Introducing Pay or Consent on Mumsnet

[BeckyAMumsnet]

Hello everyone.

We wanted to give you a heads-up about a change in the way we deal with cookie consent. We are introducing a Pay or Consent model, giving you two different options to continue accessing the site:

1. Continue for free with cookies and ads: this is the option that most people have enabled already.
2. Subscribe to Mumsnet Premium: For those who prefer an ad-free experience with no cookies/tracking for ad purposes - Besides ad-free you’ll also get first access to our product tests plus all revenues from Premium are put towards our campaigning work

Why are we making this change?

The pay or consent model is becoming increasingly common across online platforms as publishers adapt to changes in advertising levels and data privacy regulations. Like many other publishers, we relied on advertising to generate income but changes in tracking regulation and the growing use of ad blockers have made this model less viable.

We know that Mumsnet is an essential space for many - a place to seek advice, find support, and connect with your fellow Mumsnetters. That’s why we’re committed to ensuring that the site remains free at the point of use for anyone who needs it but it’s not fair that those who install ad blockers or rejected cookies are piggy backing on the back of other users who haven’t.

At the same time as introducing this, we’re going to reduce the price of Mumsnet Premium to £2.99 a month because we want to be fair to those who’d rather not accept advertising cookies. This is less than the cost of a flat white a month from most decent coffee shops and we very much hope you think Mumsnet’s worth it! Nb anyone who’s signed up to Mumsnet Premium already at the previous price (£4.99 per month) will have their payments reduced within the next week or so.

We’ll be here to answer any questions you may have. Thank you, as always, for supporting Mumsnet.

Thank you @Hants123 👍🏽

Its already there. If you refresh and don't see the "fuck off" notice then possibly its not reached your user yet.

Disgraceful HQ. Disgraceful. Particularly for those of us who, for months and months have a serious problem with the site actually working that has never been fixed or properly addressed by you. Shame on you. You can’t even fix basics and move onto the next plaster rather than fixing problems. This combined with the night watch issues. Just dreadful.

And the new system was implemented immediately so obviously not in the slightest bit interested in what their audience thinks 😡🤬

You could also report to the ICO.
And the adverts that take you to viruses...?

It isn't freeloading. Mumsnet would tank overnight without the user base.
It is basically social media at this point.
WE make them profit by providing continuous content. In that sense we should not pay for the privilege.

'Signing up' should be sufficient, like with the Guardian, etc. Or a donation choice.

I suspect a drop in ad revenue due to the images scandal. Just another cash grab.
many sites are in this situation currently, some close to shutting down. This is pretty standard venture capitalist behaviour when a site is in trouble, The investors get itchy.

Well lots of large sites are moderated for free by volunteers, didn't you read Justine's post about the csa hack 😛

We’ve been speaking with our cyber security agency about this and during recent attacks, it blocked nearly 100K malicious ad impressions a day. When a new malicious campaign kicks off, there’s a short window where our system is still catching up, so a few bad ads might slip through. And with threat actors constantly switching tactics - sometimes making hundreds of tweaks a day, it’s a bit of a cat-and-mouse game. We’re on it, but we can’t promise perfect blocking every time, which obviously we’d prefer. We’re also working on improving how ads display overall for smoother experience for everyone.

Just seen this on another website I normally use. App now deleted

I never accept cookies so if the same comes up when I try to open the site then it looks like it will be goodbye from me as well

Exactly this. Its not just very large sites like reddit/Google who manage to do this without alienating users. Plenty of small to medium sites manager it.

Its 2025 and honestly most sites have this cracked because they know crap experience means less users. Most sites address this by addressing the problems rather than forcing users to put up with it or fuck off. It also means users with access issues and vulnerabilities can use the sites.

But year - a caring sharing community. Just like Unilever really care about our whites and Nestle just love babies.

Yes, at the very bottom of each page > Privicy Settings.

But that’s what this site already now is ….

Nope. I had a brief time (less than a day) where I could use my laptop but back to a white screen.

Honestly it must feel like a pile on, Becky, but it is user feedback. The site is unusable. Fix that, I'll take your cookies

Well if we use ‘private browsing’ cookies are not stored. So that’s a thing.

I find MN valuable for many reasons. The fact it is free at point of use is great. I’ll carry on using it. Block ads as they pop up, browse in private browsing.

They Should have paid checkers through the night (uk time), for sure. The other night showed that clearly.

Lol, indeed.
The excuse that they need 'volunteers' from overseas due to different time zones is hilarious.
I am sure plenty UK residents would love some justifiably 'paid' work and be happy to do nights.

I wasn't aware I was piggy-backing, I thought I was exercising choice in a neo-liberal world. (Such choices are illusory, of course - who wants 50 brands of orange squash, after all). Well, that's me told.

@BeckyAMumsnet you say people who are currently paying £4.99 per month will have their payment reduced to £2.99 per month. What about those of us (or am I the only one?) who pay annually? Will I get a proportion of my money back?

Oh come on Becky - this is massively disingenuous and completely ignores the accessibilty issues around some of your ads and distressing content in others .

Other sites manage this and don't patronise us with "we blocked lots of them, you just don't understand how hard it is".

The solution is not to passively block them - as with the CSA images the solution is to build the supply chain so that they don't arrive in the first place.

Need an answer to this excellent pointt

Why am I not given an option to reject cookies?
If I click an add off it takes me to an Amazon page

Advice welcome ladies.

I thought the ICO said this was illegal? People should have the choice to reject tracking

Completely agree, and why mn comparing themselves to online news websites is delusional at best, completely disingenuous and gaslighting at worst.

@oneofmeiscutebuttwothough How strange. Perhaps there is an Adblocker somewhere in my phone then as I just have a blank space that says 'Advertisement' above it.

Good GOD, You’re timing is utterly fucking shit. With all the shit that happened at the weekend you think “Now’s the time to call them a bunch of freeloaders and charge them for the experience of seeing CSA that we couldn’t be fucked to deal with in a timely manner”

Wonderful work guys

Use DuckDuckGo/TOR. No cookies, no tracking, no IPs.