Is it time to ban placemarking?

[MinesAPintOfTea]

Any vaguely interesting thread fills up with rubberneckers who aren't contributing anything. Would it be a good idea to add "no placemarking" to the site rules?

If you keep track of such things for a first/second offence you can highlight watch this thread/bookmark/using browser bookmarks in the hope it will encourage more passive watching without supporting or engaging instead of the current way that emphasises how many people are watching someone else's life.

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

You can bookmark, but you can't always find the thread again unless you put it in Watching or TIO. I don't think it hurts to do it once in a thread, unless it is a particularly sensitive one, but doing it repeatedly instead of bookmarking is annoying.

[DrankSangriaInThePark]

You really never got over that tantrum on the bargains thread did you "FantasticFabby"?

Or the fact that 2 of the main contributers left because of you.

Make you feel good did it?

[BeverlyMoss]

easily identifiable on here of course. So if I had been one of those posters doing what you're complaining about I could easily see you were moaning about me, and a may be a little miffed.

{I wasn't by the way}

[DrankSangriaInThePark]

Rofling at "easily identifiable".

FF certainly is.

[BeverlyMoss]

Oh that's who it is, seriously arsey attitude you've got there.

[ISeeYouShiverWithAntici]

But then all the marking place and bump and . posts would be deleted and it would just be a thread full of message deleted by mumsnet for placemarking.

Which would look awful and stand out a hell of a lot more than a silly little full stop.

[MinesAPintOfTea]

I know anyone can read the posts. They can continue to read them if they use one of:

1. Watch this thread (easier to follow than TIO IMO) which works on the mobile and the app
2. MN bookmark function
3. Browser bookmark

These don't fill up the thread with "Watching" which make the conversation harder to read and on sensitive threads give the definite feel of rubbernecking.

How it would be enforced would be much like the spam, MNHQ can make any post they wish go "puff" with the option of a message to the poster.

Miss Jen Bowler K8 I suppose I asked for that.

[Yumsnet]

I don't understand the need to placemark - if you use 'Watch' and 'Bookmark' then why would you need to? Is it for possible deletion messages?

[FantasticFabby]

I've know idea who you think I am but I can assure I'm not. I rarely posted, just watched from afar as the whole thread became one big full stop.

[DramaAlpaca]

I think that some people post just because they like to see their name appear on screen.

Others like to contribute to a thread (however unhelpfully) so they can see the deletion message if it goes pfft.

I find the watch & bookmark functions are handy if I haven't got anything useful to contribute which is most of the time but want to keep an eye on the thread or come back to read it later.

[dannydyerismydad]

I wish. Under a previous username, I posted in great distress about DH's medical diagnosis and the long term prognosis. Some posters were incredibly supportive but I was at the place markers.

[ISeeYouShiverWithAntici]

Yes, that's a good point. i think sometimes people forget it is your life and not their entertainment.

The bumping with a "no UPDATE OP GIVE US AN UPDATE hmmm hmmm hmmmm..." because someone has failed to return to update on the implosion of their relationship or something is particularly distasteful.

If you want regular episodes of drama - watch a soap.

But I don't think banning it is very useful because, like I say, the deletion messages. They stand out so much on a thread.

Unless tech can make posts simply disappear without a trace, of course?

[BeverlyMoss]

or make it impossible to just post a full stop, like it's impossible to leave a blank post, unless you do it in the naughty tricky way.

[MinesAPintOfTea]

danny that's what I meant. I'm often at placemarkers but feel the thread in question isn't the place to discuss placemarking because it will derail it further and its nearly as insensitive.

But the deletion messages don't have to stand out and I suspect if placemarker posts often went puff there would be far fewer of them.

[Alibabaandthe40nappies]

[Alibabaandthe40nappies]

And anyway define 'waste' in this context. There is no limit to the number of threads that can be posted, therefore no-one is being prevented from commenting by people marking their place.

I find it utterly bizarre that people even waste time thinking about things like this

[TheWomanTheyCallJayne]

The app needs to be improved before they do such things

[WillieWaggledagger]

i do think there could be tutorials on how to customise / make the most of the site's features (perhaps these tutorials already exist? i haven't noticed them), optimise according to the way you use the site

e.g.

• switching on bookmarking (would help stop the 'placemarking')
• making use of 'threads i'm watching' (likewise)
• how to make the OP's posts a different colour (helps people who won't - - RTFT at least read the OP's posts), as well as your own posts
• how to hide whole sections
• how to retrieve a hidden thread/section

etc

there are lots of people who i don't think realise many of these features exist

[TheWomanTheyCallJayne]

Minesapint
Do you know how to delete watched threads on the app by any chance? I've tried and failed. It means I have loads of out of date ones and they don't seem to be in any logical order

[lougle]

Actually, it's nice if you have a thread that people don't have an answer to but mark it in some way - there's nothing worse than seeing that you've posted and not one person has replied. At all.

Who cares, anyway??

[dannydyerismydad]

When you're coming to terms with the fact you could be a widow before your DC starts junior school, and you're too confused and incoherent to talk to anyone in real life, it's incredibly insensitive for anyone to respond with nothing but .

At that time, I very much did care.

[newyearhere]

It's not "rubbernecking" to read an open internet forum, whether or not you lurk, "watch" the thread, mark your place or post.

[Patchouli]

I love it when there's a load of full stops etc on a thread and we're all waiting to see what happens to the "booble plate" plate or 'penguin date'!

[RebeccaMumsnet]

Hi all,

This is a part of forum life and has been for several years. Sadly it would take resources away from looking into trolls and racist/disabilist posts etc and although we can see that it's annoying, it's not against our guidelines to place mark.

If you see folks doing it over and over, feel free to point them to 'I'm Watching'

As others have said, it's an open forum that anyone can read and post on so not really something we can stop happening.