around homeschooling for example - if you complained that you were suffering because overnight you'd become a teacher, a 7yo's best friend, a mother, full time employee, and your house was looking like a squat you were swiftly shut down as a selfish cow killing grandmothers left right and centre.
Agree dragon they'd be posts such as 'DS 4 has fallen and broken his arm, paramedics say compound fracture, handhold while they are in surgery' and there would be posters berating op for calling an ambulance and taking up a bed as they're needed for covid, how selfish!
2Two · 09/10/2021 07:39

You never seem to hear anything about Nethuns these days, do they still exist?

Scrollonthroughtherain · 09/10/2021 07:43

It's an incredibly unfriendly place these days. Much like most of the internet, it's very difficult to have a discussion because people are SO black or white. You're not allowed to take the middle ground, you have to be either for or against. People will take a little bit of what you say and then run with it out of context to bang whatever drum they're banging. What's the point? Most of the time it makes more sense to talk to a brick wall.

I think the reputation Mumsnet has got for being intolerant is probably deserved.

NoWordForFluffy · 09/10/2021 07:44

@singlemama91

Is it possible to actually make friends on mumsnet?
Oh yes, I've got a group of friends from a long-running thread on here. You're more likely to get this on the boards for certain things (i.e. antenatal groups) than AIBU / Chat though, where you post over a long time together and build relationships that way. My Facebook had loads of MNers on it.
NoWordForFluffy · 09/10/2021 07:44

Has. Present tense!

RampantIvy · 09/10/2021 07:47

@AuntieStella

Oh, and something really need to be done about the ageism
Definitely. It is particularly bad in the Style and Beauty topic.
Bopahula · 09/10/2021 07:48

@singlemama91

It definitely is possible to make friends on here. I was in an antenatal group way back in 2013. As our bumps progressed we ended up in a FB group.

8 years in, loads of us have met up, been on holidays with some of them, regularly text and have supported each other through some really awful life events.

Even when MN drives me mad on occasion, I will always be happy for the support in those early days with my DD, and the great real life friends I have from it now.

Rosesareyellow · 09/10/2021 07:58

I don’t think it’s just the site itself. I wouldn’t want anyone IRL to know I posted here. It feels far removed from real life.

Yeah I wouldn’t want people looking over my shoulder seeing I was on here. It’s definitely a guilty pleasure - except it’s not really a pleasure because I only come on here when I’m bored, generally when I’m sat with the kids and they’ve picked one of those obscure Netflix films to watch (happening right now)…
Some people are genuinely looking for help and it’s nice to give practical advice.
So much stuff on here is obviously bullshit - it’s entertaining to get involved anyway, but I can’t believe papers pick up stories on here and present them as something that really happened Confused
Inane Covid posts are so boring. And for a long time there were a lot of them. There are still too many…
The ‘feminism’ board that used to be 99.9% percent trans issues was probably the most embarrassing part of this site and is what alienated many.

Cait73 · 09/10/2021 08:00

People are less tolerant and more opinionated

Charley50 · 09/10/2021 08:03

I really like the simple interface. The feminism board where we talk about women's rights is amazing, so educational and active. I have made real friends on here, on a long-running thread in Chat.
Before Covid there was also an annual meet-up, anyone's invited.
I agree there isn't as many entertaining, funny threads at the moment. The volume of Covid ones was annoying.

TinaYouFatLard · 09/10/2021 08:04

Covid had ruined it for me. I honestly can’t believe the attitude of most of the people on here, during the lockdowns.

ufucoffee · 09/10/2021 08:08

I agree that that the daily mail publishing posts may have put people off.

AutistAwayWithUrConditionalLuv · 09/10/2021 08:17

Completely agree @Scrollonthroughtherain