How would Dadsnet be different?

[UnquietDad]

This is a serious question, and not one inviting cheap shots.

There would be more discussion of football and rugby (fair enough) and probably golf (yaaaaaaaaaawn).

There would be a Cars section. Like them or not (and I don't especially) more men are into them than women.

I imagine there would be less bitchery, and not as many all-encompassing comments like "all women are stupid."

There woukd be a dedicated Music section for discussing our ALPHABETICALLY-arranged (is there any other way?) CD collections.

Any more??

'approx' obviously (but my dh can't spell )

I'm not THAT keen on football, but the thing about football conversation is that it is safe and classless, especially during the World Cup when you don't even have to reveal a club allegiance. It instantly unites men and gives them something to talk about.

Starting a car/driving conversation is fraught with potential pitfalls, as is anything house/DIY related, as the man you are talking to may have a substantially better/worse house/car and you find yourself talking in completely different zones.

There would be no mentioned of Dryer Balls!

Christmas: 'Someone explain to me why it is necessary to think about this before appox midday on Christmas Eve'

God, I'm with this one, though. I mean, have people SERIOUSLY started WRAPPING PRESENTS already?? You are all INSANE!!!!

Hmmm. A conumdrum.
DP would talk about:
parenting
DS
politics and contemporary life
Carhaart trousers
attitudes to going bald
microbrewey ales
music
farting
my slobbish household habits
the cheapest deals on gas, electricity and broadband
Life in Ghandi's ashram
How much time she spends on MN

BUT he thinks the whole idea of talking about any of that on a message board is weird and demented.

Surprises me, actually. For so long the Internet, especially the message-board side of it, has been seen as a bit male and geeky. Is mumsnet shifting the goalposts?

I reckon men would be more likely to look on a website about blokeish topics and parenting topics than to buy a magazine about them.

DP would talk about
Cars
The environment and Why It Is Important
Cars
The appalling abuse of human rights under this government
Cars
Battlestar Gallactica
and cars....

Well that's more than my dh MI.

He would talk about...cars

Dp suggested to me that he thought a good topic for Mumsnet would be - would you rather your dp had an affair or visited a prostitute? Unimpressed, I told him that might be more appropriate for Dadsnet....

Meet-ups would never happen because men are incapable of booking or planning anything in advance or knowing what's already in their diary- they'd have to get their other halves to arrange it for them, tell them what to wear and then remind them 18 times that it was on........

Agree Fairy, except as regards 'what to wear' (see below, under my dh's topics!)

My dp is a geeky type and has been using the interweb for years and years (since the very beginning of interweb time) ... DIY, SciFi, philosophy, computing stuff (hardware, software, open source programming...), gadgetry etc all on different (and multiple) sites. However, what he wants from these sites, first and foremost, is access to INFORMATION. Some of the big computing forums (which were the first to be established) are very active and have 100,000's members, but they do stay strictly on topic. Although mn is a great source of information about families and parenting, there's also much more emphasis on people and relationships and, err, helping, and it may be this social networking that makes it such an active and lively site. Having said that, I have a male friend who belongs to a very active running forum where there's a good gender mix, and where the more intimate and social aspects are as equally foregrounded as the running-related threads. And they do monthly meet-ups!

Fergie from BEP just doesn't photograph well on all occasions, which makes her seem more normal!

I don't see what's wrong with talking about cars (so long as there's not too much talk about the boring day to day ones).

LOL at
Cars
The environment and Why It Is Important
Cars

DP would regularly start threads about packing/loading.

Why can't DW load the dishwasher correctly? (because it doesn't frigging matter - put them in, switch it on, take them out. It doesn't matter if I have the big and little plates lined up symetrically).

Why can't DW pack a car (ditto)

Why can't DW iron shirts like I used to in the Navy (because I wasn't in the Navy and I DON'T CARE about crease alignment)

Why can't DW pack the supermarket shopping properly (because I want to get the hell out and am not a sad tosser)

etc

"What's for dinner?" "bd if I know"

"Embarrassing problem" - stony silence

"Did I underreact?"

And NO threads that contained in the title the words "sorry, long"

Oh ha ha, you are all so hilarious.

Conversely, there would be no wittering about clothes, shoes, vacuous celebrity lifestyles or any of that crap.

UnquietDad. I can't believe that you are being so disrespectful about Naval Creasing.

Shame on you. You are from the other side.

arfyshimeau, I stand shoulder to shoulder with your DH on the dishwasher thing.

I bet you wouldn't have a baaaarrrr as full as ours

[gloat emoticon]

We'd have a PUB. With quizzes and a jukebox.

Surely the jukebox would interfere with the live footy/rugby/darts/badminton/tiddlywinks on the big screen TV every night?

Definately would have to have a quizzer - dh would be here like a shot.

Convos would include: "How often did your dw/dp claim to have informed you about something of which you have no memory"
and
"my dw is being unreasonable, I only get to go out 3 nights a week"
etc.
If dadsnet had a special "Top Gear" section, sited next to the quizzer, I'd be a dadsnet widow!

I prefer live quizzes to a machine, but each to their own. Not that keen on live sport on big screens, either. Now if it was Doctor Who... or Lost...

(If this thread makes it on to the homepage I will be so chuffed...)