To think mumsnet has become a lot less popular?

[Duckypoohs]

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.

@DarlingFell

For a site that is supposedly in support of women, it’s frighteningly full of hatred, bitterness, contempt and mockery of said women

I agree, especially the ageism on the Style and Beauty threads.

@WhatAShilohPitt

I personally am sick of shitrags like the sun and the Mail posting women’s problems in their papers like sensational news, making it very difficult for those people with nobody IRL to turn to post on here for advice. It’s much more likely they’ll be recognised. I have various problems that I now won’t post on here. Gutter journalism.

In fairness almost every story lifted by the press from here has "troll" written all over it.

@RampantIvy- the same posters bleating on about not wanting to follow Covid regulations to save someone who had reached their life expectancy figure anyway. They don't just hate women who wear Seasalt. They hate women. Older ones. And older men of course. Who might say "hello" (as neighbours) if they meet them coming out of their house.
The ageism on MN is some of the most disgusting I've seen.

Mumsnet has given me a terrible impression of British women and in particular white women.

Yes I like the simplicity of it too. And you do get replies fairly quickly.
People can be brutal and horrible on here quite frankly,
but if you have a genuine emergency or really need some help as a mum, in my experience mumsnetters rally. So thanks everyone.

I'm aware that I am not based in London. So it is also interesting to hear from those who are. I am South West.

@Needspace21

I think it's way more policed. People get cancelled if they say anything remotely controversial.

Agree

MN can’t even advocate for women so what’s the point? I blame the heavy reliance on advertising and pissing off menz

The thread about Angela Rayner was awful. I was shocked at some of the appalling comments about her accent, dress sense and parenting skills. Totally superfluous and misogynistic.
I've been here since 2005. In the early days I would say it was politically central but debate was measured and thoughtful. Now I take many of the comments with a pinch of salt. A thread about Johnson or the government usually attracts a pile on of supporters and you start wondering whether you actually live in the same country. Putting my tin foil hat on I think that the site is definitely targeted by political parties of all hues who want to nudge public opinion. Happened during lockdown and the last GE.

Mumsnet has given me a terrible impression of British women and in particular white women
Please do not think MN represent women in the UK. It really doesn't. Oy a small sub group that happens to be very vocal.

My RL is nothing at all what it appears as on MN.

I use MN a lot to ask about recommendations. It's really useful for that.

It used to be a lot more edgy and honest. I think it's become a bit sad and undermines the whole point of some threads, by the over policing and the type of posters who have appeared in volume recently.

Most AIBU tend to be:

OP: "Hi I'm being completely unreasonable, but I'm not looking for opinions or advice, just validation for my unreasonable actions.

Flurry of MN: "Er, OP.... Yabu"

OP: "well you're all nasty and like to kick people who are down (oh I'm such a victim)"

MN: "OP, you have become aggressive with anyone who doesn't agree with you. No one has been nasty.

Torrent of new style posters then suddenly appear: "Wow. Some real nastiness on this thread. OP ignore all this, you're brilliant" (having clearly not rtft and glossing over that it's the OP who's attacked people)

MN: "have you rtft??"

New posters and OP (thrilled with the validation that they provide): "yes, it's these 95% of posters all saying the same thing who are clearly bitter and clueless. We're brilliant, however. And will declare that our 5% is "most people" on this thread, so therefore we're right too.

MN: "no, sorry, that's not on. Firstly, yabu. Also, you are rude, defensive, attacking PP, intolerant of opinions, 95% of the thread tells you this" (and essentially gets called out)

OP: (can not wriggle out of being called out. major tantrum. major, major tantrum at not getting the thread and validation she wanted)

MNHQ: "hi everyone, this thread has been deleted at OPs request, due to her concerns she may be identified.

Yeahhhhh.

This is quite common now. Oh and the people who deliberately find one word in a post and troll relentlessly. For example, an OP might be wondering whether to buy a male or female puppy. And they try and derail a whole thread with their "did you mean to say gender OP, are you trying to offend OP, do you need a bit of educating OP?". Ugh. Have a day off.

Mumsnet has given me a terrible impression of British women and in particular white women.

Please do elaborate.

Once you’ve disagreed with posters on the feminism board, particularly if you’ve been supportive of transgender people you get tracked all over the site, ostracised and completely ignored.

@puddlebubble

about 2/3 weeks ago there was a poster who in their thread title used the word 'palava'. The word isn't used that much on here and was spelt wrong ... i.e. palaver. 2 hours later there was a second totally unrelated thread using the same word with the same misspelling. People are hired to put threads on here. Very obvious when particular posters have the same posting style and when OP's don't answer questions.

Yes, Ive noticed this too.

Ive been here for over a decade and noticed that now, the interaction just doesnt seem genuine. So many threads are started along the lines of ... "Oh, problem, problem, hope it's ok." "Tell me about your experiences with this problem..." and they never engage with the thread again or if they do, its a one-off, limited 'no response' response. My suspicious mind makes me think its for data gathering or advert promotion. It's annoying.

