MN used to have a thriving SEN support section and now it's like a ghost town

[BertieBotts]

I've just created a thread in Site Stuff, but I wanted to repost here to gain a larger audience.

You may or may not be aware, but MN has several topics covering SEN support. It's my understanding (I've been here a while, but this was before my time) that they were originally created in order to provide some privacy for posters who preferred to discuss SEN related issues with other parents who had been there and avoid upsetting replies from posters who had not registered the mention of SEN in the thread.

The way that this privacy was originally provided was to offer an "opt-in" system - by default, all current (at the time) and new users of MN would not see threads from the SEN topics in their Active Conversations feed. However, there was a section of the forum settings where users could choose to enable viewing of these hidden threads in their own Active Convos. They remained hidden to anybody who did not actively choose to turn this option on.

At some point this functionality got broken or changed, I don't know whether it was accidental or intentional, but I believe it was tied to one of the bigger site redesigns, most likely some time in 2014. The hidden sections can still be "unhidden" in Talk Settings, but this doesn't do anything any more. They are hidden from everyone, whether you've opted in or not. In order to see if anyone has posted there you have to visit the section directly or add it to your subscriptions, and even if you're fully subscribed with notifications on, threads from that topic will never appear in Active.

Since this change, there has been a marked reduction in posts in those sections, to the point that they are much less known about and used. I felt like that was the case, anyway, but I was curious if it was visible as a trend so I used Advanced Search to search for all posts in SN Children during the whole of 2008 - it returned 2,500 results, which is the max number of search results. I reduced the time period to smaller ones until it was reporting well under 2,500 and the time period I found was a week. So I changed the week to be 1st-7th March (inclusive) each year, from 2008 to 2021, and this is what the number of posts (comments) looks like for that random week in each of those years:

2008 - 966 posts a week
2009 - 1541 posts a week
2010 - 1079 posts a week
2011 - 1349 posts a week
2012 - 1533 posts a week
2013 - 2500+ posts a week
2014 - 1530 posts a week
2015 - 466 posts a week
2016 - 262 posts a week
2017 - 296 posts a week
2018 - 113 posts a week
2019 - 151 posts a week
2020 - 118 posts a week
2021 - 129 posts a week

The number of weekly posts has literally been decimated and that doesn't make sense when the number of site visitors has grown and the number of SEN diagnoses and the amount of discussion is also increasing. With a lot of anti-SEN feeling on the site sometimes I feel like the safe spaces are more crucial than ever, and I really want to open a discussion about whether the old functionality can be restored to allow posters who want to use the SEN sections to use them as easily as the rest of the site.

people ask chat now not post in forums.

Clearly they don't, given the amount of threads on MN as a whole hasn't reduced.

Isn't every thread a SEN thread?

No.hth.

YANBU - I would never post in chat or AIBU about SEN, because I know what it will descend into.

Not that long ago I was planning on posting for advice about DS2, and went to the SEN board for that purpose. But seeing how dead it was I didn’t bother. When you are desperate for advice and understanding from others who ‘get it’, it is very upsetting to post and get little or no response.

So I never did post. It’s isolating being a SEN parent, and I know there are so many other SEN parents on MN - but it doesn’t seem possible to reach out only to them, or in a safe space. AIBU and Chat are not safe spaces to ask for SEN support.

Something happened, but I can't remember what.
Maybe some prolific, supportive posters left for a reason and it tailed off.

As a parent of two children with SEND, I would not come to mumsnet as a safe space to find support specifically for SEND issues. There’s too much anti SEND and anti ND rhetoric. Surely threads seeking support would just be hijacked with more of the insensitive same?

I completely agree. I’ve been here since 2008 and only had SEND issues since 2022 and haven’t even thought to post on MN about it as there’s no support. Which is a crying shame as I have an EHCp tribunal for DD2 next week

Was it something to do with the hack?

It could be to do with the hack. That was 2014 I also wonder whether many folk went off to fb support groups around then…

I think people probably get a lot of their SEND support on socials now, Facebook and Instagram in particular where you can curate what you see and who responds. People have more of a community in those spaces.

It's a bit of a shame really as I think there should be a place for longer form questions and explanations. MN has always been a bit of a lightening rod for the culture wars though and SEND is one of its more recent manifestations which means you're only ever 3 posts away from someone telling you your child is a drain on the state etc etc.

