New feature - save threads & posts

[KatyMumsnet]

Hi all,

During the course of our website upgrade we did a lot of user testing with Mumsnetters - one of the things they said they'd like was to be able to save interesting threads and posts to come back to later, so we’ve built a new save feature (on the website only for now) and you’ll soon see the save option appear on posts.

There are now 4 ways to curate the content you want to find again or be notified about:

• I’m on - threads you’ve commented on
• I started - threads you started
• I’m watching - threads you want to see updates on and receive notifications about
• Saved - threads & posts you’ve saved to come back to later

And we’ve grouped these under the umbrella term ‘My lists’ which you can access via the blue navigation bar at the bottom of the screen on mobile or via the ‘My Mumsnet’ menu (the person icon) in the top right on desktop or mobile when you’re logged in. We hope this will help new users understand how to use these features.

We’ve also slightly rejigged the design so you can save, share and report posts more easily.

We hope you find it useful and as always we welcome feedback!

I agree. MNHQ decisions are baffling.

I’ve given it til now to see if I got used to it, but no, I hate his new layout. The blue catches my eye every single post and disrupts the flow of my reading. It’s tiring.
And even on iPad mini screen it’s so much more scrolling and page changing, just not an easy read anymore.

Yes, just four posts on my iPad screen, so phone must be horrendous

I've also tried to get used to it...

If they must stay could they at least just be the icons and a bit smaller, and remove the labels?

It does look tatty and cluttered. Plus who is sharing posts?

Everything is much slower too. Typing (almost like a delay and loading. Everything else is working at the normal speed, it's just here. Is it related?

I think the better question might be: is the demand for the ability to share posts coming from people whose intentions are in the MN spirit or in MN’s interests?

A prime user group for that functionality is almost certainly the people who want to easily highly individual posts on other social media to prove how awful women on MN are.

Did MN do any research to explore that possibility? It is already an issue for the FWR section of MN in various ways, and probably not something that needed to be made easier.

I suspect the other main group of people
who would want to share individual posts for negative reasons are your F4J types with an axe to grind about mothers.

This describes it perfectly 😬

Many times! Most often when copying and pasting a link to a post in one Mumsnet thread into a new post in a related Mumsnet thread.

Really useful for cross-referencing, particularly to info in older threads that is relevant of provides background. You see this being done a lot on the Feminist Boards.

Previously, you had to Bookmark a post then and then copy the URL of the Bookmarked post.

If the post was in an active thread it was an extra nuisance as I might already have bookmarked a later post in order to come back to my place in the thread, so I would have to go and find that post to Bookmark it again.

Surely the share function will increase the number of TAATs.

Not necessarily. It can be used to signpost to the point in another thread where a relevant discussion is taking place. It tends to reduce the number of "parallel threads", with one emerging as the Active Thread. I don't ever recall seeing links to other posts being used to start a TAAT.

It seems that some people never cross-reference threads by posting links to specific posts in other threads while others do it already but have to use the Bookmark function in order to generate the URL pointing to a specific post.

The new Share function is therefore likely to be ignored by people who do not see its value while being welcomed by those who already share links to specific posts in order to cross-reference and signpost.

How does the share function actually work within MN? I just tried but selecting copy didn’t then result in anything I could paste. I could see how I could share it across other platforms, just not internally.

What does it add that c&ping the url didn’t offer?

www.mumsnet.com/talk/site_stuff/4689177-new-feature-save-threads-posts?utm_source=thread&utm_medium=share

@CorporateBull I hit share on your post and the above link is what I got when I pasted after hitting the (tiny) "copy url" button.

Absolutely nothing changes on the screen when you click "copy url" so it looks like nothing has happened!

The link takes me to your post on the thread but I have actually shared the whole thread and there is nothing to indicate that it is your post specifically that I hit "share" from.

I am using a laptop, but I can't begin to imagine trying to do this on a phone screen (but maybe that's just me as I don't use MN on a phone).

Hmm. I just got nothing when I tried to paste after hitting Copy when I pressed Share. Mobile Safari site.

@MNHQ Now I’ve lost the … to get to the other options, including quote. Which also makes me think, if we must have these options so big at the bottom of each post surely quote should be one of them?

I've also lost the ••• but have also lost the icons which makes it slightly less cluttered.

As MN seem determined to keep these buttons maybe no icon, smaller font and option to have them in black would be an acceptable compromise

My clutter is still there

@BruceAndNosh have you still got the … and the icons? I’ve got the words but no icons.
I would have quoted you but have still lost the … to do so

"The link takes me to your post on the thread but I have actually shared the whole thread and there is nothing to indicate that it is your post specifically that I hit "share" from."

The fact that "the link takes me to your post" is precisely what "indicates that it is your post specifically" that you shared.

This is how "Share" usually works on Forums, ie. it does not bring the shared post to the top of the page, or discard the rest of the thread, or highlight the shared post with a different colour, instead the focus simply "jumps" to the position of the shared post.

If you Refresh the page the URL that has been shared remains the same, so if you scroll up or down then Refresh the page, the focus returns to the shared post. This effect is exactly the same as when you have bookmarked a post.

Hi @KatyMumsnet - can we customise and hide these icons please. They're spoiling my "user experience"!

I've got no ... and no quote button. Why no quote?

The fact that "the link takes me to your post" is precisely what "indicates that it is your post specifically" that you shared.

I can see a number of posts on the page (not just the one I shared) so I only know which post I shared because I was the one that hit "share" in the first place.

Anyone clicking on the link would just be taken to a random point in the thread (depending on how fast the conversation had moved on) and with nothing to indicate that I was intending to share a specific post (IYSWIM).

If I wanted to share a thread as a heads up to other people (which I have done several times with regard to the site stuff posts) then I would just copy and paste the url of the thread so that people can see the thread. I can't understand the need for them to be taken to a specific point in the thread as it would make no sense without the context of the OP.

Well despite all the feedback looks like this extra bar of icons is here to stay. Ho hum.

Speaking of icons, I’m getting a problem where the icons on the page randomly disappear. One minute they’re there, the next they’re not. Looks like this:

Any ideas @KatyMumsnet ? iPhone latest os, safari.

@mnhq @KatyMumsnet do MN no longer care about visually impaired people? The footer is a mess and really wrecks the clean flow; for people with vision difficulties it's making it almost impossible. I get a headache trying to read through. Also it is running slower consistently. Will you not reconsider this?