Mumsnet Premium membership - please support us if you can

[JustineMumsnet]

Hi folks,

First and most importantly, I hope you and yours are safe and well, and that you all stay that way.

After 20 years of unreasonableness, rofls, wtfs, advice and support, and the odd lawsuit, it's fair to say that we are as close as we’ve ever been to existential difficulty.

Like many ad-funded businesses, the COVID-19 crisis has seen us take a big hit to our revenues. The businesses who would normally pay to advertise with us are slashing their marketing budgets, but lots of our outgoings are fixed and we so need to find new ways to keep paying the bills.

We’re doing our darndest to find every single saving we can - lots of our staff have volunteered to reduce their hours, we’ve cancelled all non-essential services, I've taken a pay holiday and we will use every scheme and loan available to us from the government and the bank to help tide us over. But we still need to find alternative revenue streams to ensure we don’t run out of funds in a few months...

To put it frankly, it’s squeaky bum time.

I know this is a very tough time for many of you and some of you are only just keeping the lights on yourselves. We’re sending you our solidarity and we most certainly don’t want anyone to stump up anything they can’t afford, but if you can help, please do subscribe now to our Premium service.

We’ve banged this out as fast as possible in response to the current crisis and it’s definitely not the finished article, but it’s free of banner advertising, so if you’ve ever been vexed by those (or use an ad-blocker) this might be right up your alley. Banner ads also tend to make pages render more slowly and take up bandwidth, so if you’re surrounded by bored kids streaming with their mates, step this way.

We’ve opted for a price point that we hope is doable for most and which covers the potential lost ad revenue for the majority of users. We hope £4.99 per month or £49.99 for a year (less than a pound a week!) feels a reasonable exchange for the value Mumsnet brings you, but in any case you can unsubscribe any time.

Over the next little while we’ll look to add some extra features: things that people have requested regularly like editing, sorting posts by the OP, and reading offline.

Rest assured we remain committed to always providing a free version of the site, as we fundamentally believe that access to the advice and support Mumsnet offers should not depend on your ability to pay.

And if you can’t spare any cash right now… then of course we get it. It would still be very helpful if you removed any ad blockers or clicked on affiliate links around the site when you shop, joined our insight panel or even shared the best Mumsnet threads on your social channels whenever you can - it all helps.

If you have any questions at all feel free to post them here and I'll get back to you. We also have a page of FAQs that might answer your question.

Hold tight everyone.

Love

Justine and the team at MNHQ

Well worth under £1 a week of anyone’s money!!

Not to me, it isn't. Nor will it be to many MN users.

They've also withdrawn the beta and the only advantage there is to that is the ability to sort by posters on a thread.

I've signed up. I'd be lost without Mumsnet right now.

At times, the thread deletion messages alone are worth paying to see!

"If you weren't in the business of allowing non MN users to report posts, and you didn't ban posters for not rolling over to allow the erosion of women's rights then I would consider paying for the service."

"With all the security breaches that have occurred over the previous 12 months it really concerns me that subscribing would mean you have even more of my personal info which would be vulnerable if another security breach happened."

"I don't understand. Surely your hit rate has gone through the roof since everyone is at hone. More people going on Mumsnet for longer as some people have nothing else to do.

That must mean you can charge more for your advertising. Why don't you do that? Advertisers are still advertising."

All of these posts. Seems a bit like you put profits before users for a long time (understandable for a business) but now the shits hitting the fan you're coming back to those users you were willing to ignore, to ask for money. While saying you can provide features that have previously been asked for and denied. Repeatedly.

It stinks a bit to be honest.

@Sleepingboy

I don't understand. Surely your hit rate has gone through the roof since everyone is at hone. More people going on Mumsnet for longer as some people have nothing else to do.

That must mean you can charge more for your advertising. Why don't you do that? Advertisers are still advertising.

Sadly not - several advertisers have pulled their previously booked campaigns. Demand throughout the industry is down and that's driving prices down. Entire industries have stopped their marketing spend completely (Travel, Hospitality, Cars). Some sectors that are doing really well - eg supermarkets - are either suffering supply chain issues or don't really need to advertise. You can read more here.