There was 100% a change in the way that hidden topics worked. I don't know exactly when that happened, because I didn't notice it straight away, but it used to be explicitly stated how the hidden topics worked on the Customise page, there were two boxes and you could move topics between them, move the auto-hidden ones to being viewable and move anything you're not interested in or don't want to see onto the hidden side.

You're right that the drop in posting in the SEN sections could be related to something else, but I know that a lot of posters primarily access threads from Active, and if a thread drops off Active it tends to die fairly quickly unless it's something people would specifically seek out, like a TV thread or long running chat/support thread.

I wonder if other topics had a similarly staggering drop off. I can do more numbers tomorrow but I am an hour ahead of the UK so I need to go to bed.

We have a group here, op:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5493437-sen-parents-support-group-thread-1?reply=150653174

x

The SEN section hasent been thriving for a long time my severely autistic non verbal son is nearly 16and the SEN section didnt get much traffic when he was a toddler either.

I can understand why it doesnt show up in active though
There are some awful threads about children with disabilities in AIBU.

I've just created a thread in Site Stuff, but I wanted to repost here to gain a larger audience.

MNHQ will pick this up in Site Stuff so no need for two threads.

MN in general feels a harsher place , more critical, more trolls, goady fake posts than 10 years ago.

Even on this Sen thread, we were 3 posts in before a snarky post was made.

If you go back to the 2010s MN posts - vast vast majority are helpful, these days, even the most benign subjects can get personal attacks.

For sen parents it makes you reticent and go elsewhere for support

This is interesting, I’ve been on MN since about 2000, I used to get a lot of help and support on SEN topics, but I’ve had periods when I’ve not used MN at all and haven’t looked at those topics for years as my DC are now adults, I had no idea it had changed so much.
I’m now here mainly for one topic and very careful about what I post, it can blow up so quickly.

I've asked MNHQ for feedback on this issue several times since I first noticed it and they never seem especially interested, probably thinking it's just a handful of posters disgruntled about a minor change, but to me it's a major change which completely affects how easy it is to use those particular sections of the site. I think others will probably agree, but if they aren't aware of how it used to be, and if it really did happen in 2014 then that's got to be a majority of people, then how will they know that it could be different?

However most people seem to be responding to the drop in posts and trying to find their own explanation for this rather than my actual point which is about the inability to opt in to see threads from this topic in Active. (I have this issue all the time, it's frustrating, I include too much context and people assume my main point is something else).

Oh 100% absolutely which is why I agree it should be hidden by default, which it still is and always has been.

I just preferred it the older way which is where if you want to opt in to see it, you can. It helps avoid accidental responses thinking it's just a "normal" discipline issue plus the general snarky moaning about how everyone has ADHD these days etc.

Thank you ❤️ Your thread actually inspired me to ask about this issue again. I completely understand why your thread is in chat and obviously, make a thread wherever you feel most comfortable but it feels frustrating to me that the section created for this specific issue is completely invisible even to the people who should be able to see it freely.

IMO part of the problem is the interminable number of forums on MN. How on earth is anyone supposed to find them? How would a new SEND mum find that particular forum? It's a nightmare. That's why we all rely on Active threads.

There was probably a natural falling away of a community as their children grew up, more use of other social media, and new posters not even knowing the SEND area exists.

I absolutely agree that not showing in Active affects thread’s popularity. I have child with additional needs and took me quite a while to realise that there was a specific SEN section. When I had questions couple of time I looked it up and there were not many replies so I didn’t bother.
However it’s not only about traffic. I usually ask questions in FB group related to my child diagnosis because then I can get more tailored advice. I would need to put a lot of details on MN to get the same result and I still wouldn’t be certain who’s posting.

I actually thought for a long time MN just didn't have a sen section because it's not where I searched for it, it's a standalone section, if your on a phone it's way way down scrolling wise, whereas I was looking in "being a parent"

(Obviously Sen can be a grown up issue too, but I was looking for EHCP support/wisdom)

Just a thought, maybe there's others out there who struggled to navigate. I found it by accident and of the categories I wasn't sure which to post in (SEN chat/SEN kids or something)

I get that but sime posters come wading in on SEN threads posted on forums that are active
When they have no clue about what they are talking about and a lot of their opinions are ignorant and in some cases down right nasty
Im not sure how helpful that is ti new SEN parents either.