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MNHQ

Come and spread the Mumsnet love locally!

35 replies

KateMumsnet · 07/07/2017 15:45

Hello everyone,

Have you found your new Local site yet? We've given all 170 of them a lick of paint, and we hope they'll really help to make parents lives easier (our mission, in case you didn't know )

But we need your help! We're asking every MNer to nip over to their Local talk board and help a local parent out. Share your hard-won local knowledge on a thread - or ask your own question about what's going on near you: local schools, clubs, businesses - anything and everything local! The more bustling the Talk boards, the more useful they'll be - prizes to be won (including our exclusive MNHQ mugs usually available only to slebs etc!)

We're also on the lookout for a number of Local editors to keep Mumsnetters up to date about what's on in their area, on an ad revenue-share basis. Sound interesting? Ping us a mail on [email protected] and we can send you more info.

If you're already signed up to a Local site, you can see threads about your area in the 'Local' tab at the top of Active Conversations. If not, find your local Talk board via your Local site.

Cheers all! As ever, it's a work in progress and we're keen to know what you think - let us know in the thread below.

MNHQ

Go to post

MNHQ

AmyGMumsnet · 07/07/2017 17:03

@Wh0Kn0wsWhereTheTimeGoes

I disconnected myself from mine a couple of years ago because all the threads were being stickied with big explanation marks in most active (or something like that) - has that changed now? To be honest, I pop in every now and then but it's a very big area and there's very rarely a thread I can help with even though I've lived in several parts of the county.

Hello there, thanks for posting! If you've got a Local site set as a 'home site' you may sometimes see active threads from your Local board on MN Active.

Do keep popping back, have a great weekend

MNHQ

AmyGMumsnet · 07/07/2017 17:04

@AlwaysOldBeforeMyTime

Are local board available on the app? I can never seem to navigate to mine since I started using the app so don't tend to visit it anymore!

Hi there, they're not on the app as yet, but we'll keep you posted if there's any changes on this front.

MNHQ

AmyGMumsnet · 10/07/2017 16:19

@bubblesagain

I'm going to be annoying and point out that the local site is really crappy for tabbing navigation (accessibility). On the mumsnet site, when you use tab to navigate, the element you have tabbed to becomes highlighted with a border blue box so you know what element or menu item you are clicked on. When tabbing on the local site nothing is highlighted so you have no idea what you have tabbed across to as the focus css currently has outline none, which means for tab accessibility their is no indication when an element is selected.

www.outlinenone.com/ more info on why that css styling is important.

It's a 20 second fix and would be helpful.

Hi bubblesagain

Thanks for this feedback! We've passed it on to our tech team and it's something we'll definitely be looking at.

MNHQ

AmyGMumsnet · 10/07/2017 16:24

@AnarchyKitty

Hmmmm... I've just popped over to my local and it's dead. I'm up for reviving it if possible, do you think becoming an editor for it would help get it moving?

Hello there! Yes, part of the role of being a local ed is posting on the boards and trying to drive traffic to it. If you're interested do please send us a mail to [email protected] and we'll come back to you asap.

MNHQ

AmyGMumsnet · 10/07/2017 16:29

@Somerville

Are there different rules for advertising on Local? From a peek at mine, all the posts are from spammers at this point. I wasn't sure whether to report or not.

Hey Somerville, thanks for flagging. Any advertising threads should have an MN sticky icon next to them. If there's no icon and you think it looks off by all means report! We're always happy to take a look and clarify matters.

MNHQ

AmyGMumsnet · 10/07/2017 16:30

@Zoflorabore

I still haven't met in person irl who's a MNer and I would be very happy to shake the Liverpool board up! My dp's default question when he gets in from work is " you on Mumsnet again? "

I loves it.

Thanks Zoflorabore!

MNHQ

AmyGMumsnet · 10/07/2017 16:34

Thanks for all your comments, keep them coming! We're pleased to say that you can now NC for Local boards same as you can on the main boards, just go to My Account and change your NN before posting.

MNHQ

AliceMumsnet · 10/07/2017 17:03

@AnarchyKitty

Hmmmm... I've just popped over to my local and it's dead. I'm up for reviving it if possible, do you think becoming an editor for it would help get it moving?

