Page 5 | Gransnet is live! Please tell any differently aged persons you know about it!

JustineMumsnet · 2011-05-05T07:39:52+00:00

Hi all, We've launched [[www.gransnet.com Gransnet]] today. It mimics the Mumsnet format but is for Grandparents, so they can chat about and pool ideas on their grandchildren, hobbies, relationships and anything else they fancy. If you know any Grans please do point them to Gransnet.com. NB any Grans on MN who'd rather hang out here are most welcome to do so and under no obligation to go to Gransnet but if you fancy taking a look, please feel free. (You could always do both [smile]) Any feedback is very welcome [[http://gransnet.com/forums/site_stuff here]]. Txs

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 09/05/2011 09:24

@sonearsofar

I'm ancient, but have had a look and I don't think I'll be going back in a hurry...all those messages on how lovely it is that there isn't any swearing for a start.
To me it feels like a way of directing advertising more accuratly to a targeted group (especially as you have to put your postcode in). I can easily ignore all of MN's advertising as none of it applies to me, and the advertisers don't like that, but I'm not going over the the GN ghetto so they can direct adverts of Saga holidays at me.
I love MN, because it's a way of meeting like minded (or otherwise) women without being catagorised by age - such a relief.

No problem sonearsofar - we're very happy to have you here . I think GN will develop it's own style and tone, according to what the bulk of users want. Who knows where they will end up wrt to swearing etc... will be entirely lead by the users though.

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Bumperlicioso · 09/05/2011 10:01

I think it is quite a nice idea. My mum is joining, she is only 50 but I think she likes the idea of it being directed towards grandparents as that is a more pertinent role for her now than being a parent (I think that's how she sees it anyway). I think she might find MN too brash anyway.

I've just sent her an email of do's and don't's for forums, warning her to pick a good user name, remember anyone can read her posts, warning her about trolls, and promising her that I will never look her up on there if she promises never to look me up on here!

BecauseImWorthIt · 09/05/2011 12:01

Oh goodness Bumper - I am older than your mum!

Bumperlicioso · 09/05/2011 14:39

Don't worry BIWI, she dresses like a 19 year old art student, but when she has the grandchildren or even us grown up children around she does the whole 'I'm too old for this' . I told her she can't be saying that for the next 50 years!

Mellowfruitfulness · 09/05/2011 16:40

One of the things that I like most about Mumsnet is that I can talk to people of all ages, and I have learnt a lot about the dreaded MIL problems for example, by reading what younger women write. I feel you'd get a range of views on MN that you might not get on Gransnet.

Another thing that would be sad imo would be if all the grans leave MN, as there will be fewer people left on here to give the older person's pov..

And as I have written elsewhere, I think it's just a way for advertisers to target grans, tbh.

However, if there's a demand for it then I'm sure it will give as much pleasure to its people as MN does to us.

MmeLindt · 09/05/2011 21:09

Mum has plunged into GN and is really enjoying it. She says it is "much better than Sagazone cause there are no grumpy old men"

:o

MmeLindt · 09/05/2011 21:16

Oh. And she has discovered what a mooncup is

crazynanna · 09/05/2011 21:23

MmeLindt

ReshapeWhileDamp · 09/05/2011 21:30

MmeLindt

Mine has just discovered my username on MN. I've been keeping it secret from her for ages as she's nosy of an inquisitive bent and WILL stalk my past posts if she ever found out who I was. And now she has. (I won a MN comp and mentioned it to her and she had a look to see if the competitions thread had details of what I'd won. So all my own fault.)

She does already know what a Mooncup is though! She thinks it's bleah.

mrsbaldwin · 09/05/2011 22:05

Right, I have just shown my mum GN. She is looking faintly interested but not enough to actually touch the keys on my laptop herself and do some clicking. I am hoping she will secretly have a look properly when she is alone, as at home she has just bought herself a lovely new Mac computer.

I am going to help her think of a good username.

mrsbaldwin · 09/05/2011 22:08

showing my mum some emoticons

MmeLindt · 10/05/2011 07:09

This one is most useful

Reshape
Mum has always known my user name but think she is not tech savvy enough to search my history.