Aside from the above, its become dominated by Brexit talk, Covid talk, Lefty nonsense and all the trans stuff and all the highly educated, funny, witty people seem to have gone elsewhere. I believe a lot went to the nappy valley forum a few years ago but thats dead too now. I suspect its also the threat of The Daily Mail picking up threads.

@Namebunny

I really like the simplicity of the way it’s laid out and works. Everything else seems to get meow whizz bang and you have to learn more and more stuff. Exhausting! I like that this at least is easy and reassuring and that it’s like an old friend. Please don’t change!

This

Daily Fail ruined it. Taking threads off here for excusing their bullshit journalism skills.

I like the simplicity and don’t want that to change

But the level of aggression is rising imo if you post against the tide. Means people are less likely to bother.

@daisychain01

It doesn't help having an antiquated user interface that hasn't moved with the times and expectations of a feature-rich modern forum. It's increasingly clunky. I know they're planning to sort that out, hopefully sooner rather than later.

On the plus side it is a lot less cliquey than it used to be, there aren't the queen bees, they've all buzzed off.

Yes, it's absolutely terrible. I was on forums 10 years ago with better platforms.

I also think it's got much much nastier and the endless trans threads have got extremely tedious.

A bunch of different things.

• I have questions about trans rights but the feminism board is a bit much.
• the COVID divide. Either you are killing grannies or you think it barely happened and it was all an overreaction. Most people I knew were middle of the road. Took reasonable precautions and many still do, but have gone back to a semblance of normality
• the racism. If you ever post about a micro aggression you have encountered you got ‘are you sure this person meant to be racist?’ The horrible comments about names that are quite popular amongst certain ethnicities.

But it’s been great for me for two ways. The support for people in truly abusive and terrible relationships. And also for forcing me to check my privilege repeatedly.

People are gravitating away from echo chambers and having discussions on forums where alternative views are allowed & encouraged.

Plus - the user experience on here is a bit "retro" - and not in a good way.....

Well they blocked a lot of the nice, intelligent posters too so there’s that…

@Scardanelli

I had a long break during Covid because I found myself getting so riled by the Covid fanatics and their self-imposed status as rule-monitors.

I had another long break about 10 years ago because it was just pissing me off and so many people couldn't spell.

I use it intermittently now for a bit of a chat when illness keeps me at home.

I would hate it if it went all high-tech. I'm a 50 yr old who has been here since the start, and I don't use any other social media. I don't even have a phone! So I just wouldn't bother with it any more if it changed in that way.

Yes, the good old intolerance for anyone who has difficulty with perfect written RP English (English is not their first language, they live in an area with dialects, or they are not neuro typical).

I always felt very unwelcome because of my written English and would never dare write a post or a comment for fear of the grammar police. I haven’t seen such bullying recently, this is an improvement.

I agree with much of what has been said but am embarrassingly addicted to it. Every morning I vow not to check it out but spend a lot of time alone at home and it used to feel akin to some sort of social life, or at least contact with the outside world.

The ageism is rife, together with the default position that everyone lives in London, sends their kids to private school and earns high salaries that they bemoan as "not really going very far". I have perused the secondary education boards seeking advice but it is wall to wall threads about independent schools and 11plus entrance exams. It's as if the majority of kids in the UK go to private school rather than the minority.

I am also so sick of the constant threads about the UK going to hell in a hand cart which don't offer any support or room for discussion or debate. I am not saying that we are not living through challenging times and that there are hard times ahead but it's absolutely pages and pages of people slagging off everything about the UK and almost revelling in life in the UK as a dystopian nightmare.

I urge anyone who reads the majority of the threads on here and isn't in the UK, to take much of what is said with a large pinch of salt. I just read some piece of "journalism" using the GBBO as an analogy for the state of the UK and it makes it sound like we're all about to storm the Bastille!

The MN world is often far removed from the world I see around me. Unfortunately I don't have seem to have the willpower to stay away .

Because it often seems pointless. I have a very long background in education, particularly early years and phonics. I want parents to have the correct advice - but the up to date knowledge I have is drowned out by loads of incorrect advice. Posters often ignore the correct advice.

Pointless.

I am also so sick of the constant threads about the UK going to hell in a hand cart which don't offer any support or room for discussion or debate. I am not saying that we are not living through challenging times and that there are hard times ahead but it's absolutely pages and pages of people slagging off everything about the UK and almost revelling in life in the UK as a dystopian nightmare.

It’s off the scale atm

I lost interest during the covid dark times. Even though they gave them a board the covid nutters would still splatter themselves over most threads banging on about rules etc. and completely derailing. I was hiding so many threads it became a bit pointless.

I love the feminism section, somewhere women can actually have proper discussions about their rights. I assume many of the posts on AIBU are made up and yes the tedious threads on how utterly terrible the U.K. is I ignore.

Haven't had time to read the whole thread but I have lived long enough to realise that the economy is in a constant cycle of boom and bust. Every decade of so the whole thing goes haywire for one reason or other and a recession and challenging times result. It takes a few years before things right themselves and we see a period if growth. It has ever been thus and this is no different imo.