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Original poster

Links in posts to mumsnet site sections

141 replies

popehilarious · 12/07/2019 13:37

Noticed a few posts mentioning things like alcohol and reviews and they'd had links added to relevant sections of the mumsnet site. Wondered if this was an automatic thing. I used to see it in the Guardian and it would drive me mad!

OP posts:

CruellaFeinberg · 12/07/2019 15:59

how do we stop it - its nasty

TinyPaws · 12/07/2019 16:00

And the infertility thread I'm currently on is now littered with links to "exercise in pregnancy" and "pregnancy symptoms". If we were pregnant we would hardly be discussing our current IVF cycles and associated side effects.

TinyPaws · 12/07/2019 16:04

And headaches being mentioned as a side effect of infertility treatment now link to a "headaches during pregnancy" article.

TeenTimesTwo · 12/07/2019 16:07

So we have at least car seats, boots, dresses, caesarean, alcohol, piles, headaches and also constipation.
Too clever by half.

TeenTimesTwo · 12/07/2019 16:08

Ooh. Why have all those not linked this time?

MNHQ

AnyaMumsnet · 12/07/2019 16:14

Hi there all,

We're really sorry, there's been a bit of a problem in implementing this. We are continuing to work on it to ensure it works sensitively and appopriately.

@Tinypaws We're really sorry, this is fixed now but there's a cacheing issue so it might take a bit of time to catch up - we're looking into seeing how we can force it through to make it speed up.

We really value all your feedback, and we're really sorry that it hasn't worked quite as we wanted it to immediately.

PurpleDaisies · 12/07/2019 16:18

We're really sorry, there's been a bit of a problem in implementing this.

Why do you even need to implement it? It’s a daft idea.

TeenTimesTwo · 12/07/2019 16:23

It's not a daft idea. I bet it seemed great at the time.

Sort of

Wouldn't it be great if when people are discussing which car seat to buy they got linked to our special page on them?
Fab idea, and if they are pregnant and talking about unwanted side effects we could link to that too

-- Yes, and if they are saying what type of dresses would suit we've a page on that

The software will need to be way more 'intelligent' and context sensitive.

Percypigparade · 12/07/2019 16:29

I've seen dresses, piles and exercise so far - at least now I realise it's a "thing" I can just ignore them, a bit like the speed with which I've learned to click "x" on all the adverts..

SilverDragonfly1 · 12/07/2019 18:13

Maybe make it something each user can choose to turn off in their settings.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 12/07/2019 21:30

it's really odd! I just saw a thread where lunchboxes and tupperware were randomly linked to rather pointless pages.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 12/07/2019 21:30

lunchbox

IceRebel · 12/07/2019 21:35

Will there be an option to turn this off?

It seems like yet another pointless feature that no one has asked for, and as has been shown on this thread it can lead to insensitive and pointless links which derail threads.

multivac · 12/07/2019 21:56

Yup. But it will drive traffic to areas of the site with commercial potential. And this is a commercial website.

Isatis · 12/07/2019 22:26

Does it really work to drive traffic elsewhere? I haven't clicked on any links so far, and to be honest I'm not likely to. I just want to read the posts, not get diverted to articles about piles.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 12/07/2019 22:35

Nice name Multivac!

CatLadyInTraining · 12/07/2019 22:38

Yes, please remove!

Gooigi · 12/07/2019 22:39

This reminds me of adware that infects a user's browser and turns keywords on websites they view into links. This wll increase the advertising revenue for mumsnet and the user will just have to put up with it.

The most annoying thing is there's no way to tell if the link was automatically added or not. So I click a link thinking the poster wants us to see a picture of the specific lunchbox she has I'm mind, but it's just a mumsnet list of lunchbox with handy amazon links so they get a cut of the profit.

Bellasblankexpression · 12/07/2019 22:40

I hate this because it looks like the poster had chosen to link to it. It’s really intrusive. I’ve stopped using other sites because of it.
I know mumsnet is a commercial site at the end of the day but without the users they wouldn’t be anywhere - I think this is intrusive and feels a bit sly to be honest. At least give us the option to turn it off in our settings or something. It distracts from the threads.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 12/07/2019 22:45

Every word we type now has the potential to be overtly monetised. Not cool MN, not cool at all.

Rainatnight · 12/07/2019 22:46

It’s so so irritating.

TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross · 12/07/2019 22:54

OK, a post in a thread I'm reading has managed to link the phrase "have a wank" to this article in the Metro.

Do I win the thread?

TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross · 12/07/2019 22:56

And WHAT are you trying to tell us about a day in the life of MNHQ, MNHQ?

Cornettoninja · 12/07/2019 23:00

This reminds me of adware that infects a user's browser and turns keywords on websites they view into links

This x100. It’s fucking awful MNHQ.

If you’re that desperate for people to read the articles write some decent ones.

multivac · 12/07/2019 23:01

Nice name Multivac

Thank you; I was surprised it wasn't taken

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