ChinnityRhino · 10/05/2011 08:17

I've joined to show support and I am a Meema

BecauseImWorthIt · 10/05/2011 11:23

Justine - I'm interested that your guidelines on swearing on Gransnet are different from Mumsnet, and clearly steer posters away from swearing. Do you wish you'd done this with Mumsnet from the outset?!

Also - why is there no namechange facility on Gransnet? I think it's one of the brilliant parts of MN actually, in terms of people being funny/witty/clever, etc

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 11/05/2011 00:17

Our guidelines aren't that different really - but from the research and testing it seemed to us that gransnetters on the whole will have a slightly lower tolerance for swearing - but we are very happy to change policy if users want... here's what we say:

Some people like swearwords, some don?t. It?s very often possible to find an alternative way of expressing yourself, even if you have something burning to say. We'd appreciate it if users kept to those alternative ways of expressing themselves as much as possible.
We have an extremely low tolerance for words that are offensive to those with physical or mental disabilities.

Re name changes, we are testing the water a bit. I agree namechanging is part of the whole schtick of mn but i also think establishing a core community who know and trust eachother is important. It took quite a while before MNetters really took advantage of the namechange facility for having a laugh - it was originally only used for confidentiality. I Wouldn't rule out us introducing it on GN at some point if the users want it though.

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BecauseImWorthIt · 11/05/2011 08:46

I think you should be banning the use of names that are 'Grannyxxx' for a start! And don't get me started on 'Nannaxxx'

It's really interesting watching it develop its own identity. For you and Carrie, I guess it's akin to realising that your children are different from each other!

Wordwork · 11/05/2011 08:59

It must be incredibly interesting for the owners, evolving the ethos of a new site by a combination of fiat (software, rules), and freedom (responsiveness to users' choices). Like being William Penn, starting a new colony in America. Or like being God, winding up the mechanism, shoving free will into the mix to shake things up a bit, and sitting back to see what happens.

I bet that brilliant treatises could be written about such things. Perhaps they already have been.

Wordwork · 11/05/2011 09:08

Now I can't stop thinking about Granset as a cybergarden of eden. Instead of having an apple tree to get free will and sin going, GNHQ can create a Madelaine McCann thread.

jimswifein1964 · 11/05/2011 09:47

BecauseImWorthIt · 11/05/2011 13:15

Justine is God - what are you talking about?!

jimswifein1964 · 11/05/2011 13:16

ReshapeWhileDamp · 12/05/2011 10:01

lol at Wordwork!

Less of a lol at the mental image of all the grannies running about starkers in a Pre-Lapsarian frenzy of innocence.

GET THEM FIGLEAVES FFS

Wordwork · 12/05/2011 10:22

Almost as interesting as the evolution of the culture of a new site is the evolution of the 'myth' of the site. I haven't looked at Gransnet but I am pretty sure that this piece has just stuck a convienient interpretation onto Gransnet's content, rather than responded to what is actually there. And that is a new beginning too: the creation of Gransnet's media identity.

It is like there are two completely different petri dishes (Gransnet, and Gransnet's media image) smeared with a two completely different sets of starter-bacteria, ready to evolve into more or less scary new lifeforms.

Interesting to watch.

Wordwork · 12/05/2011 10:25

(If there is an apple tree in the Granset cyberEden, I bet that the snake slithering around it will turn out to be a journo-troll from the Daily Mail.)

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 13/05/2011 01:38

@Wordwork

Almost as interesting as the evolution of the culture of a new site is the evolution of the 'myth' of the site. I haven't looked at Gransnet but I am pretty sure that this piece has just stuck a convienient interpretation onto Gransnet's content, rather than responded to what is actually there. And that is a new beginning too: the creation of Gransnet's media identity.

It is like there are two completely different petri dishes (Gransnet, and Gransnet's media image) smeared with a two completely different sets of starter-bacteria, ready to evolve into more or less scary new lifeforms.

Interesting to watch.

Ha - so true - you are one smart cookie wordwork.

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