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

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Tortington · 12/09/2005 17:50

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

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MNHQ

carriemumsnet · 13/09/2005 10:06

Dear all

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

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,

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

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