This site is now as absolute shitshow

[JeffTheSquirrel]

MNHQ, you know why.

I find I’m spending only about 10% of the time actually reading a thread. The rest is clicking fucking x’s to close down ads, trying to stop the glaring, moving ads at the top, scrolling past mid-thread ads that go on for ages, or scrolling past ‘promoted by’ bollocks that have absolutely nothing to do with the topic that you’re in.

This site is now like Reach media.

Such a shame.

Just adding my voice to say that something seriously needs to be done, if you don’t want to see a mass exodus. There is a lot of goodwill here (I’ve been around for decades, I’m sure you can check). But fuck me, if you don’t tone down the ad invasion, me & many many others will be off.

Still, I’m sure the shareholders are happy, eh.

And they still haven’t fixed the “take you to last post seen” feature which hasn’t been working since May. I don’t understand if the thread knows there are 24 new posts since I last looked why can’t it take me to that point like it used to do rather than taking me to 3 pages away? Mnhq have been told multiple times and done nothing.

Having to pay to remove ads is a sign of how the entire internet is a shit show. Pure greed.

I was using an Ad Blocker then using the hide distracting content on safari to get rid of the please disable your ad blocker pop-up. It worked fine.

I’ve since got a VPN and it’s heavenly, no ads at all.

I've gone from it being almost unusable on my phone browser - freezing and typing issues for months and months on end - to it being ok on my phone and unusable on a (brand new) PC unless I use an ad blocker (which still lets some ads through, but blocks the many videos that freeze my browser for minutes at a time).

It wouldn't be quite as bad if the ads were merely distracting, but they block and freeze my screen.

OK. Just tried this on my Android phone. Using the Chrome browser.

Questions:

Should your instructions be:

Delete Browsing Data rather than Clear Browsing Data?

Delete Data rather than Clear Data (plus additional instructions?)

Or is this version dependent? (My phone is a Pixel 8A with Android version 16.)

I use the desktop version and don't get any of that. There are ads down the side, but that's pretty much it my internet connection is slow so doesn't download them half the time anyway

@JeffTheSquirrel Please try Microsoft Edge, it removes all adverts and 'clicky shit'. Also stops all ads on the Daily Mail site so you can watch videos at the top without ads or have that annoying video in the bottom right of the screen. Honestly it has changed my MN experience!

I ended up having to pay premium as it had become unbearable, I wonder if this is what MN are trying to get us to do.

It seems trackers have massively increase and they analyse your data before giving you ads. The amount of trackers here is insane lately. The site also uses masses of CPU. As someone else already said. Not a bad thing to have a shitty experience and spend less time here I guess.

It does look very childish now. I much preferred a simpler, cleaner format. I assume there has been a drop in visitors or engagement, which has led to a drop in income, and maybe they're trying to get more interest. I think this because it would be bonkers to change something that was working perfectly well

I haven't had much issue until the last two days were I'm getting big blank rectangles covering up the thread, no X to click or anything

I've moved house recently, and had a week without Wifi.

During that time I found that reading even a couple of pages of MN absolutely rinsed my data allowance in a way that no other site or app managed.

That never used to be the case - is this related to the many Ads MNHQ (or anyone else tech savvy)?

i don’t get any if this on the app at all

I downloaded the App because the web version is practically unusable, but it only takes you to the start or the end of a thread, not to the point you were last at. If it’s a long thread you have to scroll for ages and try to remember where you were up to. It’s infuriating.

