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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder if MN has changed much in 13 or so years?

109 replies

GibbonNoRibbon · 02/07/2024 19:16

Reregistered on MN to check out the SN board and possibly post for some thoughts. My old user name is no more and I have no idea if some of the old faces are still around, but I found my self thinking 'Do people still offer a biscuit?' 'Do people still vehemently argue their position of the order of knives, forks and spoons?' Do people still talk about the moldies?'

There was another thread that rings a bell about furniture legs....possibly Victorian furniture but I can't for the life of me remember...I do recall it making me chuckle a lot.

This has honestly made me so nostalgic.

OP posts:
coffeeandteav · 03/07/2024 06:16

BetsyRegards · 02/07/2024 20:30

I’ve been here about 14 years.

It has changed. I don’t notice any cliques - it’s rare to read of meet ups and their aftermath. And no one’s ever offering to race to rescue a woman in urgent domestic distress (remember that?) accompanied by a thread full of anxious countermanding advice and entreaties. Essentially it’s much less of a community.

When I arrived, looking for school advice, staying for the chat, falling into the first of the long current run of Archers threads - I felt noticeably older than most posters. Somehow the average age seems to have crept up - so there are plenty of people of my own generation now, taking postgrad degrees and spending money on clothes and delighting in memories of 1970s vegetation cooking. That’s all great.

And we have Black MN and a Mature Study and Retraining board now, as well as a Boarding School topic in Education - all very welcome.

The level of wit has decreased - but then, life is harder than it was - perhaps people have more pressing concerns …

I think this sums it up.

' life is harder than it was' so true.

MinnieMountain · 03/07/2024 06:27

If someone posts a “lighthearted” thread, about 50% of posters will have a go at them anyway.

BifurBofurBombur · 03/07/2024 06:28

BetsyRegards · 02/07/2024 20:30

I’ve been here about 14 years.

It has changed. I don’t notice any cliques - it’s rare to read of meet ups and their aftermath. And no one’s ever offering to race to rescue a woman in urgent domestic distress (remember that?) accompanied by a thread full of anxious countermanding advice and entreaties. Essentially it’s much less of a community.

When I arrived, looking for school advice, staying for the chat, falling into the first of the long current run of Archers threads - I felt noticeably older than most posters. Somehow the average age seems to have crept up - so there are plenty of people of my own generation now, taking postgrad degrees and spending money on clothes and delighting in memories of 1970s vegetation cooking. That’s all great.

And we have Black MN and a Mature Study and Retraining board now, as well as a Boarding School topic in Education - all very welcome.

The level of wit has decreased - but then, life is harder than it was - perhaps people have more pressing concerns …

I wonder if it’s because all those women in their 20s and 30s have stayed with MN so now they’re in their 40/50s? Hence the average age has gone up. That’s what happened to me.

AstonMartha · 03/07/2024 06:33

It has changed loads but I think it’s easy to look back with rose tinted spectacles.

It’s grown massively in the 19 ish years that I’ve been here. I like that it attracts people from a variety of backgrounds.

AstonMartha · 03/07/2024 06:34

Biscuit for you

Indiaorigin · 03/07/2024 06:53

I don’t know how long I’ve been here, at least 10 years. I’ve always noticed threads about how much funnier and better it was years ago. It has got bigger and you do need to add lighthearted.

AIBU has always been a bun fight but there is a lot of support. Covid and Brexit were crazy.

Original poster
GibbonNoRibbon · 03/07/2024 07:44

Oblomov24 · 03/07/2024 04:53

When did you leave and why? What made you come back after such a long time?

Firstly - thank you all for taking the time to reply (and for the pic of Soupy! Grin)
I drifted rather than left I think, towards the end I was mainly posting on the IPOAT threads only, DD2 was born around that time and I think life just felt busier. Over the years, if I want to know something I would often search 'xyz mumsnet' (have picked a holiday or two over the years from recommendations on here!)

Much has changed for me since I was last here, and I reregistered as I wanted to check out the SN boards and be able to post if I wanted to.

It really has been nostalgic remembering the old threads, baby pasta led to me remembering the river of sweetcorn Grin

OP posts:
Samcro · 03/07/2024 07:58

I remember you@GibbonNoRibbon
i joined about 16 years ago, for the sn topic, so no doubt met you there.
it was fun and loved the local meet ups.

its still good, if you avoid certain topics like the meghanhate one,

Original poster
GibbonNoRibbon · 03/07/2024 08:00

Monty27 · 03/07/2024 05:19

Anyone remember the online date arranged for the penguin park. It went live literally. Oh it had me crying 🤣🤣

I don't remember this one, will need to try and find it Grin

OP posts:
DumbassHamsterSitterPerson · 03/07/2024 08:42

DogsDinner · 03/07/2024 05:50

It’s interesting, because I notice one poster remembers MN being very anti benefits in the old days, whereas I remember the opposite!

