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

To get the sweet sweet easy dopamine hit like a rat with wires in my brain.

It is clear to me, as I'm sure to others, that there are a few voices working very hard to peddle misinformation about the proposed changes to the GRA and the present equality act

OMG - misinformation???

Please can you [start a new thread maybe] explain that to the people spreading this - this is big news.

If you could post a link to the new thread that would be grand.

Well, @MNHQ - I sincerely hope this has given you the evidence you are after that your FWR board is not only valued by so many women, but will consititute a vast amount of you advertising revenue.

So please, let us stay.

Please let us speak freely. AKA please drop the risible new guidelines that are just enforced on FWR and have caused many good women to be banned purely for speaking the truth.

And please revert the bans on posie, bewilderness, maryz et al.

Maryz, in particular, is a poster who has put so much into your website for the past many years - has gone above and beyond to help people here, particularly in the areas of adoption and teenage kids.

Thank you.

Oh and of course the bounty mutiny, how could I forget that one, Red !

I am a lurker on the feminism and staffroom threads mostly. Feminism chat has been a real eye opener lately, I hadn’t given the gender debate much thought until this point and hadn’t realised the potential problems with new gender legislation.

I'd dipped in and out of mumsnet over the years, like you do with a magazine at the hair dressers, but never bothered to register or post until I found Feminism chat in March this year.

I was reeling in shock after just having found out about the cotton ceiling. Suddenly the entire world seemed to have been taken over by pod people, all parroting the trans women are women mantra and looking round eagerly to check for anyone failing to join in, so they'd know who to target next.

Finding the women of Feminism chat was like finding an oasis in the desert. So, I came for the feminism, but have since found myself eating Bird's Eye potato waffles (which I had never tried before despite being 61 years old), using Zoflora all over the house, and cancelling Ocado in favour of Waitrose (who gave me a Christmas delivery slot).

Also, please rethink the moderation policy and reinstate the women recently banned for speaking out in defence of women and children.

feminist chat

Found MN as the top hit on a serious pregnancy complication. Pretty much straight away got dragged down the crazy wonderful AIBU rabbit hole. Which saw me though some long weeks in hospital.

My little complication is now 8. and I’m here for FWR.

And I also want to say. I hadn’t realised how important a female only space IS. I’d have been the first to poo—poo the idea. But by crikey it is so different. The advice on relationships for instance. The default everywhere else is ‘woman, try harder‘. Here it’s LTB. Even if those seeking the advice don’t actually LTB the effect of actually getting advice that Centers THEM and not the male is so, so important.

Thank you

(And can we have our banned posters back please)

Variety of topics, great advice given. Some batshit crazy stuff to laugh at in "Classics". I find myself these days spending more time on the Feminism threads learning a huge amount and trans peaking.
I've been very moved by some posters stories, struggles with poverty and agog at threads which discuss which handbag to buy for £x thousands but Mumsnet is a broad church and I wouldn't want that to change.

I joined MN at the end of last year because I heard the feminist board was a space for women to talk in freedom about their concerns, especially in relation to gender critical matters.

At this time I was in complete shock as my young adult child had recently announced, out of the blue, that they were trans (mtf.) They had already started the process of getting diagnosed in order to access testosterone and have a double mastectomy.

I had no one to turn to who had any knowledge of this in real life, and finding the Feminist chat board was a life saver.

Here I found the most amazing group of women who had so much knowledge and experience and wisdom. It has helped me to keep sane and given me insight and perspective during what has been the most traumatic time.

I honestly don't know what I would have done without this space. I feel it's a community where I can read and learn, and share my thoughts and feelings with so many brilliant and incredible women.

I'm so grateful to have it.

I love the fact that certain posters are at pains to say that they DON’T go on FWR, because of all the yawn nasty ‘transphobes’. A bit like those people that used to write into Points of View to complain about a program they don’t watch.

Broke out of lurkdom to post on Radio Addicts but have been totally sucked in to FWR. Incredible women bravely battling GRA reforms. I’m frantically reading from dawn until dusk trying to gain the confidence to join the public arguments against self-ID. I’m not yet educated or articulate enough to add my voice but I support them all.

I’m in awe of the women who do post and the activism that has grown as a result. My eyes and ears have been well and truly opened and I will never take my own personal privileged position for granted again. I salute the incredible women who daily draw attention to the threat to women and girls. If Mumsnet abandons FWR, or continues to ban gender critical posters, it won’t hold much interest for me.

