To ask what the point of AIBU is any more?

[PatTesting]

Can someone at @MNHQ explain what the purpose of AIBU is now?

Obviously, the purpose of it originally was for posters to ask an actual question, Am I being unreasonable… to not want to visit Mexico at Christmas, to think teabags should only be used once, to want my friend to visit me for once.

It’s quite obviously now mainly used for traffic and I’d guess that around 60-70% of the threads posted on it are not an AIBU. Reporting threads which clearly belong in other topics such as Relationships, Work, Legal etc is pointless because MNHQ don’t move them which makes me wonder what the point of AIBU is now.

As a kind of secondary point to this, why have so many topics and not use them? People end up posting asking for advice in AIBU on sensitive topics because they get no response in the correct topic. They then get roasted by the twats and no one is happy.

A yes/no doesn't give the information the OP might need to help their decision. I've never voted on AIBU or "liked" on Facebook. It's the death of communication.

Need a WWYD (what would you do) topic for all the 'posting for traffic' topics

I'm on the mobile app on an android phone. It doesn't let me see or enable polls.

@fuckityfuckityfuckfuck

we do have one. WWYD. (unless it has recently been removed)

I agree AIBU is a bit of a mess, but really why do people care?

open a thread, if you want to read & reply - do. If you don't, just move into another thread.

it really doesn't matter

I know it doesn't really matter but it does seem to attract a particularly aggressive tone.

Thanks for letting us know it really doesn’t matter.

Clearly, a few people feel the same as me, enough for it to register in their use of the website on a day to day basis. So while it doesn’t matter in the larger scheme of things, we can flag it up in Site Stuff for consideration if that’s ok with you.

@@PatTesting no need to be like that.

You can't police where people post, it's impossible.

why does it bother you so much if people don't ask a question you deem unsuitable for AIBU?

people don't want to be messing about looking for a sub topic of a sub topic, they just want to post on an active website.

Chat was busier pre AIBU, but AIBU became 'the place to post' to have an active thread, then it became a bit of a place for a ruck & got a reputation.

chat is a bit 'nothing' ...

There are good places to post about baby loss, cancer, SEN etc & ongoing threads, but we really don't need everything to be be topic specific. A general place is fine. People will post where it's busiest, if they want a lot of replies...such is life. Instead of getting heavy about what belongs in AIBU, it's far better to make a general topic more pealing.

The point of AIBU? It's there for my daily entertainment. Wouldn't be MN without it, its attraction being that content is so varied. Long may it continue.

This.

Perhaps MN should go the way of Singletrackworld (cycling version of Mumsnet, but they don't allow swearing, similar demographic, probably where all the cycling DPs hang out, I know mine does).

They have two sections 'bikes' and 'chat'.

Mumsnet could have two sections 'children/parenting' and 'general chat' and then we might be freed from the nonsense 'AIBU to ask you how to get from Euston to South Kensington because I'm too dim to use Google and I'd rather get a load of nonsense answers on here, half of which are irrelevant arguments about why anyone would ever want to visit or live in London' threads.

Maybe there should be a 'posting for traffic' board these threads could be moved to

Yes, good idea!

But the prize for the most pointless board surely must go to Other Stuff>Other Subjects. Seriously, "Other Subjects"?? 😄

But that wouldn’t work if all the actual traffic remained on AIBU?!

The bottom line is that MNHQ would need to move all non AIBU threads out and they consistently refuse to do so, even when a thread explicitly states it’s there for traffic and isn’t an AIBU.

The thing I find frustrating is that there are SO many topics which get no traffic at all while Active is dominated by people using AIBU to ask what to buy in Aldi. If threads were moved to the existing topics then Active would be a lot more diverse and other topics would get more exposure.

I agree.

It was ever thus.

On the whole, MN would probably prefer not to be known for AIBU, but it is. So that will always get most traffic.

It’s possible to hide AIBU from your Active threads - I’ve done this. Then you will see Chat, Relationships etc in your active.

@Riapia but surely if loads of the AIBU threads are things like "Where in London should I visit, posting here for traffic" or "What outfit should I wear to the party tomorrow, posting here for traffic"......... the fun factor of AIBU is almost non existant.
Hence the point of @PatTestings thread.

Thank you, that was part of what I was trying to articulate but you’ve explained it better!

AIBU used to be an enjoyable read but it’s turned into list of tedious threads ‘posting for traffic’ to ask what to wear to Waitrose or whatever. Also, because it’s become known (and apparently accepted) as a bear pit, people feel they can be as obnoxious as they like, so when someone ‘posts for traffic’ a thread which would be better in Relationships, they get roasted by cunts.

Exhibit B - in Chat!

As long as some boards are more read, people will post for traffic on those boards. The op of the above has correctly assessed many more people will see her post in chat than in general heath.

The converse of that, though, is something I prefer. I really dislike it when a style and beauty thread makes it into active, and then all the usual blinkered, aggressive AIBU posters see it and derail it with their "why do you care, wear what you want" gubbins. I prefer some threads to stay out of active. Ditto the Christmas board for those of us who like to talk about Christmas in July without the tedious "how dare you discuss this before 23rd December" comments!

I dont understand the logic of posting in AIBU "for traffic" anyway. I always have a look at Active Conversations to choose what threads to read - so any topic thats posted in appears there. So questions posted in whatever topic are visible to me and I can comment on them if I want to........... so theres no reason to post in AIBU if its not a good fit imho - cos I for one ignore most threads that arent AIBU and many others post unhelpful comments. Posting in the topic it belongs gets a much better response.

I'm sick of people posting in random places in general.

I've hidden topics specifically because I don't want to see some stuff for my own mental health. Things like war, cancer, terminal illness, relationships ect because my mental health means I can't NOT click on them if I see them.

I'm working on it of course, but it would be so much more helpful (and considerate) for people to keep to topics

I'll add .... I am fed up of "this thread has been deleted at the users request due to real world concerns", which translates as "everyone said I was unreasonable but I wasn't, so there". If you ask a question on a public forum you know it's in the real world, so don't post. Deletions should be for offensive, goady posts or trolling.

A reduction in the number of boards might be worthwhile. For example, all health topics including life limiting, cancer, etc. under Health. Holidays, directions, hotel recommendations, etc. under Travel. Anything child/baby related under Parenting, and so on.

Maybe ten or so relevant topics. The least used boards could be merged with a similar Board topic. There are some right obscure boards here that I doubt anyone uses, and if they do they get no reply so go to a busier one. That's what anyone would do.

Also for reverses which are a waste of everyone’s time.

When someone does an ‘AIBU to ask your favourite cheese’ sort of thing I’m normally tempted to just answer YABU but then I can’t be bothered.