"X number of people viewing "

[QueenClinomania]

Is this a new thing you're testing out?
It appears on active convos but only one thread, not all the threads. Does this mean nobody else is reading those threads at this moment or are you only testing it out on a few threads?

It's really annoying.

It's horrible. So retro, and not in a good way.

What's the other figure showing now? Is that the number of replies?

I agree with your second point. There are a few threads showing 20 - 25 viewing. I assume there's a minimum number in place to trigger the viewing notification, so if the threads without the ridiculous tag have less than 20 people viewing it really highlights just how few people are on the site.

It's all visually messy and totally unnecessary.

Can already see what threads are active.

Im not ND but Christ! with the rolling ads, the flashing ads, the huge ads - these annoying numbers might peak MN me especially as it's so bloody boring these days

@HarmonyBeckons you can turn off the original poster and my post tags in settings - I think it should be default turned off.

I'm sure there is someone that is coming up with ideas just to justify their job.*

*Also see the latest Android update

Oh thank you @DallasMajor - I didn't know you could do that. It's worked!

It just distracts from the threads - I cannot think of any good reason to add this in :-(

Having just sat mindless watching active threads for a few minutes yes it does indeed appear that the counter disappears when a thread gets to below 20 viewers.

If it's now been applied to all boards across all threads which seems to be the case that paints a very very poor picture of how many people are using the site.

And yet MN seems hell bent on alienating the people that do use MN regularly.

Indeed, it's a very peculiar business plan isn't it?

It feels a bit creepy to me. Like there's all these people just... Staring... Silently...

It certainly doesn't make me want to click on - it's going to be either a bunfight or like walking into one of those pubs where everyone stops talking and looks at you.

Silence.
And eyes.
Eyes everywhere.

128 pairs, to be exact.

Came to site stuff to find out why this has appeared.

Is a bit popularity contest and I don’t think would feel nice if you’ve started a serious thread for support.
It could (will?) affect what people will click on so a thread might get loads of increased views just because it already has views if that makes sense.
Could we have the option to turn it off in our settings please?

It's so annoying 😖

It is showing that mumsnet is a lot quieter than I assumed.

It's incredibly quiet. I've just scrolled through active and only 10 of the threads had viewers visible which means all the other currently have less than 20 people watching them. Even those with viewing digits available none of the threads were in triple digits!

It's been a huge eye opener for how quiet it is here these days.

But why would MN want to advertise that- advertiser's can see how few people are actually on here.

And I find that sad, the movement away from forums to video sharing apps.

That's a great question and I have honestly no idea why they would want to highlight so clearly how few people are actively using the site.

I can say however if I had implemented this new viewing metric and it was showing just how quiet the site was I would be removing it asap before advertisers noticed.

"I can say however if I had implemented this new viewing metric and it was showing just how quiet the site was I would be removing it asap before advertisers noticed."

Me too!

Some threads have really catchy titles and no substance, while some are asking for very esoteric information

I hates it

Advertisers don't just take websites' word for how many unique users, or page views, they have. Generally they use Google Analytics, by logging into a viewing panel. So the website can't fake it (easily).

MN seems to be trying to do that "This many people are viewing this coat!" type thing that some irritating shopping websites do. I doubt it will last, for the reasons PPs have stated.

Not sure why but this is actually irritating me.