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 joined MN many ( many) years ago on the pregnancy boards, stayed for AIBU and now feminism, ( don't post much but read loads).

My open screen to MN is normally last 15 mins and I can have a quick flick through until something catches my attention. I don't look for specific topics but threads that might interest me.

The sheer volume of threads in AIBU means that they're more likely to pop up in active, which means they're more likely to attract casual readers (like me) who never open the AIBU board itself. I open nearly all the threads on the boards that are actually important to me.

Justine - can you look at the distribution of hits per thread on a board rather than just overall hits per board?

Boards that attract casual readers from Active will have a few threads with a big spike of high numbers of hits and then a long tail of many threads with lower hits, and therefore will have a huge standard deviation of hits per thread. Boards that are very important to members will have a more consistent distribution because people are more likely to click on threads from the topic board itself, and will therefore have a smaller standard deviation of hits per thread.

I came for the pregnancy board, met a group of women who are now real-life friends. I dip in and out of AIBU, Chat and relationships and like many others read the FWR several times a day. I thought I was the only one lurking!

Probably more people will bother to post here about topics that are important to them,
rather than if they just go to AIBU and Chat for entertainment

Plus, there's more choice on AIBU and Chat. Thus, I can move through maybe 5-10 topics on FWR and then it's 'done', but if I really want to procrastinate there are many more juicy topics on AIBU to keep me amused...

i joined to knit blankets.

now most frequently found lurking on FWR. they're brilliant, that lot.

I hope MNHQ don't mind me posting this (I don't want to derail the thread, there's a thread on it on FWR if anyone wants to discuss) but this article seems quite explicative of why a parenting website is likely to be a natural feminist incubator!

www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/there-comes-a-day-when-feminism-speaks-to-all-women-20180926-p5066q.html

It doesn't surprise me that AIBU gets more hits than FWR, (although that's a bigger gap between it and chat then I'd have thought!) - they're the ones that pop up on Facebook and social media and chime with a wider audience. FWR is more specialist.

Maybe it is a lurker vs non-lurker thing. Could also be that people are being banned from there so lurkers are speaking up more now in worry.

It would also be really interesting to hear about regular users vs new users, gender and age groups, logged-in vs logged-out, bounce rates and average time on page. I'd have thought that those loyalty groupings affect potential sales and adverts on the site more than pages with hits IYSWIM.

(I'm not expecting any of that to be shared by the way, I just love analytics and finding weird results and trends on webpages!)

I'm really surprised that FWR is as high as that - pleasantly surprised - it's fourth in number of hits.

I'm not at all surprised that AIBU, chat & relationships are the top 3.

Maybe if MN stopped banning women for speaking the truth, the FWR hits would be even higher

mostly the special needs support, but recently the FWR sections have opened my eyes.

The question was why do you use Mumsnet , not where do you spend most time or click the most.
Stats can give you the basics but these answers are just gorgeous .

AIBU is very much a separate beast, like the international military faction of the Daily Mail comments section and constantly linked everywhere, I thought it would be 20-30x more popular than the next board, ( bad result for AIBU) but for the other forums am very surprised and happy to see FWR so high up the list ( it is not a fringe single issue 4 girl debating club as detractors will claim)

Users have answered what is important to them, what the draw is to keep returning, what is unique about the site. That's the shit site owners and advertisers always presume and get wrong , you're very lucky to have users prepared to tell you in black and white what the USP is here. You've just had a fucking huge gift to your business, free high value research. Its worth reading and rereading this thread before making any business moves at all

If i owned this site I'd have the offices WallPaPERED with print outs of this thread. Training days based on it. All staff made to read it every Monday morning, turned into a compulsory audiobook for all commutes. . . .might be going a leetle far there . . but only a little. The posts in this thread need to be informing you. A gift I say.

I'm a lurker and it is lovely so many of my fellow lurkers popped up and said similar. Waves.

It doesn't surprise me that AIBU gets more hits than FWR, (although that's a bigger gap between it and chat then I'd have thought!) - they're the ones that pop up on Facebook and social media and chime with a wider audience. FWR is more specialist. It would also be really interesting to hear about regular users vs new users, gender and age groups, logged-in vs logged-out, bounce rates and average time on page.

Oh yes. I bet AIBU & Chat come up in Google far more often than FWR too, so them getting more visitors would make sense. But comparing the quality as well as quantity for sessions including AIBU, Chat & FWR could be very interesting.

Well AIBU doesn't have a 90 day cutoff, so AIBU goes back years.
Loads of stuff for search engines to pickup.

Yes, plus what wanderinwomb said.

The stats do give a slightly different picture

They will. I look at others but it is FWR that keeps me here. If it went I would have to find a replacement... and then Chat AIBU etc wouldn't keep me here.

It is heartening that FWR is so high up on that list. I am not surprised AIBU gets so many hits but I really AM surprised that it is only tenfold that of FWR! I too would have imagined a far greater gap!

The number of lurkers who have responded here gives a bloody big clue as to how many others might think the same!

Thank you, Justine. One of the very very best things I like about MN is that you as a company are not anonymous. I always feel that the mods and MNHQ are real people taking real life decisions in the interests of both the site as a business but also in the interests of the users here. The women here.

Thank you - I know you get stick (sometimes quite rightly, of course) but I do appreciate this isn’t some impersonal behemoth even though it is massive, and massively influential.

A shining example of women’s leadership.

Are all the boards and threads treated completely fairly on terms of 'trending' and 'active'?

As if there is some sort of mechanism where they are not all getting equal treatment then the stats cannot be seen to be reflective of useage.

First came for pregnancy support, then recurrent miscarriage invaluable support then parenting...

now i read AIBU and the feminism boards have helped me realise so many issues...

Are all the boards and threads treated completely fairly on terms of 'trending' and 'active'?

No, in fact the Special Needs boards are deliberately left off of everything and only appear in active if you opt in, this is to stop unfair comments from people who click without reading what board it is, and trolls.

MN you didn’t ask what our main destination was, you asked why we use mumsnet. I got help with my pfb - then help with miscarriages - and then help with my pets and my decorating. I laugh/get enraged along with others on aibu. But it wouldn’t feel like a home for me without FWR. I’m off to Sainsbury’s later - that’s not for all the things I buy the most of, it’s for the thing they sell that I can’t get anywhere else.

Well, I can only speak for myself, but I hid AIBU and relationships years ago so I don't see them in Most Active. I sometimes open AIBU up and take a look but rarely read much of any thread and usually click away quite quickly. I do click on threads in chat, I may follow some of them, may make a few comments, but they are not really the reason I use MN, they are just a diversion because I know they are there and I'm bored, or have read everything I want to in FWR. I do post intermittently on a couple of long running threads in specialist topics but most of my actual reading to be informed and engaged is in FWR. I do also use MN for information on specific things likes travel, health or recommendations for things and find it very useful, but those are much more occasional.

Are all the boards and threads treated completely fairly on terms of 'trending' and 'active'?
As if there is some sort of mechanism where they are not all getting equal treatment then the stats cannot be seen to be reflective of usage.

That's a REALLY good point. And Justine, have you looked at conversion rates? Are visits to Chat / AIBU or visits to FWR most likely to lead to registrations?

No, in fact the Special Needs boards are deliberately left off

Yes I know about that, it is not often a FWR thread appears in 'trending' so it would seem to me that you cannot compare their hit rates with boards that do, and FWR was removed from active for a while which is when I moved it to be the board that opens when I open MN. So unless they are being treated the same way as AIBU etc, you can't make comparisons or judgements on popularity.

CaptainKirks how do you opt in?