I joined for advice and reassurance when I was a first-time parent who felt clueless, I received excellent advice on breast-feeding, sleep, weaning and childhood illnesses. When friends became parents, I recommended the site. When my youngest child was born and I could access MN via a phone, I spent a lot of time stuck on the sofa whilst bfing, reading Classics, AIBU, Chat and Active. I lurk much more than I post, but I follow threads in Woolly Hugs, Telly Addicts, AIBU and Chat. I take on board a lot of things I've read here, and have gone out and bought things purely based on what other poster have said. I've gone and bought various products (Lakeland heated airer, Karcher window vac, vacuum cleaners, skincare products), I've changed the fit of my bras and my skincare routine thanks to Style&Beauty, bought books from What We're Reading, found suitable YouTube exercise videos and checked age-suitability for cinema films. I've holidayed in the UK and abroad based on recommendations on destinations and planned itineraries for days out. When changing to supermarket home-delivery I went with one in favour on MN. In the past, my bookmark was Active Conversations, that was my access point. This year it changed to FWR. I had always considered myself a feminist, but reading the boards there I now consider myself a better-informed feminist and am quite surprised to find my views align most closely with radical feminism. I've started noting more things in real-life that I may not have previously picked up on. I've read more widely on the subject, written to my MP, completed the government consultation and cancelled my Ocado account. I have spoken to friends and family about many of the things I have learnt here. MN is an invaluable space, and I spend a significant amount of my online time here. I've been lurking here for many years (my eldest child is now at secondary school) but MN is just as valuable to me now as it was all that time ago.

I'm completely delighted to see how many other women value lurking on FWR as much as me! This has been a really cheering thread

FWR. I hit that forum everyday, have been reading it for a couple of years now. It has helped me to develop my opinions and thoughts surrounding the gender debate, and now I am out on the street, leafleting on behalf of Fair Play For Women, week in and week out.

I can't remember why I came initially, it definitely wasn't for parenting advice. I do like big fast moving forums with a lot of boards and topics, and Mumsnet fits that bill.
I keep coming back because it's female centred and so I feel like a member, not as if I'm only here on sufferance. I can say what I really think without having to word in a defensive way as I do on other boards.
I really only post on FWR, chat and AIBU. FWR is usually my first port of call nowadays.

Oh and of course the bounty mutiny, how could I forget that one, Red !

I learnt a LOT from that one.

Lessons for so many other things in life, and how authority isn't necessarily right and how rights are not even thought about in many instances.

Came for company during night feeds stayed for FWR chats. Honest, intellectual debate - rare to find sadly.

I can’t remember how I first found mumsnet but I joined when pregnant with my first child. It was great to have people to chat to about pregnancy stuff especially before my pregnancy was ‘public’ irl. I then spent a lot of time on the breastfeeding board, receiving and then giving advice. I’ve dipped in and out (trying to kick my MN addiction and relapsing!), reading classics for entertainment, looking for product recommendations, housekeeping tips, parenting advice. What is keeping me hooked at the moment is Feminism Chat - lurking multiple times a day and starting to get involved. When I need light relief I dip into AIBU, chat, S&B.
I love MN but it’s taking up far too much of my time at the moment

I came when my DS was 5 and DD was 2, for parenting advice about tantrums, money, school etc.

Stayed for the larks and the feminism.

I joined after a friend recommended you for reviews and recommendations when I was expecting DS, lots of pregnancy and parenting advice was sought!

After this my favourite is Style &Beauty (baa) and have also been a member of Low Carb Boot camp.

I am not a mother - I am here for the radical feminism.

I came for the baby advice 12 years ago and then lurked on Style and Beauty and now I lurk on FWR, so many articulate adult females who continue to inspire me daily.

I joined when PG with DC4, joined the AN group, made RL friends out of them.

Relocated, MN advised and steered me with the new area. Made some really special RL friends from it.

Split up. MN supported, advised, held me up from discovery to divorce and beyond. I hope I can do the same for others.

Now I mainly use it for the Feminism boards. They used to terrify me, I felt that there were ‘proper’ grown ups on there. It gives me the confidence to express my views because I know I’m not alone in my thoughts and opinions.

It’s fair to say MN has been a friend to me.