Tell MNHQ why you use Mumsnet

[EllieMumsnet]

Here at MNHQ we would really like to get to know our users better and would therefore love to know why you use Mumsnet and if Mumsnet has managed to help you in any way.

Is the main reason you use Mumsnet for the advice from other users? And if so, what advice do you look for in particular or is it on everything and anything? Do you use Mumsnet as a place to browse the funny threads and have a bit of ‘you’ time? Is it more the product/service reviews and recommendations that you use Mumsnet for? Has the support of fellow Mumsnet users helped you get through a tough time? Or maybe you have created long-term friendships with other users and come on to chat to them.

Whatever the reasons you use Mumsnet and any stories you have on how Mumsnet has helped you, we would love to hear them so please share them on the thread below.

Thanks
MNHQ

I use for advice, somethings share it, use it for company as am isolated (not in the living miles from anywhere sense). Interested to see other people views etc

I was directed to the SEN boards by my sons paediatrician!

SEN boards are very useful, and I also love the Christmas boards just for fun!

The main board I use though is FWR, I only stumbled across it a few years ago and it is a fantastic place to chat and debate, and to enjoy having a space that’s for women.

I joined when I had my first miscarriage many years ago, I got great advice & support from others who’d been through it.

Now I’m on a lot, mainly for distraction from kids driving me mad. I’ve learned a lot here though, lots of different perspectives and life experiences on MN.

I LOVE the fact that on a site dominated by women one of the most valued parts is the feminism section

it makes me so proud of us all

I think I've got something in my eye

Datun has expressed my point better

I have two polite requests of @MNHQ

1. Posters have shared their qualitative feedback with you on this thread; will MNHQ please share your quantitative data with us? Can you tell us how popular FWR is in comparison with other parts of the site, and proportionately how critical it is to traffic to the site? Numbers?

And

1. Will you consider moving THIS thread to classics? It isn't controversial or especially funny but it's extraordinarily revealing of how IMPORTANT FWR is and the scale of its impact on women here.

I don't think that should be forgotten, ever, by the women who post and lurk and endure criticism for it, nor by those who would criticise us.

Joined when I was struggling with my baby crying all the time, stayed for the support and real responses which literally saved me.

Love the diet threads, only child thread, the feminism thread and the relationships thread.

I joined for secondary school /teenage advice .Wish you'd been around when son was baby ,tho that was pre interenet days for me .

I stay for advice and the global help that is offered by posters which amazes and heartens me .

Makes me feel part of a community .

I came for pregnancy advice (and our original gang of due in XX still have a little facebook group) 12 years ago. I was one of the women who lobbied MN to give us an FWR board so I'm thrilled and a tiny bit proud at what it has become.

The power of women talking in spaces where we dominate the conversation is extraordinary. I have learned so much from so many clever, wise and funny women over the years. That's why I stay.

I'm not yet a mum but DH and I are ttc.
The info and advice on the MN website is really helpful, along with the conception board and discussions.
Some time ago I also found the FWR boards. The knowledge and patience of posters along with their enthusiasm and support for a range of women's issues, particularly with current developments for changes to gender law in the UK, make me appreciate very much having a space to read and learn (and contribute occasionally!) about concerning issues and what actions I can take to support and protect women's rights now and for future generations.

I've just realised that FWR is my only women-only space at all in my life. Women only spaces are so rare. And yes, I do, at the moment, feel it is the only public space in which I can 'be myself' (although anonymously) because it is all women. Let's keep it that way.

I am nosy and read yhd AIBU and relationships boards a lot. I alsl like following thd Trans debate on thd Feminism boards. I like the chat boards for a laugh.

I have recently been diagnosed with anxiety and depression, and I am very shy and socially awkward. I hate meeting new people face to face, it causes me no end of stress. So reading about other people online keeps me connected with the outside world, and reminds me we all have our shit to deal with.

Came as a student teacher to read about what parents thought of schools. Quickly learnt to stop reading those threads!

Stayed for the FWR boards and hilarious AIBU. I think MN gets a bad rep as being white MC (read privately educated) purely due to the amount of eloquent, highly intelligent and passionate posters when in fact reading these posts has made me up my game.

I'm not MC but I feel more confident in demanding that others listen to what I say (in the same way that generally the privately educated are more experienced in public speaking) and I can directly attribute asking for and receiving a pay rise to the good women of MN.

I can via Google I think for breastfeeding advice.

Stayed for the totally unique space MN is to hear intelligent, articulate, funny women talking.

FWR is my main haunt, but as someone who has been very lucky to always have supportive and respectful men in my life, the Relationships board has been a massive wake up call on the reality of too many women’s lives.

mostly for the Feminism boards, which are an absolute joy

also enjoy chatting about books, films etc.

