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

For FWR. As an academic whose freedom of speech has been effectively eroded, this is the only place where I am allowed to voice my views on what a woman is and why we need single-sex facilities.

I came for information and advice during my first pregnancy. I stayed to enjoy the rare pleasure of internet discussion between women that was wise, funny and free of the nastiness (and misogyny) that infects just about every other talk board in existence. MN is snarkier than it was, but still head and shoulders above anywhere else.

I joined years ago when I read about mumsnet in a newspaper article. I enjoyed the housekeeping and parenting boards. I liked chat and classics.
Then the bereavement board saved my sanity when my son died. Wooly hugs restored my faith in humanity. PMs comforted and encouraged me during some very dark times.
MN has been a huge comfort and distraction when I have been weighed down with grief, pain and despair.
Lately, the FWR boards have educated me and spurred me on to learn and contribute my opinions to my MP and friends and family.

For the FWR. When this is all over, when it's okay to say women don't have penises again, or that a woman is an adult human female, Mumsnet will go down in history as one of the few standouts against the silencing of women.

FWR

I registered in 2010 for the support and advice on the SEN and education boards. Though I've lurked more than got involved over the years.

After DS left school I'd come on and have a look at chat, aibu and relationships gaining a fascinating insight into peoples lives and learning loads about relationships from some of the amazing, supportive women posting.

From reading some if the issues women face in their relationships and seeing the interplay of power relations between the sexes in one of my jobs, when the conversations on FWR were flagged it was easy to see the same dynamics at play.

Now I come daily, for the FWR boards and am amazed at the women who regularly post and are willing to spend their time educating those of us less informed, digging out and collating information.

It is a shame posters such as The Bewilderness have been banned when they gave so much of themselves to informing others. Though removing women's voices, especially when those women are articulate and informed, is disappointing if not surprising.

Well FWR is bloody amazing and a lifeline.

I've learnt huge amounts from Relationships.

I also get style tips from S&B and have been converted to Farrow and Ball.

I use for advice and support on everything from diy to cooking to holidays. And I give my share back too.

Sometimes is just an amusing way to pass some time.

I joined a billion years ago when ttc dc2 (he's now nearly 12), then I disappeared into the wilderness until Dittany rekindled my feminism & I became a more regular poster.

Now I read fwr & the seconday/higher ed boards. I wouldn't stick around without fwr, it's unique afaik ... most of the other forums on mumsnet can be replicated somewhere else on the internet.

Came for FWR, lurked and learned for the longest time then started to contribute and am here every day - I'd say it's the best place on the internet for feminist discussion...so came for the feminism but also got pulled in by the Zoflora (have an embarrassingly huge collection of the stuff now!)

I'm here for so many reasons and they change as I change. Mostly I like the variety of a forum, rather than going to specialist sites for each individual thing. It feels like a safe place to post as a woman, I. E. Mn doesn't have a secondary dating function and is ok to ask about periods and boob issues etc! I also find I learn a lot about current issues facing women , I. E. Those things on the feminist boards.

I bloody LOVE Mumsnet. It has saved my sanity, saved me money and made me look at the different side of an argument. I stay for the feminism board and because it is the only space I feel comfortable online (and in real life) discussing GC issues. Thank you, Mumsnet, for giving us this space.

A place to come where women can talk freely about what women are concerned about .

I have found out so many important things on mumsnet.

How to breastfeed my oldest ds.
How to fix an upper lip tie and tongue tie.
Lots of support and interest in gardens and gardening.
Huge numbers of excellent new books to read.
How to understand SN better as a teacher - reading the SN boards was a revelation and forever altered the way in which I taught and thought about children in my class with SEN.
How to manage difficult behaviour in my kids.
To become Gender Critical and get support from the FWR boards.

And for me the most important thing has been the introduction to ABA which had enabled my youngest DS to begin to overcome a massive speech delay. This has literally changed his life for the better. I read a lot about ABA about eight years ago when Moondog was active on the boards and I remembered one day a year ago when I was in despair over how to help my non verbal three year old. I did some searches and found both old and new threads that pointed me in the right direction. I cannot say how grateful I am for this information.

I go on MN everyday, mostly for the FWR board now. It is important to me and I am grateful it exists.

To waste time when I should be doing more useful things.

