Can energy/COL topics become like covid topics please

[MrsRobinsonsHandprints]

@MNHQ

I've already been called a snowflake for objecting to a flippant post about small business going to the wall, so no doubt this will be thrown at me again but can the endless energy threads/general cost of living threads all live in their own topic page which is already set up?

This isn't burying head in the sand but just means that people can continue to get light relief from MN (and fuck me it is needed) and then only read the COL threads when they choose.

If you want some space away from it, then I recommend branching out from Chat and AIBU and seeing what else MN has on offer. There are boards covering everything.

Or just get off the Internet.

It's ridiculous to try to control what other people talk about just because you want a break from it.

Now that BadKitten is an excellent idea.

In slower news times it can highlight quieter topics like Spindle says above and in times of dominant news they can highlight COL/Storms etc

I agree - I don't think a dozen threads expressing the same anxieties need to be on the front page.

My desire to have it in topics is no different to your desire to have it every where. I am not trying to control MN let alone the Internet I have just posted, on sitestuff, a suggestion for the powers that be. It is up to them if my request is approved or denied.

@O11 That is all very well but I suspect many people like myself don't use specific boards but use active threads to see what the most recent threads are and many of these are now by people asking about their energy bills or how to keep warm. You could argue that these people could search for one of the myriad threads on these topics. There may not be one good resolution to this but directing people to a specific topic relating to these issues might be a good start and easy for those who are concerned to see discussions and solutions in one place.

There is already an "in the news" topic. It's much quieter than AIBU or Chat. People seem to prefer the general topic boards.

There are lots of threads on energy at the moment because there are lots of users who want to talk about it. The number of threads will die down when people feel the need to talk about it less.

Another as they are not promoted enough, a post that is in trending would generate traffic.

The number of threads will die down when people feel the need to talk about it less.

Unlike a bad storm the energy crisis is much like covid, it will be long and protracted.

All the more reason to make it easy for people to talk about it then.

Change the way you use MN then if just relying on active threads isn't working for you right now. Start checking out specific boards that relate to your interests, you'll find a few to cycle through and unless it's something really obscure there will always be active conversations. Don't expect MN to change for you.

I think there are probably enough 'niche' topics that will be intrinsically free of current affairs discussions for people not to need a dedicated 'non-topic'.

It's more a case of people being able to hide those discussions if they want to, without having to hide the whole of AIBU and Chat - so I would support them being moved to the 'Cost of Living' topic.

@O11 I don't expect MN to change for me. I use it as it is set up to be used. There i no one topic that interests me so this was I get a breadth of topics. How we that breadth is becoming increasingly just COL type threads and although they are important to those who need them, they are not what everyone necessarily wants to see.

Using 'in the news' would not be appropriate for topics that always exist.

This gets raised every time there’s a big topic in the news. I actually agree that threads should be moved to the eleventy million relevant topics but to keep asking MNHQ to do it is literally banging your head against a wall because they will totally ignore it.

Ive noticed that people who are trying to use appropriate topics dont know whether to put it into COL or Money Matters.

I agree, posters are working themselves and others up into terrible states, it’s not helping anyone.
Theres no need to derail threads by ‘policing’ them and telling the OP it’s in the wrong section, just report the thread to MNHQ and ask for it to be moved.

I like OYBBK's topic idea. I have been around these parts long enough to remember the creation of the Credit Crunch board, that is the perfect one to pin to the top of Chat and AIBU at the moment!

Hello @MrsRobinsonsHandprints thanks for your suggestions.

When an issue is dominating the news and is having such far-reaching effects into people's lives, then we expect to see a lot of threads in Active discussions reflecting that. Moving them all to one area now seems counter-productive, given that it's clear people want to discuss what's happening.

As time goes on, we'll look to move threads to Cost of Living where appropriate. We know that stressful news is impactful - we saw this with Covid and we certainly don't want a situation where MNers are negatively affected by dozens of threads all about the same thing.

In the meantime, please hide any threads you don't want to see.

@YetAnotherBeckyMumsnet what about my idea of pinning Topics as a 'Topic of the Week' to the top of the page?

I agree.

Even if there was a separate board people will still start threads where they like and then mods time is used by having to move them

"You might think the covid boards worked well. I disagree, it was intensely irritating to see posters constantly getting jumped on for posting in the "wrong" place."

Completely agree with this. The thread was then completely derailed by the whole "there is a board for this topic" type posts.

Surely it's easy to scroll past a thread that doesn't interest? Surely we all do that every time we log on here?

I agree. Ban cost of living posts from Chat and have a Holiday From Reality board for those who want to police how Mumsnetters express their concerns.

I'd be perfectly happy not to have to see established facts described as scaremongering by the deluded.

Not a big free speech fan then?

Just remove posts about energy bills or the cost of living?

Cos if we don't talk about it, it's not happening?