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

MNHQ must be feeling really conflicted here. They created this awesome place for women to talk and when women come together they talk honestly and powerfully. But it would just be so much easier if we only talked about pregnancy or style and beauty. Then it could be monetised with some advertising and everyone feels good.

Instead it turns out these uppity women, when they’ve finished dealing with pregnancy, childbirth, schooling, property queries, book clubs, health problems and tv chat, want to talk about feminism. And in a way that some men don’t like. And MNHQ are risking losing money because of the men.

Tricky, but MNHQ should know that you never ask a question to which you don’t already know the answer.

Your move MNHQ.

Ps I love this place so apologies for the snarky tone but you could and should have been true to the values of the women who make this site as powerful as it is.

I am over 50 and my DC have long gone. So I am not Mumsnetter - more like a Gransnetter!

I got lots of love and support from the litter tray when my old cat died and I still have the thread saved.

I name change a lot but I have posted and read the FWR threads. My admiration for the women ( and men) who post is high - my belief in human nature is reignited on a daily basis just as I think the world Is going to hell in a hand cart. Tbh I have had to put a restriction on my iPad as I have been spending too long on here and on twitter for my own good. My blood pressure is being affected too!

I am starting to crochet and hope to be good enough to help with the wonderful woolly hugs

I love S&B and the dogs boards, but what I appreciate most is the FWR boards.
Please let us have this space to discuss important issues.

There are parking threads? I've been driving for over 45 years and I reckon I'm the world's worst parker. Where do I find them and will they help?

I came after a recommendation from Zoe wotsit in the Guardian, something like ‘it’s a place where you can ask, for example “how long after having an E is it safe to breastfeed?” and get a sensible answer without any judgement’ and although I wasn’t in need of that specific info, it sounded more the sort of forum that might suit me, having been a bit dismayed by other online spaces that were so fluffy and so unintelligent in style and content. I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to be a Mum and also retain my personhood, and mumsnet showed me that I could.
Now, I spend a lot of time on FWR, because I’m shit scared about the rise of transactivism, and it gives me some hope that perhaps we’ll be able to stop it somehow. I remember first reading threads with dittany on, seeing TERF and being intrigued and sort of detachedly interested, and trying to understand what it meant. How naive I was!

And also baby names seems to draw me in, although I’m well past the baby naming stage

I came via Relationships, the advice given out there was top rate and immensely kind. Hung around AIBU for many years and enjoyed reading and discussing about current affairs and topics in the news.

Always interested in Feminism, was always awestruck by how intelligent the posters on the Feminism boards were and how they could break issues down into its component parts. So eye opening.

FWR has been the only board I use now for about a year or more.

Found it when had a MC, joined for infertility threads, is now the only place I can find a fabulous group of supportive women who are childless not by choice. The irony of that being on a site called mumsnet!

There are parking threads? I've been driving for over 45 years and I reckon I'm the world's worst parker. Where do I find them and will they help?

🤣 The parking threads are about bad or selfish parking, TimeLady. Things like parking across drives or strangers parking IN people’s drives!

I found it through Google, and the teenagers board saved my sanity. (Thank you to Maryz.) Then I found Relationships, Health, Education, Chat, TV, Politics ...

And of course, Feminism. What an awesome board. Feminist Chat is probably one of the most important talk boards on the internet today.

Mn saved my life, in that posters talked, and explained and supported my escape from my abusive marriage.

These days I lurk mostly. Fave area is FWR, but also chat, Christmas, everywhere really

Women. I use MN because it’s (mostly) full of intelligent, articulate, compassionate, funny women and being here with them feeds my soul if that doesn’t sound too weird I spend most time on Feminist Chat and Relationships.

FWR: it is rich with critical, honest, thought-provoking, sometimes rage-inducing posts about what it means to be a woman today.
When I'm tired and I want distraction/entertainment it's AIBU.
When I want to buy something for the kids or for me as a mother (right now I need a hooded waterproof coat that will accommodate a baby in a sling) then it's an internal site search or a google search with "mumsnet" added because I trust the collective opinions of the women on here.
But when I want to think and engage and be inspired, it's FWR. Best board on the site.

I think I first joined when I was having trouble with XH and wanted some advice. MNers supported me and helped me to leave an EA marriage, I went on to become friends in RL with some of them and we still help and support each other outside of MN.

These days I use it for entertainment, mainly AIBU and funny threads, but I also spend time on Relationships, where I try and give a little back for all the help I received and on FWR which is where I feel that MN is really a unique space online. Being able to discuss the issues of the day with relative freedom (I've only had one strike since the new guidelines came in!) is just so comforting as the world outside of MN (specifically Twitter) makes you lose all hope for humanity.