20 years ago, posters would come onto threads about benefits and tell people to mind their own business, and then take over the thread with nonsense conversations. Now, I notice a lot more disapproval of people having kids they ‘can’t afford’, or claiming UC instead of working more hours.

So I guess it’s all in the perception! Or what boards you frequent.

There seem to be more threads these days which remind me that despite the cost of living crisis, there really are plenty of staggeringly well off people in this country. I remember more working class posters in the past, but that might be because they were so prolific.

I still like mumsnet after 20 years because it’s so fast moving, there’s always something interesting to read, and it can be very informative.

I guess it's swings and roundabouts. The anti benefits posts are becoming more common again now that I think about it.

Original poster
GibbonNoRibbon · 03/07/2024 09:50

Samcro · 03/07/2024 07:58

I remember you@GibbonNoRibbon
i joined about 16 years ago, for the sn topic, so no doubt met you there.
it was fun and loved the local meet ups.

its still good, if you avoid certain topics like the meghanhate one,

I wasn't on the SN boards then @Samcro as DD's were not diagnosed then, you probably saw me waffling inane drivel on other threads Blush
Lovely to see you Grin

OP posts:
Monty27 · 04/07/2024 06:30

GibbonNoRibbon · 03/07/2024 08:00

I don't remember this one, will need to try and find it Grin

Show quote history

If I recall it made it's way to Mumsnet classics. I can't remember what year but around the time of penis beaker. (See above).
Might have been 10 years ago and I'd been around for a while then.
Those were the days. Very funny indeed.
Now, not so much. Still love it though 😊

Original poster
GibbonNoRibbon · 04/07/2024 09:58

@Monty27 I can't seem to find the thread - it's probably been staring me in the face and I just can't see it. I shall keep looking.

OP posts:
Drivingmissmarigold · 04/07/2024 10:10

Definitely less humour and MN classic worthy posts these days. But much better without the bullying cliques that used to round on individual posters like a bunch of playground bullies. Glad that lot are gone.

Original poster
GibbonNoRibbon · 04/07/2024 10:38

Yes, it could be brutal for sure. Glad to hear that is no more.

OP posts:
marvelminecraftland · 04/07/2024 10:43

Ha, I remember the Moldies - that was when I first came on here when DD was teeny. I was baffled at the outrage but also loved the drama 😂

marvelminecraftland · 04/07/2024 10:45

Also, the GIna Ford threads and the Net Mums rivalry!

Original poster
GibbonNoRibbon · 04/07/2024 11:15

Gina Ford! God yes, she was fuming at the time and it went down the legal route as I recall. So many threads 😆

OP posts:
AstonMartha · 04/07/2024 12:00

Gina Ford aka she who should not be mentioned or SWSNBM 😂 (something like that anyway).

@Indiaorigin you should have seen it pre AIBU 😂 bun fights all over the shop.

UpThereForThinkingDownThereForDancing · 04/07/2024 12:38

I've been here off and on for 15 years 😳 and I'm nodding along to most of what's being said here.
It's made a big difference to me overall though as I've picked up loads of great advice along the way.
Wish it was still as funny though, the starting assumption that whoever is posting means well seems to have been eroded for whatever reason.

wildfellhall · 04/07/2024 16:03

Oh I remember GINA FORD!!!

Hilarious WWIII level bunfights!

wildfellhall · 04/07/2024 16:05

I also remember long chats on threads with one other person going on for days when everyone else had left.

When did AIBU start? Was it there at the beginning?

I don't remember people bringing laid into like the can be now. It used to have a gentler vibe.

J0S · 04/07/2024 16:23

GibbonNoRibbon · 04/07/2024 11:15

Gina Ford! God yes, she was fuming at the time and it went down the legal route as I recall. So many threads 😆

Yes GF was totally batshit, she took legal action against MN towers over a comment made on a thread about the parenting techniques that she proposes in her books.

Most authors accept that once you publish a book about your theories, people are allowed to criticise them 🙄

Meraas · 04/07/2024 16:30

marvelminecraftland · 04/07/2024 10:43

Ha, I remember the Moldies - that was when I first came on here when DD was teeny. I was baffled at the outrage but also loved the drama 😂

What was a Moldie?

J0S · 04/07/2024 16:32

Meraas · 04/07/2024 16:30

What was a Moldie?

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