What you would like to see in MN Local?

[EmmaMumsnet]

We are redesigning Local and want to hear what you think. What would you like to see on there? How could we make it better?

The plans are to make it easier to navigate and make your local talk threads visible when you use the main talk boards. We will also be adding lots more listings. There will be all the existing stuff, toddler groups, afterschool classes etc, but we're thinking of expanding. Would you be more comfortable buying a car from other MNers than from a second hand car dealer, for example?

Let us know all your thoughts on function and content.

Thanks,
MNHQ

[sticks head above parapet] have a nosy at NetMums boards they are quite well laid out

I would like a little map with red dots showing where people are logged in, so I could stalk people.

I would love recommendations from other MN's for local hairdressers/beauticans etc
I see them on my high street and always wonder if they are any good so if I knew another MN liked them ....

really would have to agree with wiggles, sorry MN! It's the one area that beats Mumsnet hands down for it's accessibility and ease of use.

I'd like to see recommendations for hairdressers, garages, take aways, parks, garden centres, plumbers etc.
We recently moved to our local area and, frankly, I'm stuck.

making it more accessible on the main page will be a definite improvement! but would you be able to make it so we have a couple of areas both easily accessible, for people like me who are right on the border of 2 boroughs
i agree netmums local is really good so you can get ideas from there.
maybe make someway of linking up with other local groups if people are interested? - what im thinking is that on netmums we found a load of muslim mums in the area and now we have a facebook group for our area and do meet ups cos many of us were new in the area. so maybe allow people to list these kinda groups?
recommendations of things to do and places to go, whats on etc is also really useful and i find nm has a lot more of that and when ive looked on here the local listings are really empty. but then you dont want to just have a replica of netmums local...
i think if u make mums net local more prominate and easy to use it will encourage people to use it more then it will naturally improve as people add more info, listings, recommendations

I agree with well all the above really.
No one really updates my local one and it would be nice to have recommendations and 'meet a mum'.

A 'For Sale' section - would be great to be able to sell baby stuff locally.

sorry another vote for a netmums style meet a mum. Its the only thing I use that site for. Would be good to be able to do everything through one site.

Yeah, have to agree with the above posters, take a look at Netmums Local area for ideas, it's excellent. Sorry! Similar facilities over here would be fantastic...invariably better in fact!

The way it is laid out at the moment is not very easy on the eye. The events listing in particular is really messy. The rest looks completely empty- maybe it is?

A better meet-a-mum section would be nice, as well as a better nearly new section.

Is there a local recommendations bit? It's really hard to navigate the local page, I'm glad you're re-doing it because I think it might be really useful.

Meet a mum
For sale and for free and wanted
Local events
Local softplay areas with recommendations and reviews
Same with places to eat out with kids
Museums with reviews
...etc. basically like NetMums. I go to Netmums to look at their sale board, to see what's on, find local places to go and things to do... Etc and I come here to chat

meet a mum would be excellent. also, my local area is very quiet, it would be good for the quieter boards to be merged with other local ones to make a larger local board (I would happily give examples for my local area!).

and how do we know who the local tsarina is? that would be useful information. My local board has new random events posted from time to time, but the chat board is dead, and I don't know who posts these events, and how to get other events posted to it.

the local recommendations bit would be fab too, with access to maps to show folk how to get to them.

I don't use nethuns at all, so can't compare, but have seen that our local nethuns facebook page is very very active on the meet a mum side of things - it would be lovely to meet other mnetters locally in the hope that they don't lol and hun all over the place especially when new to the area.

In addition to what Kveta said about merging quieter areas, maybe you could have counties rather than towns/cities as your local pages. I've ended up signing up for 3 local pages because I live in the sticks a rural area between towns. I'd post more about things local to me if I knew which page to put them on.

Recommendations for local services with ratings, maybe like tge recipes section? Also it is hard to navigate. In tge clothing section can it be split by age groups maybe?

Name changed. Please don't out me if you recognise me!

I'd like to see a bit more consistency about what is and isn't allowed in the local chat section regarding mentions of local groups and businesses. For example, in my local section there is currently a thread started by some mums starting a new children's activity, which has been allowed to stand.

However, when I posted about an event I was running where all the profits went to Children in Need, it was reported and deleted as it was deemed to be advertising. (The groups I run are part of a franchised operation, and there seems to be more tolerance of posts by independent operators. However, at the end of the day, we are all small businesses trying to make a crust in a competitive and often difficult environment).

Also there is a lot of abuse of the local EVENTS section. This is quite a high profile listing as they are displayed when you are in the Talk section. Some groups list courses running for several weeks so they are displayed for ages, which means that individual events (like my Children in Need event last year) didn't get a look in.

I'd like to see more local events publicised. Not so much the regular stuff that happens every week, but one-offs, such as jumble sales, summer fetes, open days, bring and buy etc. I'd like them to come up prominently on the active convos page as I won't remember to hunt them out if they are buried within the local pages.

Be great if you could pull activities, toddler groups you liked into your own week /diary type view just so you can see which of them is every mon etc. definitely needs to let you do it over multiple ares, being in London netmums doesn't work for me

I agree with everything mentioned above.

I am a Tsarina and am really struggling to even get anyone to read our local board, never mind post activities, reviews, etc. I have one active thread going but if history is to be proven, it will die after a meet up, maybe two.

There has to be more stuff to bring locals to their local board, a la, unfortunately, Netmums!

Oops - I read the title as "What would you like to see in your local?"

I think I need to go away and rethink my answers.

Local places to go to for kids- plus reviews of these places
Monthly whats on/events for kids
Whats on for parents- local groups like I err Zumba, knitting, book clubs etc
Stuff for sale/for free/services (like- can make cakes, piano lessons, provide bouncy castle, do face painting etc)
Local school talk boards. NM dosent have that- I'd like to chat or swap info with other mums from DSs school. Would help if you needed to select schools too- bit more 'on the ground' than ofstead!

Lol @ BOFs map

I would like to see some activity. Any Activity. My local board is so dead, you can actually see the tumbleweed blowing through...

It would be nice to actually see anything on it....or anybody!
My Local is deserted, the threads never get any responses, and are really old.
Sorry, but I go to netmums for the local boards, they are fab. Local chat, meet ups, events happening( and they are not classed as advertising).
If you want to improve Mumsnet local, you are going to have to nick their ideas.....sorry!