to think that the average debating ability of Mumsnetters has dropped considerably over the past year?

[colditz]

I was browsing through some old threads earlier, and the general standard of debate has dropped. People here used to be able to follow a thread and give a pertinent response, backed up with careful research. Lately the response is likely to be completely unrelated to the original point, and passive-aggressive to boot.

who is shiney you-know-who and her cult of followers?
is she gina ford??

I love 'casual nexus'.

I used 'sartorial subtext' in a style & beauty thread last week. It felt so right when I typed it. It was only afterwards that I remembered I was talking about a Peacocks dress.

not really, it would just be the same for those people, tfm, but once you'd read a few threads you'd have an idea of the posters you found interesting and could see what threads they were on.

i STILL regret that i missed that christmas party photos thread because it had such a sodding BORING title. if i'd seen cod and lapin posting on it i'd have known that it had gone funny. or if i could see dp on a religion thread i'd know it had gone tits-up etc.

colditz - I long ago lost any ability to predict which threads would 'fly' and which would 'sink'. Seems very random. But, good for you with this thread - at least you've got people thinking/talking about something other than the same old same old.

swedes - know just what you mean!

aitch;

re; the "cliquey threads"..

you're not missing anything......trust me

Stealth, it's just a healthy eating thread.
Like 10/10 but not as strict (and stumped for ideas on thread titles as can't have song titles cos 10/10 do).

oh yes i've always loathed them, lizzy, because they keep a lot of otherwise interesting people in their comfort zones, iyswim? but i do appreciate the need for a home room, or some way of identifying where your fellow souls are among the bumsexers, hence my 'on this thread' proposal. tbh it's what most forums do nowadays, it's standard issue on free boards. it's only because mn was coded in the ark that we don't have it, it wasn't a policy decision.

for me i see posts as discrete entities.never thought oh whatshername is posting must take a lookey

i dont have any mn favourites.nor would i seek out anyone by name.

i PMSL at that peacocks dress, swedes. and then dd2 threw up so no chance to rofl in person.

I would LOVE to hear about ASBOy, please.

I've never really been one for kicking a waspsnest, and actually, despite many accusations, I don't do trolling. But the temptation lately has been huge.

I might go and start a sheaf of threads about all kinds of daft shite and see what happens.

bet I get a kicking. You watch.

oh that's dull - I thought we had a child rearing guru in our midst

yeah, you always say that sm but tbh unless you suffer from some sort of aphasia i find it really hard to believe you.

I thought MNHQ didn't make a list of posters because they would have to reveal that in fact they only have 56 unique posters, but 850,000 name changers, per hour.

I'm going to pull the face on you there scottishmummy. I just don't believe that. It's not the way we work. Although I dare say it seems like the Right Thing...

swedes...you make me laugh..

I'm with aitch someway of recognising a thread with like minded people on or even people you recognise would be good or some where to call home

Really?
I am on the Shiney thread (not all the time), they love people popping in. Lots of people do.
I enjoy having somewhere to chat to people away from the madness. For the first time in 5 years I actually feel like I know people on here. It's nice. Esecially as I work from home on my own, stops me feeling so isolated.

But scottishmummy - that is exactly the point. With so many new people joining all the time, the board can withstand a mass exodus of 'high quality' posters ( ala moldies) and still survive. We are individually and collectively (at least by the dozens) expendable because they'll simply recruit alot more folks via the next book/interview/web-chat, etc.

Those of us who regret that moldie exodus are greeted with , but the fact is that the board has changed a great deal since that whole debacle. No question Mnet has a higher profile and more members than it did this time last year. That entire scenario caused me to think hard about the amount of time/energy I invested here.

i daresay they probably all say that they love people popping in etc, but i just don't want to jibber-jabber about dentist trips and sore toes etc, i want to talk about a subject identified in a thread title that will attract other people with interesting experience or specialist knowledge on that subject. and i just kinda feel that they're not participating in those threads because they're more comfy with their pals. you can't ban them, obviously, but it would be good if there was something else available for people who feel as i do.

I may have to look out for this shiney thread you speak of or for wankerland and pay a visit

Is it really worse? In my mind there was a golden period about a year or so ago, but I'm not sure that can really be true. I've probably just got a bit bored with it all since then. Isn't that what we all do?

Aitch, I have to tell you, you were on a thread I had started about a nasty family situation, and what you said to me absolutely changed not only my view of that problem, but actually the way I look at life.

So you had a life-changing impact on someone you will never meet, and I think that is the power of MN.