I know it's been a difficult line to tread and that MNHQ haven't always got it right, but I appreciate the balance they have to strike and try to err on the side of caution while remaining true to myself.

I do feel like I've been woken up since spending time on here. I have a much better insight into relationships, politics, parenting, just life really. As someone who works at home, I don't get a lot of contact with people outside of my very small circle. MN fills that void for me.

I joined MN in 2013, after the 5:2 threads came up in Google.

I am now mainly on 5:2, Brexit, FWR

MN is an amazing support resource for women in so many areas of our lives, often very funny too.
When a woman posts here for help, there is usually such a generous response with advice and good wishes.

I relish the space for women to discuss serious topics together in a civilised space, without being shouted down by misogynist men, as on other discussion fora.

Reading so many threads from women with diverse problems made me realise how our lives are dominated by biology,
from periods, through pregnancies and their possible lifelong effects to the menopause.
Biology - especially the difference in physical strength between the sexes - has for millenia enabled oppression of women.

I didn't look at the FWR board much at first, because (very naively) at age 62, I thought we'd long ago won the major battles.

Now I am so glad of the amazing, articulate women who post there,
who have made me aware of many important issues,
in particular the dangers to women and children from TRA fanatics and self-ID.

I am worried though that - because of worries about ad income ? - the FWR boards are far more tightly "censored" than any other area of MN.

I'm astonished & outraged that MNHQ invited non-members to pile in and target MN feminist posters, some like Maryz who have been here supporting women for many years.

Please unban those FWR posters and ease up on the censorship.
Don't let TRAs - often aggressive men - silence the voices of women.

I came here first because someone on another message board linked to an AIBU thread. I wouldn't have come otherwise, as I'm not a parent, and I had assumed it was irrelevant to me.

I have made some excellent RL friends through FWR and been a more active feminist because if it, marches and meetings and speaking at the Feminist Library.

I also follow the Archers threads.

I've learned a lot about abusive relationships.

I've learned a lot about rights at work. I've felt despair at the number of crap managers there seem to be around.

I've learnt a lot about periods and menopause and what range of symptoms are normal; having been to the doctor about heavy periods and realising I knew what was normal for me, but had no idea if I was normal, nor if I was the only woman at work who suffered - we just don't talk about periods enough IRL to know these things.

I've applied for jobs.

I wore bandalettes under a dress when I went to a wedding because of a thread in MN. (I later retrieved one of them from round my ankle, as it migrated from my thigh...)

I've talked about books and gardening and swimming and language and depression. I've watched sporn. I've laughed. I've been angry. I've learnt loads. There are some threads that make me think, I can't be bothered with this any more, but so far, the good bits outweigh the bad bits. I work in a male-dominated job, and it's nice having a female-dominated place to chat about all sorts.

Like so many I started as a lurker. Then over the years my life has been saved (not an exaggeration) by the SN children board, enhanced by Weightloss chat and S & B.

But again, where I find myself drawn again and again is FWR. The women there are amazing.

PutYourShirtOn

Oh yes! I forgot The Litter Tray. I also got wonderful support when making the decision to to hvve our very very old moggy PTS; and afterwards it was a place to talk about her

I like the help for women in abusive relationships, reading the advice given and giving some occasionally, but nowadays it is the feminism board that keeps me coming back, the contributors are top quality.

I enjoyed the honesty and nest of vipers style posts as they were an antidote to other patenting sites.

However the boards are now incredibly transphobic and I feel increasingly uncomfortable here and try to only read posts that are lighthearted /funny.

Weather boards are great, oybbk and Gloria are fab.

Oh, I should have said as well, I've made a brilliant handful of real life friends from this site!

They're all banned now, of course. And if not banned, left. All of them as trans-inclusive as myself, but all of them gone now. One banned seemingly for posting almost exclusively on FWR threads (which by the sounds of it a lot of posters do?), one for failing to contribute to nice, friendly discussion where everybody agrees. So... for disagreeing. Or something like that. I don't know, I wasn't there. Three left because they felt bullied and attacked on a daily basis. Two of those were trans individuals. There are others I won't go into.

Ultimately it's not my place to have any opinion on bans and at the end of the day I completely respect them. But I have made a good number of friends on here and joined activist groups with these individuals on the back of it, for causes such as repeal the 8th. It's been a good craic. Hi all you guys, miss you!

one for failing to contribute to nice, friendly discussion where everybody agrees

You really think the mods engage in pettiness like this? I don't agree with someone like maryz being banned but I still trust that 90% of the time the ban hammer isn't wielded unless it's necessary. Look at how robust AIBU is. There are some right twits on there and they're not booted out.

Rat.

This thread isn't all about you.

Get over it.

Just giving my feedback as requested.