Thread "promoted by Mumsnet" is a normal thread..

[00100001]

This thread here, sometimes come up as Promoted by Mumsnet

www.mumsnet.com/talk/christmas/4692720-16-ds-says-hed-like-a-bit-of-lego

Happened at least twice

Hi @00100001 thanks for posting. This is something we're testing at the moment - it's not an error.

so it's supposed to be intermittent and of 'normal' threads?

what's the intention?

Came on to see if there was a thread for this - I've seen a few of them now. Is Mumsnet choosing normal threads to promote because they tie in with advertising? No issue with that, just curious. Can we have more detail please @YetAnotherBeckyMumsnet ?

Blatantly an advertising thing... or is it a coincidence it's a Lego thread.No doubt there'll be promoted Disney threads that are "natural" ... I wonder if Big Al has anything to do with this and we can 'force' the promotion of thread and perhaps lead to people using the site differently if they think their thread could be promoted.

There's also one about Hush having a 'serious sale' and another '2k to spend on 1 thing for yourself'.

And now the one about whether you can feel the wires through your electric throw.

when I first saw the Hush one, it didn’t seem to be under a “promoted” banner - I didn’t notice one anyway as I usually avoid those thread. Does this mean it was straightforwardly a planted thread?

It looks as though they are selecting normal threads that have advertising value and adding the 'promoted' banner retrospectively.

Very underhand. Worse that that experiment with having random words linking to advertising.

Hi everyone - sorry for the late response. These are threads that have the highest clicks on the links shared in them. We're experimenting with promoting them to a wider audience to see if they're also useful to others. It's just a test at the moment so your feedback is helpful.

Bit, surely the clocks will be higher because they're promoted?

Or are you measuring clicks before promotion?

How is MN mitigating "false clicks"? So, pretend I'm Lego, and I see a Lego link in a thread and knowing you'll promote the thread if enough clicks happen. I could pay an advertising person or write about that clicks the links and therefore promotes the thread, making it more likely for clicks?

Write a bot*

@YetAnotherBeckyMumsnet Thanks for your response. Does this only apply to links for products, or will it also apply to other links - e.g. resources, videos, petitions etc?

This doesn't make sense. Surely they have to be 'made-up' threads then? MN can't trawl through threads for any mention of merchandise??

If they're purely counting clicks, it could be done on that basis but would be open to abuse - spam bot starts a thread and generates multiple clicks to a lift installation service in Coimbatore or whatever; suddenly it's promoted by Mumsnet ...

I think this is an awful idea tbh. I wouldn't like one of my threads effectively tagged as advertising.

Some of the promo threads (not started by users) are a bit dodgy too - see the one on teenage skincare discussed in the feminism section, and the one on colic drops that seems light on evidence too.

I assume those are adverts for something and never click on them.

i look at specific boards and these promoted by mumsnet threads are really distracting and nothing to do with the topic, eg look at Style and Beauty and there’s stuff about online gaming 🤷‍♀️. I’d prefer the promoted threads all at the top so can easily see what is not relevant.

@00100001 we're measuring clicks before promoting and it's threads we choose rather an automatic process. We can usually tell if a thread was started/posted on by a spammer.

Thanks for all your feedback.

I'd assume it was a advert thread and not click it tbh.

I deliberately don't click on them precisely because they're advertising tied ones!

Mumsnet gotta make money somehow. Let them. This site isn't a public service

I think this is getting near the end of the road for Mumsnet being a site to interact with and feel it has any authenticity. It's a shame.

I just wish we could hide them like normal threads. You get sick of seeing the same ones over and over again in active.

I was wondering why the Hush thread is now ‘promoted. @YetAnotherBeckyMumsnet surely transparency is needed here? If I was the OP I’d want to know how if MN had used my thread for affiliation, for example. The fact the OP on that one has not commented makes me wonder if it’s a ‘plant’ thread.