mumsnet people this really must change - or tell me to bog off.

[Tortington]

i have been reassures by the adding of topics for teenagers and knowing that quite a few mumsnetters have older children.

i know that this subject has come up before and i know you have said you will address it.

i know that you probably are limited in some way through some product advertising thingymajig and can only get comp prizes from certain places or from certain non stingy advertisers.

i appreciate you efforts. and thank you

however. i came to enter this weeks competition. becuase i have a lovely god daughter called mini rhubarb and well... mrs rhubarb would be soo very impressed if loads of dollies and girly stuff turned up for her daughter ha ha haa haa ha haa ( thats an inside joke but you get it) never the less i want to get it so i look fab around xmas time without spending any money.

imagine my dismay shock horror and general ending of my known universe when i discover i can only put in a book review up to 10 years old.

i cant remember seeing prizes for older kids - you can and prolly will prove me wrong. i did see a change in ogffering spa days and ready meals in a basket. etc.

but would like to point out that just becuase the prize your offering may have a maximum playing age of say 10. that does not necessarily equate with the kids we have. see what i mean?

i chose that topic in particular becuase 80% of the other topics simply dont apply to me - its hard enough entering the blinking comp in the first place as i havent pushed a buggy changed a nappy used any breastfeeding bottle feeding quipment, used a car seat etc - all the first two topics of "for baby" " for new parents" are out and some of the others simply dont apply.

now i was quite happly using the few topics to enter - but today am a bit premenstrual and this got on my bresticles - the thing about the age of the books - hence melodramatic rampage

ta very much. i

doh

sorry moo

the way you enter the competition

you know 'send us a review' or 'send us a review' and sometimes they even ask us to 'send in a review'

Yes, they could be more imaginative. We could have a Spot the Troll Competition, and a Who Can Start the Most Controversial Thread Competition, also Best Thread Killer Competition and Who Can Get Banned The Fastest Competition.

pmsl marthamoo

Like spot the troll

How about "MNetter who has the most threads about them"?

dont even go there sleepysuzy

teehee

Twiglett -- (there's a love???!!!)
i dont set entry requirements.

Most Improved Poster

sorry are my mancunian routes showing ?

roots .. doh

lol x 1000 @ marthamoo!
totally agree custardo - started a similar thread about all the recent baby and pregnancy orientated comps a while back. I believe mumsnet are working on this (she says hopefully).

custy just go down to your local library and read one!

I must admit I thought , oh no not another review!

they are a good idea though. the reviews is what sells books to me on Amazon.

Custy rant away, I love reading you when you're cross!

Dear all

Thanks as always for your feedback.We'll try and answer the main points separately.

1. Prizes: We are limited to a large extent by what we are offered/ can get but we do try and balance out as much as possble between maternity- baby - toddler - older child -adult stuff. Coming up in the next few weeks for eg we have a weekend at a hotel, some fitness/cookware equipment, Children's story CD's, a hard disc DVD recorder and dvd games - as well as some barbie stuff, forever friends goodie bag and a baby's feet/hand paster cast kit. Obviously it's impossible to get prizes that appeal across the whole spectrum every week but rest assured we do try.

2 On the entry requirements point. Again we can see where you are coming from and the monthly recipe comp will be back soon which adds a bit of variety. Ultimately though we need to balance the need to make entry requirements interesting/open to all with mumsnet's need to gather content for the site. We need to keep the surveys up to date and wonderfully altruistic though you all are, there's nothing like a bit of a competition to incentivise folks to send in that review of the summer holiday/ day out/restaurant etc.

As far as possible we do try and include something that everyone can respond to. So if we are particularly looking to update the ski hols reviews we will ask for those but we are well aware that lots of us don't hit the slopes every season (or indeed ever) so we always make sure there's something like sending a tip/ recommending a friend, sending in a recipe etc as well or simply sending in any review. These may take some effort to think up/complete but at least most people should be able to enter. We apologise if the occasional comp with restricted entry requirements has slippped through the net - do let us know if this happens again - we can always amend during the week,

3. Re the book/DVD/toy reviews going up to 5. We used to have the book surveys going up to 10 but received too few reviews to make the surveys viable. One of the reasons for this was that while most one/two year olds like the same sort of thing ie repetition, flaps etc so it's fair to say Dear Zoo will generally be a hit - by the time children reach 6 and older what suits one will be too dull/scary/childish - to the other. This applies to toys/books and dvd's really. To make the surveys useful we have to have a consensus/volume of reviews and apart from Harry Potter, Roald Dahl and Jacqueline Wilson - which I think most parents are familiar with, there was no other real consensus. There's also an argument that the older the child gets the less likely it is that the parent will have actually read the book as the child is reading it to themselves.

The bottom line as always is that we have limited time and resources and have to work out what in the end is going to prove most useful to new and existing members in terms of advice.We think there's a strong argument that says that folks probably need more help choosing a travel cot or pushchair than they do choosing a book for an 8 year old who can probably tell you what they like - hence the need to collect those reviews.

Hope that answers the main points.

We're really sorry you feel disgruntled - but thanks again for letting us know

oo I'm jealous you got to use the word disgruntled in your response

I love that word

disgruntled

I assume the opposite would be gruntled?

custardo - i thought exactly the same! but you are so much more articulate than I.

What about asking for book reviews from older children themselves?

The dolls are mine so there is no point entering the comp this week.

Stretching the boundaries of mumsnet to incorporate mums of teenagers would open up a whole new audience of potential mumsnetters, and put mumsnet streets ahead of some of 'Those other' parenting sites.

(No offence to existing mumsnetters with older children)

mumsnet is for mums though (and dads) not mums of babies only.

IMO its mums of older kids that need the guidance more esp those with teens.

maybe you could leave the age open then so we write in an age - that way you can disregard the responses from mums with older children that dont post enough information - however they will still be able to enter the competition.

thing is mumsnet towers - as two other posters have said i could make one up - pretend my kids are 5 go on anazon etc.

but as well as wanting mumsnet to change which is my primary reason. i gather customer feedback and research for my work and so feel a bit icky making stuff up to win a comp and ultimatley making the reaserch or feedback void. i mean if all mums of older children have to do this to enter a comp then the research isn't true anyway.

heres the crux. you see i have this feeling that mumsnet is run by peoplewho have younger children - you are creating what you know.

i wonder if it would change as your kids got older?

i understand your arguments and do try to be as magnanimous as poss and see other points of view - i really do, however there is an obvious bias. if it was called "babynet" or something i would fully understand and shut my gob. but its mumsnet. for all mums...isn't it?.

so to enter this competition i will have to lie and make things up? seems very daft.

i understand and did think it was the case that you can only offer prizes depending on what you could scrounge - fair enough - but like i said earlier - i still want to enter because i have cousins second cousins friends god children that would be over the moon.

theres only so many camping reviews i can do - as i only holiday once a year.

other than that i have in the past done day out reviews for worthing beach. becuase thats the only place i get to go on days out!

theres only so many you can do a year on these topics. i dont know the solution maybe other mumsnetters do. but i feel the entry conditions t the comps are severely limited.

all i'm saying is lift the age barrier and dont use the ones you dont get enough responses to - but still enter them into the competition.

am off to review pizza hut and macdonalds and burger king

thank you for listening

I'm still laughing my socks off at "bresticles"!

Agree with you wholeheartedly, have posted similar before, but not with such expressiveness!