Baby clothes - sooooo expensive!

[BuyBabyClothesLtd]

Here's a tip for you!

OK, so it's actually a cheap shot at advertising but new baby clothes are so expensive nowadays!

If you're looking for quality, affordable, nearly new baby clothes try www.buybabyclothes.co.uk.

Happy shopping

KS - a male pervert aged 45 who gets his kicks from discussing pregnancy whilst pretending to be a mother and calling himself Jenny when online would not show up at a meet-up. I'm trying to make a valid and helpful point that everyone discussing personal information on the internet should consider. Do we have to have the sarcasm?

Yeah, lighten up James. Show us your Brians

Bobbins/ks - I have no idea what Brians are!?!

Am I the only one who finds the aggression towards James K really unacceptable? Yes, he tried to canvass for his business through mumsnet - slapped wrist. But I don't notice all this aggression towards people like fairy, for instance who sells cards and has promoted her website through conversations on mumsnet. I'm not having a go at fairy, she was the only one I could think of without doing a search.
At least JamesK has been upfront and has bothered to reply to each post - even though he didn't need to, esp as some were so bloody rude. Mumsnet is an open forum and if there's one rule for one, there should be the same for everyone. And this rule can be politely pointed out without all this arseyness. It puts me right off. I notice simonhoward doesn't get all this shit despite committing the cardinal sin of being a male. Talk about double standards!
This has got me really mad. Have ummed and arrhed about subscribing - won't bother now. And lest I get labelled a hypocrite, I'll leave mumsnet well alone as well.

Personally don't think it has anything to do with his being male. Haven't meant to be aggressive, more playful than anything. I repeat, I just think he should have contacted the moderators before advertising, that's just manners.

In James' defence, I don't think it's made clear enough to advertisers, etc. that they should initially post under Find Discussions/Topics/Media, Non-Member Requests. This is listed right at the bottom of Topics, perhaps it should be at the top and maybe made reference to at the Home Page? It does state that a subscription of £30 is required.

I don't think people are aware of this, because Wickedwaterwitch posted in a similar manner and was directed there by Justine/Carrie - it's not made clear enough - and no-one has posted there at all yet, so more clarification is needed, perhaps?

For the record, I've subscribed but didn't want my name to appear on the list!

Err, I don't think I did post in a similar manner actually. Don't want to start a fight but my situation was vastly different IMO. I am not a business and was asking for help for my sister; it was a personal request from someone (me) who HAS paid a subscription, is a member and does contribute/participate/give advice here. Very, very different and yes, I'm sensitve on the subject.

Can I make a suggestion?

I think we should all stop this discussion as it's not productive and things are getting seriously out of hand.

I'll email Justine/Carrie now on [email protected] and explain the situation. I think they need to know that the route that traders should use is not clear and needs addressing. They also need to point out that traders aren't welcome to discuss and warn them of the consequences!

I can't believe how far this has gone from a light-hearted attempt at starting a discussion about the cost of baby clothes. I definately won't be doing that again in forums or discussions!

James

Good suggestion, you definitely shown you have brians.

Wickedwaterwitch, the last thing I would want to do is offend you, I know it was in relation to a delicate subject, I was just referring to the fact that it was a media-related topic (your sister's programme) and Justine had posted in reply to you about using the Media/Non-member Requests thread - I was using it as an example that it's not made more obvious to people. I never meant to imply anything about subscriptions, etc.

I do think it should be made clearer as the where the marketplace thread is, and that even small companies should pay - in fact I'd think this could be a good source of revenue - people could advertise holiday lets, crafts, businesses etc.

Personally, as a baby clothes addict I always welcome more info on where I can get them but perhaps I'm just very shallow!

BTW I haven't paid my subscription either - I'm waiting for pay-day.

Jamesk, agreed. I have some sympathy for you (and feel you've done a valiant job of defending yourself) as I don't think it's clear from the home page that small traders aren't welcome to post on these boards. This is supposed to be an open forum and The Word About Our Philosophy bit at the begining of Talk doesn't explain what to do if you're a small trader and want to advertise. So anyone could pose as a mum, join in for a bit, fail to pay anything and and then post a supposedly personal recommendation. Jamesk didn't do that and look what happened!

I do think everyone should remember that mumsnet is nothing without its contributors. Not a dig at anyone, just worth pointing out that we've already lost aloha, Rara and others when things have got personal. IMO we should all try to avoid that: everyone's opinions should be allowed, even if we disagree. This isn't meant to cause offence, just that whilst I understand that some of us feel protective of mumsnet it sometimes seems to turn nasty here without warning. I don't like it when it does. And just wondering whether I'm mad to post something so potentially controversial so I have to change my name/leave but just hoping no-one takes offence!

I agree, www.

www - don't see how anyone could take offence to your statement.

As originator of the thread (after BBC Ltd's post) I felt the need to duck when a day later I saw the number comments. For a moment I was sorry to have started things off (please forgive me for any raised blood pressure) but I think now that perhaps JamesK has done us a favour by inadvertently (no pun intended) bringing this to the fore.

A system may now be considered and potentially put in place by which the administators of the site can realise a revenue at a level that small businesses would be likely to pay in order to make themselves known to their target audience (us). From other threads it sounds like the site could do with the cash and, personally, I don't mind advertising as long as its clear that it is advertising and is located in a part of the site that you'd use to source products (not sure about it being in with the talk though).