I won't be paying.

I've been here for years under various name changes but the number of security breaches you've had really concerns me. How do I know my payment details are secure?

I know, it has only been two weeks!

Get a loan? You are sitting on a goldmine. The company is worth £8 million. The advertisers will be coming back in droves. Don't make this a two tier website.

Sorry Justine, I can’t. The data leak by a former member of staff means I’m not prepared to entrust my full name or other personal information to your business.

Empress I just signed up. Looks like it goes through to a secure 3rd party , rather than MNHQ holding details. @JustineMumsnet can you confirm?

That's reassuring Bore. But I really would like to see MN restrict the reporting facility to people who are already members, not just monitoring FWR from Twitter.

BRILLIANT! Thank you. I credit Mumsnet with opening my eyes to so many issues, the feminist board has been invaluable and the other boards got me through night feeds, teething, lonely days and boredom.
Well worth under £1 a week of anyone’s money!!

This post highlights a real issue. The two-tier Mumsnet will cut out many women who really gain from the valuable information to be found here. Certain members of society simply don't have 4.99 a month...not a hope in hell for them to join.

Those women won't be able to benefit as much as others will they? It's not a good decision.

Go public?

@BoreOfWhabylon

Empress I just signed up. Looks like it goes through to a secure 3rd party , rather than MNHQ holding details.

@JustineMumsnet can you confirm?

Yes we're using Stripe which is a very big and reputable payments provider. You can see who else uses them here

Fewer ads”

So not ad free then?

Will there be any changes to the free version? Like a increase in intrusive ads? To encourage folk to pay for “fewer ads”

Or any changes at all really?

And I should add...the existence of a two tier MN WILL water down the free boards. A lot of the decent content will be accessible only via the paid version. Otherwise, why have a paid version? If that version's not better.

This is probably the end for many who've been here for years.

You aren't expected to pay. Did you bother to read the OP?

Yes I read it in full, and IME when the suggestions of "we're struggling" come out, that pretty much adds up to an expectation - or at least a very strong hope - of funding

And my comment about posters being the product still stands

I've been here for around 16yrs and it's saved my sanity more than once. I'm sorry this pandemic is hitting people so hard.

Happy to subscribe.

Now, as MN royalty, I would like a gingerbread man emoticon but I don't want other people to be able to use it. You can email me instructions on how to exclusively use it. Can we have original HelenMN back too? She was ace. Cheers Justine!

Which details will be shared by the payment provider with MNHQ?

But I really would like to see MN restrict the reporting facility to people who are already members, not just monitoring FWR from Twitter.

See...and it's posts like that which will piss more and more people off.

Restrict reporting to paid members only!? Dear God.

Oh dear ...

uk.trustpilot.com/review/stripe.com

I don't care about the ads (in fact I like some of them) but I am keen to support MN staying afloat...

Sorry Justine, I can’t. The data leak by a former member of staff means I’m not prepared to entrust my full name or other personal information to your business

What???? Were they prosecuted?!

Free leopard print scarf, or some secret induction ceremony?

I’ll pay anyway. MNetters have been there when I have needed support. And MN has done a lot to enable women’s voices. Thank you.

This post highlights a real issue. The two-tier Mumsnet will cut out many women who really gain from the valuable information to be found here. Certain members of society simply don't have 4.99 a month...not a hope in hell for them to join.

Those women won't be able to benefit as much as others will they? It's not a good decision.

But the board will still be here. Premium users will just be seeing it without the ads. They won't be on a separate board.

In order to stop payment in the event of a banning then username and real name/payment details will have to be linked somewhere in the system. Or even if someone just wants to unsubscribe from premium. Still got to have a link, so however reliable and secure Stripe may be security falls down at the interface between them and MNHQ.

Restrict reporting to paid members only!?

That’s not what she said. She said member only. You don’t have to pay to be a member. All paying gets you is a fee less ads. For £50.

Restrict reporting to paid members only!? Dear God.

She didn't say paid members. She said members. Big difference. To report you have to be a registered member, paid or unpaid. If that was the case I would consider subscribing.

And make it visible only to members to prevent the fuckwits reporting randomly.