Coo-eeh! Come tell us what you think of the New (hopefully much better) Mumsnet Local

[EmmaMumsnet]

Hello. We've been aware for a while now that MN Local isn't all it could be and we've been beavering away for several months now to make it much, much better.

And today's the Grand Unveiling of the all-new, all-singing, all-dancing (well, OK, not quite singing and dancing just yet) Mumsnet Local

We've reorganised the Local sites a bit (they were a bit random, geographically speaking, before). And, if you go to your nearest Mumsnet Local site, you'll see there's much more to it and it's much easier to find your way about. There are loads more categories for listings and space for reviews, and you'll find nearly new inside an expanded Classifieds section - which should make your Mumsnet Local an altogether more helpful place to hang out. Don't worry, we haven't lost the talk threads from old Local. They'll be reappearing in the new sites very soon.

Some Mumsnet Local sites are still a bit light on listings and info (we're working on that right now) but, if you'd like a look at what we're hoping all Mumsnet Locals will look like pretty darn soon, do have a butcher's at Bath. If you want to share something with other Mumsnetters on any of the sites, just click on Add a Listing (the pink button on the right just under the navigation bar).

Sites that are not far behind include Bedford, Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Bolton & Bury, Manchester & Trafford, Bournemouth & Poole, Brighton & Hove, Bristol, Buckinghamshire, Cheshire, Exeter, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Milton Keynes, Oxford, Portsmouth, Southampton, Surrey, and in London? Barnet, Lambeth, Hackney, Haringey, Hillingdon, Islington, Southwark, Tower Hamlets, Wandsworth and Waltham Forest boroughs.

And we're hoping all the other Local sites, including those in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, will be hot on their tails. We're looking to entice people to look after these sites, but more on that soon.

We've designed an easy-to-use Meet Ups page. If you want to volunteer to organise a regular meet-up in your area, just email [email protected] . There are more bits and pieces and snazzy new features to come, too. Once --Tech's had a bit of a lie down

We do hope you like what you see. Do let us know what you think - as ever, all feedback is most welcome.

@ouryve

And sorry Emmamumsnet - that glare may have been meant for Helenmumsnet

I did apologise and sit in the norty corner...

I still can't get anywhere with NI. Link just taking me to London. I'm an Internet Explorerer with less computer skills than the average 5 year old but am now getting close to bucking the computer out of the window

It's easier if you type the URL in.

The what now?

In the bar at the top put in local.mumsnet.com/belfast

Please, please, please can you sort it out so that there is at least one working link to local talk somewhere?

I just realised I was in danger of missing my local MN bookgroup next week because the book group thread had fallen off my 'threads I'm on' and the usual method of re-finding it by clicking the link to 'local' now leads me nowhere.

I had to do a search of my own past posts to find the thread. Not exactly user-friendly...

hmm.
have you put your bookgroup on the mn local?

MNHQ, is there any way you can get an email reminder setup for regular events?

I've just put my church's hallowe'en not activity on :)

well, i'm trying - it's just going "please wait..."

Hello

I have just nagged asked about 4 trillion MNers (who posted on my sticky thread/friendship bench) request thingy to go and sit on the bloody benches, now that you have kindly provided them

BUT, not only has my listing disappeared, i can't seem to 're-sit' as it won't let me post in local. Quel horror MN!

Also, I'm sure this has been mentioned upthread (lazy) but can we have the option to post in our regular name rather than invent a local one if we aren't arsed about anonymity ?

Thanks muchly

Just responded to kind pm from Slightly but there doesn't seem to be a way to post on the friendship bench for Shropshire and there are no posts there atm.

@exexpat

Please, please, please can you sort it out so that there is at least one working link to local talk somewhere?

I just realised I was in danger of missing my local MN bookgroup next week because the book group thread had fallen off my 'threads I'm on' and the usual method of re-finding it by clicking the link to 'local' now leads me nowhere.

I had to do a search of my own past posts to find the thread. Not exactly user-friendly...

Sorry about the delay in getting Local Talk working properly. We are doing all we can. (Tis unforseeably tricky)

@SlightlySeethrough

Hello

I have just nagged asked about 4 trillion MNers (who posted on my sticky thread/friendship bench) request thingy to go and sit on the bloody benches, now that you have kindly provided them

BUT, not only has my listing disappeared, i can't seem to 're-sit' as it won't let me post in local. Quel horror MN!