Hi @AnarchyKitty - certainly! If you mail [email protected] with the area/site you're interested we can send you more info

MNHQ

AliceMumsnet · 10/07/2017 17:07

@NeverTwerkNaked

I just clicked on the "local site" option in active convos and got a message "damn we can't find the page you were looking for"... I like the idea of local sites but have two issues:

my local areas are split in a bonkers way, I have three choices: Hampshire, Portsmojth and Southampton. But I live exactly in the middle between P and S so it's a weird choice to make! Why not just one Hampshire site
other negative: nearly all the posts (at present) are about schools/where to live. So it's not very interesting (understatement)

HI @NeverTwerkNaked

Sorry to hear you received an error message! Can you point us in the direction of exactly what you clicked on when this happened? Was it the green Local tab in Active? Or a specific thread itself? Any screenshots you can show us would be really helpful so we can go about rectifying this asap.

MNHQ

AliceMumsnet · 10/07/2017 17:43

@MrsHathaway

No, I won't.

I'm stuck with a VERY old name change from when I set one up to post about events I used to run then but don't now. Furthermore I've significantly fallen out with the charity (long story but mismanagement, whistle blowing, etc) so absolutely can't be associated with it.

So no. Until and unless you sort out NC for Local, I'm going nowhere near.

HI @MrsHathaway

We've made it really easy to NC now (see Amy's post above), so we do hope you'll reconsider. Apologies for any inconvenience caused before.

MNHQ

AliceMumsnet · 10/07/2017 17:46

@Somerville

Are there different rules for advertising on Local? From a peek at mine, all the posts are from spammers at this point. I wasn't sure whether to report or not.

We'd love a bit of local chat in among the competition threads. Go on...there may be a mug in it for you...

MNHQ

AliceMumsnet · 10/07/2017 17:48

@MrsHathaway

We're pleased to say that you can now NC for Local boards same as you can on the main boards, just go to My Account and change your NN before posting.

Oh, well, in that case ...

It also appears to default to logged in name (for me, MrsH) in the username box and can be overwritten.

Thanks so much @MrsHathaway!

MNHQ

AliceMumsnet · 10/07/2017 17:53

@Kit30

I'm in Trafford and would love our local to be more active - but how to achieve it??

Any advice, info or love you could give the Manchester &Trafford talk board would be hugely appreciated by us

However if you feel you have the time, want to improve your skills and put your local know-how to good use - do email [email protected]
and we can ping you more details about becoming a Mumsnet Local Editor.

MNHQ

AliceMumsnet · 10/07/2017 18:02

@PippaFawcett

Mine is semi active but it is always the same handful of people who reply to threads. My city must be full of Mumsnetters so I'm surprised there isn't more activity.

Thanks for helping us out @PippaFawcett

That's exactly what we want to change, so fingers crossed with some help from MNers and HQ we'll get the talk boards a lot busier.

MNHQ

AmyGMumsnet · 10/07/2017 18:14

@MrsHathaway

Timely cross post

I even checked earlier today!

Will have a look - though it seems people are mainly saying not to live in places I like, but rather in the ££££££££££££ footballers' enclaves so I'm clearly required for balance!

Haha! We look forward to seeing your posts setting then straight

MNHQ

AmyGMumsnet · 11/07/2017 14:01

@paxillin

Can we change our local site, my "local" isn't where I live?

Hello! Apols for the slightly tardy reply to this one

The ability to change your local site is coming very soon, but isn't live yet. In the meantime, can you send us a quick mail to [email protected] telling us which site you've got set as your local one and which one you'd like to be your local one?

MNHQ

AliceMumsnet · 11/07/2017 15:09

@BlueAndYou

Hi all! Is there a Bedfordshire area board?

I'm on the Luton/Hertfordshire border

Hey, yes there is a Mumsnet Bedfordshire here - have a gander

MNHQ

AliceMumsnet · 11/07/2017 15:17

@SquirmOfEels

My city is stuffed with MNetters, but the local sections are quiet, because it just doesn't work for London, where cross/borough life is the norm.

