Thoughts on tweaking MN

[MsAmerica]

Since the mods very cordially expressed a willingness to read suggestions, I put something together for you. I tried to think this through to cover as much as possible, although I admit I'm not an experienced poster here. So these are things I've noticed that you might want to re-think, but overall the main suggestion is just to tidy up the layout for clarity, and re-organize and re-name some forums, to make the posting process more user-friendly. Please excuse a bit of repetition, as the categories overlap. (Also, some small additions since my original failed attempt to post, with apologies to mods who were already kind enough to read the initial version.)

I haven’t been able to post this, possibly because it’s so long, but I’m now going to try it in sections, as suggested, and see if that works.

For instance, it's a lot simpler to click on an emoticon instead of copy-pasting.

So click on a emoji. I think even my MacBook has them although I usually use my iPad now.

It's a lot simpler to follow a thread if replies are indented/nested

It really isn't. It stifles the flow as the conversation gets broken up into defined little segments. Plus it's ugly and cluttered.

I use MN with voiceover on my phone. MN as is is accessible, the mobile version anyway, reddit is not.

@TheChippendenSpook

That's a long few minutes of my life I won't get back

I salute you. You did it, so I wouldn't have to.

Thinking about the "like"button thing' it works well on somewhere that tends to be fairly placid like Ravelry (although I think some groups/discussions can get heated!) but in somewhere as, ahem, volatile as MN it would very easily descend into the "bullying" I saw on Reddit.

Can we please have dark mode on the app?

I find the site very user-friendly and easy to navigate (mind you, I have been here years!) and would not particularly want a change to any of the forum / sub-forum headings. An edit function would be good, but I don’t like the idea of a ‘like’ button.

MN is unique. It would be a shame to change it.

^^This. I don't understand this need to change something that is so popular and well used - have you seen the stats?

A quick look at the home page would tell you this:

Twenty years later and who'd have thought it would come to this? Mumsnet is now the UK’s biggest network for parents, with around 7 million unique visitors per month clocking up around 100 million page views.

This thread is so nasty. I'm shocked at the responses. OP went to a lot of time and effort to list everything. Some of the 'I can't be bothered to even read that' responses are vile.

I have only ever used Mn on my phone, and I like it. But minor improvements and changes could make it better I'm sure.

@Oblomov21

This thread is so nasty. I'm shocked at the responses. OP went to a lot of time and effort to list everything. Some of the 'I can't be bothered to even read that' responses are vile.

I have only ever used Mn on my phone, and I like it. But minor improvements and changes could make it better I'm sure.

She obviously did expend a lot of time and effort on it, but that doesn't mean people have to agree with what she says.

Tops, that wasn't my point. I don't agree with many of her points. But disagreeing with someone is different to some of the nasty replies given.

I do disagree. The look in individual threads and on the active page is clean. That’s where I mostly start from and I don’t look at other pages.

I stay logged in so that’s not an issue for me.

And as I have already said I can use emoticons straight from my phone 😜 with no issues and I like the lack of nesting.

I don’t want a like button but I’d like to be able to edit when I make a spelling error.

I like MN as it is.

I would like people to be refused the option to quote the op on a thread as it irritates me and is wholly pointless.

And I'd like a gingerbread emoticon please and thank you.

All the stuff the op dislikes, I mostly like so no thank you to nearly all of it. Can you not stay logged in and never look at the homepage. I haven't looked at the homepage for 15 years.

I like MN how it is. I have been here long time and it is like an old quirky friend who has their faults but you accept them because you are fond of them. I don't want it to be all slick like FB or Twitter. It is my comfort zone.

quirky old friend 🤣

@lostmymarblesbutfoundthewine

Not sure if this has been said but I know use the app and I can't find a button to go to the last reply on a thread which you can on the website. Is its a long post especially it's a lot of scrolling through every time. Unless someone can point me to it and its really obvious 🙈

Oh this drove me mad for the first few months. Then someone told me that if you tap the bottom right of the last post you read, it bookmarks it so that when you come back to the thread you're automatically taken there.