My worst issue is the 'load newer posts' and 'load older posts'. I hate it so much. I miss so many posts by scrolling up and scrolling down to load the newer or older posts - dozens of posts in between get missed. And really annoyingly, when I scroll up the page fast to try and find a post I read further back that I want to reply to, I scroll up and then it 'bounces' off the top of the page and flips back down to the newest post again right where I was about 10 minutes ago!! So 10 minutes spent scrolling up, up, up loading older posts, waiting for it to load, searching for the post I want to get back to, only to have the page suddenly bounce right back off the top of the screen back down to where I was before endless minutes of scrolling!!!
OMG, I can't tell you how many threads I've given up on trying to engage in conversation with and respond to posts because of this.
Pleeeeeeeease bring back the page numbers MNHQ!!! I miss them sooooo much. I used to memorise which number page the post was on and then easily go back to it once I'd read the full thread.
This new loading newer posts/loading older posts is horrible.
A second issue is not to do with tech.....but the atmosphere of mumsnet is really changing. There's so many threads now that lead to an absolute pile on to the OP. It's often uncomfortable to read through. And I don't think there's enough regulation of threads going on.
Finally......there's no way this forum is populated by mums only anymore. It was alright when a few dads joined who openly revealed they were dads and genuinely asked for advice, but nowadays there's a lot of nasty men on this forum who aren't revealing who they really are....but I can tell from their posts, and I can't be the only one who can tell.

@R0ckandHardPlace I don’t face that issue as I’ve usually read the full thread and read just new posts - but yes I can see for many that would be annoying

I only ever use the app, neat and tidy and the ads don’t really intrude too much. The web version of Mumsnet is, quite frankly, awful. It’s bright and busy and ridiculously distracting.

I don't object to some unobtrusive ads per se, as I realise that sites need to earn money.

What I find truly objectionable is being tracked; and often across every other site I visit as well as the one in question. No issues with old-school ads - like if I watch a TV programme on ITV and I see the same ads that every other viewer does.

The absolute chutzpah comes when they use that weasel phrase "Your privacy is important to us" - when what they mean is "in the same way as your handbag is important to a mugger".

The problem is that, with ordinary, acceptable, non-privacy-stealing adverts, people will usually not mind them at all - and quite likely sometimes click on them if they see something of interest. If you rip the absolute piss in the same way as certain (ahem) sites frequently seem to do, it will just encourage people to find privacy-respecting browsers and other tools that block the ads and pop-ups, as though they never existed in the first place - not just the irritating ones, but ALL of them.

I'd rather liken it to companies that routinely abuse your goodwill when signing you up to their mailing lists. If they send you an email every month, or possibly once every fortnight, you keep willingly receiving them and may well respond by buying something. If they kill the golden goose and send you two emails every single day, you will simply unsubscribe completely and then they've closed off ALL of the potentially lucrative sales pipelines that they had to you.

Are you finding that after the message asking you to consider disabling ad blocker pops up about 3 times, there's no longer the option to choose "continue with ad blocker"? So basically you're stuck with that message on the screen.

I use MN on safari on an iphone, I don't really notice the ads, just ignore or scroll past them. But the numerous sticky "promoted by MN"
threads do my head in. They stick around for weeks on end, surely a week should be long enough for most things. And unlike the ads they're not targetted at all, I have zero interest im back to school as my DCs are adults for example.

It does feel that way.

I have to admit that I caved and after avoiding it for years, I finally signed up to Premium yesterday. The issue I was having was not the ads, the page reloading etc., although this was all happening it wasn’t bothering me. The thing that pushed me to sign up was my fact my phone battery was draining so fast that I couldn’t use MN for any length of time. My phone would run too hot. So basically I signed up to avoid my phone’s battery having a premature death.

I tell myself it will save me money in the long run 😆

It worked though; my battery has retuned to normal and the phone doesn’t get hot. The ads I think were the root cause of this.

You have to refresh the page after every third time you get the pop-up - that's the only way.

I have page numbers. Are you sure you’re not on the “infinite scroll” test group? If so, you can ask to be removed. There’s threads running on Site Stuff.

I just use the website on the mobile setting and don't have a problem with ads. It crashes and freezes more recently now though.

They have to pay their staff somehow, so it’s either ads or subscriptions. Personally I just pay the premium subscription. It’s like three quid a month and I am
happy to do so given the amount of support, love and joy I’ve got from MN over the years. I pay more for parking in town for an hour.