So there's no way I'm going to pick just one. Though I have noticed you've stickied a 'local' thread in the London topic

That could be a good move (not that I fancy bouldering)

Because I don't want to nominate a local site (let alone join one) is there is any possibility that local threads will be stickied in 'Active'

Hi @SquirmOfEels,

So at the moment, if you have a local site set, one active talk thread from your local board will appear in main Active (marked in green). We also have a new Local tab at the top of Active that will take you through to your Local talk board.

MNHQ

AmyGMumsnet · 11/07/2017 15:38

@FruBayerischOla

This is no good. I had an automatic NC between usual MN NN and my MN Local NN. So whatever NNs I have on usual MN, when I go onto my Local it automatically 'changes' to my Local NN. I've just gone into my MN Local and it's showing my usual (that one ^^) on my MN Local site.

Hi there, thanks for the feedback. Do you remember your Local username? If so you can just overwrite your MN NN with your Local NN when you create a new thread on local (and then same when you switch back to the main boards).

MNHQ

LornaMumsnet · 13/07/2017 11:27

Hi folks,

What is the link that's giving you the error message?
Any screenshots would be hugely appreciated!

MNHQ

LornaMumsnet · 13/07/2017 15:23

Thanks!

We're looking to get that error sorted ASAP.

MNHQ

AmyGMumsnet · 16/07/2017 11:57

Hello everyone

Thank you for all the feedback! We're having a chat to tech about how we can make some further changes with Local usernames - we're looking into a system where if you post under a certain NN on Local then the Local boards will remember that name and treat it as your 'local' posting alias, until you opt to change it. So pretty similar to previously but with the ability to change it yourself if you want to, rather than mailing into HQ. We should know tomorrow about when we can implement this so we'll update on the thread asap!

Thanks for all the feedback about accessing Local Talk on the app too; we'll be looking into this.

We want sites to be as useful as possible for users so any feedback about sites covering too wide (or too small!) an area is really appreciated.

MNHQ

AliceMumsnet · 20/07/2017 09:57

@SouthChinaMorningPost

I signed up to be a local editor a few years ago, and lo and behold, the amount of missive "suggestions" and the EXPECTION that I should put in stacks of work for nothing was just ridiculous. I ditched it after a fortnight. At the very least you should be pitching these as internships or putting some sort of training into it.

Or, even better, you should stick your hands in your pockets, MN, and stop exploiting your loyal fanbase - PAY THE LOCAL EDITORS.

I'd LOVE to know how many of the original editors are still plodding away. For nothing.

Hi SouthChinaMorningPost

We're sorry to hear you didn't enjoy it. Things have changed quite a bit now, with brand new sites and a new business model which works on an ad revenue share basis. If anyone else is interested in the role do get in touch, and we can explain things in a lot more detail.

MNHQ

AliceMumsnet · 20/07/2017 10:30

@EduCated

Is there a reason Active Convos seems to think I live in West Sussex? It's been doing it for the last couple of days.

Not entirely sure I could actually point to Sussex on a map.

Hi EduCated

How odd! This should have been fixed but we'll get our Tech team to have a look. Is it still happening for you now?

MNHQ

AliceMumsnet · 25/07/2017 10:13

@SouthChinaMorningPost

We all know that the ethos of MN is about being confident and therefore avoiding exploitation by partners, work, friendships - you name it. It champions women's rights so well. If somebody did an AIBU, the response would be a resounding snigger. "AIBU to work for free for a multi million pound business?"

Why should you expect to get free help from your users which other ebsites would pay for? Behind the jokey lemon drizzle facade, you're a business like any other, not a charity.

It leaves a bad taste in my mouth because it feels like you're exploiting people's loyalty by getting the donkey work done for you.

Hi SouthChina

Thanks again for your feedback. Actually, things are a bit different since you were involved with Local a few years ago - our new business model is a profit-sharing one, so Local editors get a share of the revenue of MNHQ-sold ads which appear across Local sites, in proportion to the number of visitors to each site. There are also a variety of advertising options Local Editors can sell direct to clients - from sponsored content, to social media packages - and they keep the revenue from that themselves.

With that said, there are Local Editors that specifically take on the role to develop their digital skills in certain areas, such as social media management and editorial work. Some also want to become Local Editors because they genuinely want to provide a useful service for Mumsnetters in their area, which is great. We realise it's not for everyone, but we do believe it's an exciting opportunity to develop new skills, earn money and be part of the Mumsnet brand.

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