In addition to what I mentioned previously, I also love the Style & Beauty board. Particularly the Fantastic Skincare threads (my skin is tricky, but much better since following those threads). Also followed the advice about clothing, I've got a much better idea of what suits me now, so I'm less likely to buy stuff that doesn't work on me.

I came here 9 years ago via google when I was looking to conceive, since then I have used ongoing pregnancy support threads, birth advice, breastfeeding help, general health (especially the any old prolapse support)

After my second DC was born a health condition I had got much worse and I began to use areas for disability related help. MN got me through DWP health assessments while keeping my sanity. DC2s development hit a few snags and I ended up in the SN areas. It was from concerns about him that I realised my mh difficulties were undiagnosed ASD. The MN ND posters helped me to get my own diagnosis of ASD.

Now, the area I use the most is FWR. I'd always visited and posted there, but generally having young children and then my own health problems took away most of my energy. It was this experience that cemented my view on feminism which before children had been very "choosey".

MN helps me to maintain human contact, without it I'd be sat at home talking to no one for the majority of my time. It is invaluable to me. Thanks for that

Alongside all of that , I enjoy being a member of the Insight team and getting free things!

And I somehow managed to forget to say that without the relationships board I'd probably be in a very different place. ♥️

I first came to MN when my youngest was a baby - he's now starting his GCSEs...

Over time, MN has helped me with pretty much everything from autism dx to zoo visits, afternoon tea venues to zebra costumes (you get the idea...)

Nowadays, I mostly hang out on FWR, watching and learning: I'm utterly in awe of the posters who spend so much time and energy helping the rest of us navigate what's going on out there.

But, I do also love a good CF car parking/MIL thread, the woo threads, and sporn!

I came back in the day when people were polite to each other and on just about any topic there would be someone who was very well informed and willing to explain sometimes complex issues. There were also people who campaigned on important issues. It was the only place online where you could find highly intelligent women and it was a supportive environment.

Over the years mumsnet has certainly been an education (and I still need it to understand Russell Howard's jokes) . However many excellent posters have either disappeared or gone under the radar because expert information now brings attacks from the less expert. It is no longer the first port of call for a good education on any topic, except perhaps modern slang.

I've dipped into the feminist boards sometimes - and appreciated the education on trans issues. One of the few corners left that are still valuable.

I come back now and then partly to reconnect with people I've "talked" to but mainly if I want product information or I'm bored. I dont find it a supportive place now and at times it seems to be over-run by schoolchildren who think it is funny to pretend to be adults.

I initially followed a link to AIBU from another forum (this was probably over 10 years ago or so) as a thread was being spoken about. I had a look around MN and found FWR. I had lamented on the other forum that there wasn't a decent feminist section so I was pleased to find it - I stayed on MN and continue to visit it for FWR.

I do look at other sections (I like the TV and book bits) and sometimes skim AIBU and Chat but my first port of call is always FWR or Feminist Chat as it is now called.

Not to make it "that" kind of thread, because they're endless, but it does depress me that people can't see the difference between "problem with self-ID, goady manipulators, and a society that says pink=girl", rather than "problem with every transperson".

If you're not into FWR, just say what you are into, no need to put others down surely?

Like others I am curious about the purpose of this thread though and if it is representative. Do the replies count as useful data for market research etc? Where are you using them and do you cross reference info with age/sex/length of membership etc etc?

Finally joined after years of lurking to post in this thread.

First found mumsnet looking for help with terrible pregnancy sickness. Now as a doctor I signpost women with hyperemesis to the brilliant ongoing support thread. Also learned about the freedom programme on here and recommend that to many patients in abusive relationships.

Feminism chat has challenged and changed me for the better...even just as a lurker. Thanks to all the amazing women on there. The sense of female community is empowering. Women need this precious corner of free speech. Thank you to mumsnet for continuing to host this conversation. It makes such a difference to the lives of so many women.

I came here before I had kids as I saw a poster for MN at the children's centre in my school, and I was hooked!

The thing I have always loved most about MN is the range of opinions you get on here. Someone can post on almost any topic and you will get two sides to the argument. Someone will say something and I will think 'yep, totally agree' and soneobe will counter it and I will think 'ah yes, good point actually, it's not that straightforward'. There are people from all walks of life with different experiences on here and I love that. It's what makes me cross when people say MN is just full of white middle class mums, it's just misogynistic bollocks.

Some of my fundamental beliefs have been completely changed just by reading an alternative viewpoint on here.

At the moment, I'm very into FWR and in stunned actually (in a good way) at how many others have said the same. Obvs there is a big issue on here at the moment, and some could accuse MN of being an echo chamber, but it's just because it's not allowed to be discussed elsewhere. And where someone does come on with a different view on the issue, it never fails to amaze me how the intelligent and articulate women will counter it.

Thank you MN and people of MN!

I think of it as an interactive magazine, for advice, to read opinions on current events, social reasons, to pass some time & an emerging interest in Feminism.