But this is the thing. It should be made OBVIOUS to new members! It shouldn't have to take asking a question after months of frustration as we both had to!

@ApolloandDaphne

I like MN how it is. I have been here long time and it is like an old quirky friend who has their faults but you accept them because you are fond of them. I don't want it to be all slick like FB or Twitter. It is my comfort zone.

And you don't want anyone new to join it?

I do know what you mean. When my main forum changed completely years back, I moaned too. But it's massively better now. Few of us like change to our comfort zone, but it needs to happen and we adapt. I look back at the old one and can't imagine why I wanted to defend it!

@UnderTheSkyInsideTheSea

I admit I'm not an experienced poster here.

Christ on a bike, what kinds of suggestions do you make for forums you do post on?

A definite NO to indenting
Ditto 'like' feature
And a ban on quoting ops! So tedious
I'd ditch AIBU and the silly forced titles so posters have to post in 'proper' subjects (mainly Relationships and Education) or Chat so they will thankfully disappear at some point.

Use the preview button before pressing post. Use the bookmark button. It is easy.

I'd like the option to unfollow posts I've previously posted in. I posted in a lot of pregnancy threads until my miscarriage, and then the "I'm on" section became a horrible reminder of what could/should have been. I ended up trying to post on other threads in the hope of burying the pregnancy threads further down.

Or maybe that's already a feature and I just haven't pressed the right button yet!

@Tofu35 you can hide threads. I’m sorry for your loss. 💐

[quote Heruka]@toastofthetown (going to tag you rather than quote long post!) Totally agree with improving quote function in the way you’ve described. It’s a ballache if you’ve made a point you want to check for responses for and have to scroll through lots to find, when it could be alerted.

I disagree about archiving though!! I will be that only poster. Sometimes there are threads where people come back more than a year later to update. Or people call on the OP to ask how they got on, and occasionally they come back. I think the lovely one in classics with the lovely Y chromosome grandad who loves his grandson, could conceivably be updated more than annually. Recently a poster came back to an old thread asking for help for her sister experiencing domestic abuse, to update that she had left and advice had helped.

Op I apologise but I didn’t feel able to read through your whole post but can see the thought and work and that’s to be commended. I am another against the like button.[/quote]
There is a flip side to the archiving threads, but I don't see why if an OP wants to update after it had archived they couldn't start a new thread with a link to the old. In a way that's better as it's obvious to everyone from start its an update. Even when a thread is bumped by the OP there are still several messages at the bottom just replying to the first post not realising that it was several years ago and the baby the post is about is now at school. I disagree with the point on other posters asking OP for an update. That's just annoying to me, if the OP wanted to update they can and if you want an update then you can message them privately. I'd be interested to see stats on who is bumping threads though. My experience is that it's most people from Google or spam / marketing accounts rather than someone providing an update three years down the line.

But it goes to show (as does this whole thread) that people have different views on how Mumsnet should operate as a forum with some wanting modernisation and some wanting it to stay as it is. Mumsnet have posted saying that they have plans for 'improving usability' but without any more information that's kind of meaningless and I have no idea if their idea of improved usability is in line with mine.

In terms of the way thr forum operates have a look at Money Saving Expert, the ability to properly quote people, the ability to quote people who have already quoted (and the nested quoting) as well as just the general flow of their forums.

I too would like an edit button but other than that I'm so used to MN as it is at all those changes would surely make a different site. Am very surprised that you OP would go to great lengths to suggest all those changes yet you still use a site which you consider needs so many changes and you've been using it for 8 years so I'm wondering what your game is as surely not many can be arsed to write the manual that you have unless they have a vested interest

@saraclara I am more than happy for new people to join, that's not what I was implying! I was talking about the actual site.