Also, I'm sure this has been mentioned upthread (lazy) but can we have the option to post in our regular name rather than invent a local one if we aren't arsed about anonymity ?

Thanks muchly

Hi Slightly,
The Friendship Bench isn't working yet ? It will be a talk thread for people to meet one-to-one if that's what they're after. The Group Meet-ups pages are there in New Local, although there will be more functions on those pages soon too. The best thing to do at the moment is volunteer to run a meet-up (email local.mumsnet.com), then we can create a meet-ups page for you.

When you say 'listing', could you describe exactly what you mean and which site you were posting it on and we'll look into it.

If anonymity doesn't bother you, just make your Local nickname as close to your existing MN nickname as possible. SlightlySeeingThrough? AlmostSeeThrough? You can probably think of a better one yourself

Thanks Emma

By listing I mean that I managed to post on the friendship bench the other day, but when I went back it was gone and I could no longer post. Maybe ongoing tech startup stuff that I am too un-techy to comprehend

I know it's for a one to one thing - I was one of the posters who nagged suggested it would be a nice thing to have, and I was posting myself on it so that if anyone in my area was feeling like they needed someone to talk to in RL, they would find someone sat there (hence me nagging all the other posters on the original 'can we have a friendship bench' thread to go and register a presence on their local bench)

But no worries, I'll just wait till it's up and running and nag everyone all over again

SlightlySeeThrough I got around the 'have to change your name' thing by adding an 'a' at the end of mine so I'm Tee2072a over on my local.

You could be SlightlySeeThrough1 or something?

I do think it's a ridiculous requirement and have said so.

[hgrin]

I think that makes more sense if you know my usual name is Tee2072.

[hgrin]

Agree it's a PITA to come up with another name.

SlightlySeethrough is my ropey Halloween nc, I am ususally SlightlyJaded. I was thinking of being SlightlyJadedLOCAL to make the point....

But right now, my board isn't even working so it's all academic anyway

don't tell me that!!

I thought it said that you couldn't change your name once you'd started - not that you couldn't have your normal MN name!
I've use nickelbabe.

does that mean I'll never ever be able to be nickelbabe on here again?

oh God

Am I the only one wondering why MN can't test stuff before they release it?
If I set up a web area that was this bad for my work I'd be in serious amounts of poo. But on here it seems to be the norm for them to expect us to do all the debugging.

If the friendship bench isn't up yet, is it the same for skills swap? I made a listing for this when it all went live and it seems to have disappeared recently.

Sarky I imagine its slightly different when you have to make the site usable by thousands of posters, especially when the point is for them to add their own content.

Woohoo - nearly two weeks in, and we finally have some progress: I clicked the 'local' tab and it took me straight to my local site without faffing around with maps.

Now I'm just waiting for local chat to be reinstated, which tbh is the only thing I'm likely to use - most of the local listings and events are irrelevant to me, and are split into way too many subsections - you could spend hours clicking your way round everything.

I was going to come and ask about the Friendship Bench too - I got SlightlySeethrough's pm, and went for a look-see. I'll nip back in a few days, and see if it is working then.

@SlightlySeethrough

Thanks Emma

By listing I mean that I managed to post on the friendship bench the other day, but when I went back it was gone and I could no longer post. Maybe ongoing tech startup stuff that I am too un-techy to comprehend

I know it's for a one to one thing - I was one of the posters who nagged suggested it would be a nice thing to have, and I was posting myself on it so that if anyone in my area was feeling like they needed someone to talk to in RL, they would find someone sat there (hence me nagging all the other posters on the original 'can we have a friendship bench' thread to go and register a presence on their local bench)

But no worries, I'll just wait till it's up and running and nag everyone all over again

Ah, I think I saw that listing. I don't know how you managed to do that

@SlightlySeethrough

Agree it's a PITA to come up with another name.

SlightlySeethrough is my ropey Halloween nc, I am ususally SlightlyJaded. I was thinking of being SlightlyJadedLOCAL to make the point....

But right now, my board isn't even working so it's all academic anyway

I'm afraid you can't use the words 'Local' or 'Editor' in your nickname Slightly

@kellestar

If the friendship bench isn't up yet, is it the same for skills swap? I made a listing for this when it all went live and it seems to have disappeared recently.

The Friendship Bench and Skills Swaps will be talk threads Kellestar, so until Talk arrives, neither are working