Rara - I'm realy soryy you felt as you did tho I do sort of understand. As I've already said I was utterly bewildered by the aggressive comments that were made towards James.
Yes, he made a mistake, but he apologised, tried to rectify it - and then spent a considerable amount of time answering points that had been made in a non aggressive and coherent manner ( and yes he's right - we don't really know if 'one of us' is not really who we think.)
Incidentally no one seems to mind Simonhoward being a man!

Just fyi, there's a link to advertising at the bottom of the home page, as well as the site map page.

JamesK - as some of the others have also said, I don't mind you trying to get cheap advertising.

As it goes though I run a childrens clothes website and we've found that messages on chat boards (not placed by us, but I do track them) are a bit of a dead loss really, as you need people to see your ad when they're thinking about buying something. As you don't appear to be direct competition, my free tip of the day is - and you probably know this - get optimising for those search engines, in particular get listed on Yahoo and MSN, and make sure your listings say cheap/second hand as there are so many companies targeting "baby clothes" that it's not worth it. (I know it costs money, but it's worth it). Good luck.

Hi all,
JamesK contacted us directly and we thought we'd post our reply to James here so you could all see what we thought about this issue:

Hi James,

I'm afraid the aggression you met with on talk, whilst not particularly edifying, was hardly surprising. As you mentioned there is an email address listed on the site to enquire about advertising opportunities. I think our message to would-be advertisers on that page is pretty clear, viz:
We offer a comprehensive package of services for advertisers on mumsnet including sponsorship, banner advertising and retail partnerships. In addition we will soon be running classified advertising.

For more information please email us at: [email protected]

In line with conventional net practice, we fully expect businesses interested in advertising to contact us rather than posting directly onto talk and in two-and-a-half years your company is the first not to do so.

There is a topic listed on the talk home page for media/ non-member requests in which we ask those making such requests to pay a subscription to mumsnet. However, this is not intended to apply to advertisers (or it would say it was) so whether or not you could subscribe isn't the issue - though obviously if you had trouble subscribing we'd be grateful if you'd tell us more about it.

I think it is fairly naive of you to think that because we don't have a message somewhere that specifically says "Don't try and use our talk boards for free advertising!" that doing so is acceptable. As you say it was a cheap shot and it met with a fairly predictable response. Mumsnet members are an intelligent bunch and they know a cheap shot when they see one. I attach our media pack if you're still interested in some cheap but not I'm afraid, completely free advertising.

Best,
Justine
www.mumsnet.com

Thanks to those of you who pointed out that our request for subscriptions to media orgs is not particularly well-advertised - you're right and we'll do something to rectify that soonest.
Justine, Carrie and Rachel

NCT nearly new sales are a terrific place to get good quality slightly 2nd hand baby clothes. Our Saturday street market has at least one stall selling excellent condition 2nd hand baby clothes for very reasonable prices,
.

though the QS, Bewise, WEW, Poundstretchers & Peacock's in town are only marginally more dear for new clothes, anyway.

As far as I'm concerned... when parent to small children getting out of the house isn't a chore -- it's mandatory for one's sanity.

Classified ads are a brilliant idea.

My final thoughts.

To everybody.

I was obviously naive when posting the topic, to think that those that were interested in the Company would take a look and everybody else would laugh at my cheek and my blatant admittance that it was a cheap shot.

I honestly believed that I could start an interesting and informative discussion about the price of baby clothes and everyone could learn something from that. Well, I've definately learnt something but it's not quite as I'd expected.

Here's my final attempt to gain your understanding and support (if you're cold hearted please skip this paragraph): I'm only in my twenties and I've finally realised my ambition of starting my own company. Since I decided to try and make a go of it 1 year ago, aside from my full time day job, I've held the sole responsibility of designing, funding, building, launching, running and marketing the company. I've got overheads of tens of thousands of pounds in my sole name. Other people are depending on the success of both the company and me as an individual to make their living. I saw what I thought was a harmless opportunity and I took it. I've been trying to apologise ever since. I maintain that we offer a valuable service to parents, for a variety of reasons, and support childrens charities and organisations wherever possible. That should not be overlooked.

There may be some 'positives' as a result of all this. The mentions of subscriptions to mumsnet may have jogged a few memories... the mention of NCT sales which is a great way to buy clothes... a few ideas as to where to find cheap brand new clothes... the proof that there's a lot of strong feelings about the sanctity of mumsnet... the feeling of unity amongst the members when faced with 'a breach' of that sanctity.

I still have every intention of paying the £30 that, I have subsequently learnt, is the only correct route to take when looking to promote a company on mumsnet. I would hope that by doing this, albeit in the wrong order, I will have 'paid my dues'.

If you do see an ad for Buy Baby Clothes on mumsnet in the near future rest assured that if you spit on your monitor screen it will simply wipe off with a tissue. I don't know much about being a mum but I do know a bit about computers.

I hope I can leave this discussion in better regard than I joined it.

Best wishes.

James King
Director
Buy Baby Clothes Limited

Your final thoughts? Have you reached the final curtain?

I must say I thought you all handled this rather well, JamesK.

Sorry, typo- cross out the all.