I love the cheeky fucker, parking and bad neighbour threads and spend a lot of time in relationships and FWR. FWR has totally changed my way of thinking about the world and my place in it. And helped me to bring up some pretty sound young men in the process.

I stay for the excellent posters on FWR who have taught me so much about Misogyny and how to safeguard my daughters from it.

👆🏼

Came for AIBU, stayed for Relationships and Baby Names. Now rarely venture out of Feminism Chat.

I have learned so much from MN, especially about abusive relationships. I am now a feminist because of Mumsnet. Women on MN are funny, thoughtful, knowledgeable and intelligent. I hate it when people who've never ventured out of AIBU denigrate the site - that to me, reflects good old-fashioned sexism.

I have had great advice from MN and (I hope given some - especially in the past when I posted more in Parenting). Now I mainly use it for lively discussion and sisterhood

It's the little things as well. I was in a small group of people who helped one woman with her washing machine. OK, not a biggie in the scheme of things. But she was mightily pissed off; her DH was away, small children, machine wouldn't drain, washing stuck. She was going to ring an engineer etc etc etc.

Between us, we led to her finding the drain, getting all the gunk out and getting it going again. She had no idea about any of it but sorted it out and got the machine going again before lunch . She was so, so pleased. This, for me, is MN brilliance!

I think I first came to Mumsnet for the reviews when I was trying to work out what pram to buy, that kind of thing. I then ventured into Talk for the bantz - probably joining in with active threads, AIBU, relationships, etc. There was a lot of brilliant and funny stuff across the site and it was so nice chatting and joking with other women about the struggles of parenthood and life at a high calibre - everywhere else seems to patronise mums like we've had our brain removed and become Stepford wives.
It was refreshing to be in foulmouthed, witty, intellectual women's company and actually played a very important supportive role for me when I was in a new town with small children and unsure about how to settle in. As time went on I started to be more selective about the sections of the site to visit after all the 'judgy' stuff started to wear me down, particularly in Chat where there tends to be a lot of people without kids of their own finger wagging and tutting at mum's who sound like they are struggling.
I discovered FWR about 7 years ago which was great - but at the time there was a lot of antifeminist trolling going on, then lots of brigading and accusations of 'transphobia' - which put me off, but between all the trolls, sock-puppets and sealions there was some really high quality, compassionate conversation to be had.
Since Mumsnet stopped pulling all the threads deemed 'transphobic' by brigading trolls and banned antagonistic visitors, I've pretty much stopped using the rest of the site because it is brilliant for discussing my interests now from a feminist perspective.
Since all conversation is being closed down on certain key feminist issues on other platforms I am extremely grateful to have this woman-centred space on Mumsnet.

The reason I like Mumsnet is that I think, like some other women on here, I'm pretty introverted but in a busy social circle. It being anonymous is what I love about it. I feel bonded to and supported by the other women here, but not overwhelmed. I think I am more myself on here than I am with some of my friends

Give me a questionnaire and I'll participate. Otherwise cba

As for advice: outside of some of the mean-for-the-sake-of-it posters- the advice you get on MN is what people really think. It's what people would say if they were not worried about alienating you. That is invaluable. It may be bracing at times, but it really makes you think

I came first for conception/miscarriage/birth threads, stayed for Tiktok/breastfeeding advice, then moved onto Aitch's wise words about baby led weaning. Dipped out for a while, then was addicted to the relationships boards and am now an avid reader of the FWR threads...they keep me sane! Have also dabbled in small pets, pedants corner and telly addicts.

I've just summed up the last eleven years of my life in a short paragraph

Came for the childcare advice when mine were young. Stayed for the gender critical radical feminism. Please let Mumsnet be a place that women can voice their opinions and concerns without overly heavy moderation. If that changes, I'll be moving on to other places.

I was basically a Chat user. But now it's 90% FWR.

Why? Because I'm worried by what is happening to women's rights. And without FWR I wouldn't have known that my DD could be sleeping next to a boy in Brownies and I wouldn't be told; nor about the 4000% increase in girls being referred to gender clinics; and not about David Challenor (the paedophile rapist and torturer) and his influence on removing basic safeguarding from organisations.

But on the plus side I wouldn't know it was unacceptable to raise safeguarding concerns or to express concerns about the safety and dignity of women and girls. Because it wouldn't have dawned on me that society would call such concerns hate speech.