New feature: suggested thread titles when posting

[KatyMumsnet]

Hi all,

We’ve made a small change to the thread-creation page that you might notice.

When you start a new thread, you may now see a suggested title based on what you’ve written in your post.

The aim is simply to make posting a bit easier. In user research, quite a few people told us that thinking of a title can feel like a small blocker when they just want to get their question or situation posted. The suggestion is there to help with that - you can use it, edit it, or ignore it entirely and write your own as usual.

Clear titles also make it easier for other users to understand what a thread is about and find discussions later on.

Just to be clear:

• It’s only a suggestion, not something you have to use
• You can change it or delete it completely
• Your post content is not changed in any way

We’re flagging it here so people know what it is if they spot it.

As always, if you have feedback about how it works in practice, we’d love to hear it.

So why did it take literally years of asking for editing posts for you to implement that?

And why are all many people asking for laugh reaction emoji back and they aren't getting that?

It's so weird the priorities.

I’ve said for years the AIBU topic is pointless. Every single thread in there could easily be posted in one of the other topics, mostly chat or relationships as that’s what most of the AIBU threads are about

This is just a total waste of computing power. I don’t believe anyone suggested or asked for it. I imagine that whoever it is you do research on was ansked “would it be useful to automatically generate titles” and people said yes without much thought. Probably some tech person thought it would be an interesting exercise for them.
Nobody fails to start a thread because they can’t think of a title. All AI consumes energy that we should not be wasting on pointless, frivolous uses like this.

Oh no. This is the beginning of it, folks. The beginning of AI slop on moment aka the beginning of the end of Mumsnet

On the research side, we regularly test parts of the site with users and gather feedback when people are going through things like the thread creation process. This is something that came up frequently
It’s probably a bit different coming up with a title when MN is watching and waiting?

@KatyMumsnet but why do we need it at all?
Also having the title under the message makes no sense at all.

"this is something that came up frequently" - really ???

A frequent issue raised was how hard it is to come up with a thread title?

Pull the other one 😂😂

If a poster can't even title their own thread then tbh I doubt most MNers are going to find their posts very interesting/useful.

This is such a good example of some techtwat inventing a problem because they've thought of a solution.

A more useful feature would have been to be able to see all responses from MNHQ on a thread not just when they are the op

Must be preparation for the sell off. To make it easier for new members from far away.

I can? There's a bit of blue text at the top of any thread MNHQ have commented on saying "see all MNHQ comments on this thread"... (pic loading)

Exactly this

One of the reasons I'm so relieved to be done with the workplace -oh I think I'm done with it fingers crossed you never know what might go wrong - it's because I have spent years watching people give work to tech bros and there's never a good reason for it! It's like challenging them to come up with a problem that doesn't exist.

Yes that would be good

@KatyMumsnet Can you suggest why I still (today) can't post my thread, which the AI tool is unable to provide a title for?

I have closed down the browser, opened 'Start thread' in a new tab, and it still doesn't work.

Thanks @BoobsOnTheMoon I didn’t notice that

Where are all the 'users' who wanted the change on this thread, defending it?

Are they also incapable of posting on a thread (as well as writing titles)?

I'm absolutely flummoxed as to how they were able to fill in a feedback questionnaire to request this change!

I do hope MN modding is not being outsourced to AI too.

@KatyMumsnet you did not address the environmental impact of this change. Why not? Many of us are clearly concerned with this aspect, and yet our opinions are being ignored for some reason (unlike those of the mythical users who can't write thread titles on their own).

@BoobsOnTheMoon thank you
The last time I used it, it didn't work
Then it disappeared from my screen
But now I see it's back!

@musicalfrog that's a really good point. When all the colours were changed and stuff, lots of people came on and said they liked it.

You have avoided what in fact is the main problem.

Which is that it doesn't work as you describe it should.

It is still blocking users from posting their own title.

Irrespective of whether this is the most stupid and needless update when compared to others that have been asked for for year, it should NOT have been implemented until tested to make sure it works properly.

So can you check that it is working properly.

And maybe it would help if you changed the layout back to how it was and is logical with title as the first option. Then under that a link saying if you are having problems creating a title enter you OP text in the following box, and underneath that you can then ask for a suggested AI generated title.

And as always you should always ask users to test it.

Never just dump a change on users.

Can you / MNHQ provide:

a list of the options you are considering as changes that should be made,
the % of those consulted who said they were important along with the number of people consulted
why this change was considered more important than the ones that have been asked for for year
are the changes that users have asked for for years included in surveys or are surveys just the opinions of MNHQ

Thanks

The fact the title appears underneath the post is plain wrong - totally counterintuitive. I get that it won't affect the way the thread appears when posted, but it's wrong. I don't care about the AI suggesting titles bollox but please put thread headers back in the correct, logical position.

Please can you make this something people can select as an option, rather than being the default.

Even if we choose not to use the suggested title, AI has still been used to create it, wasting resources and causing environmental damage.

@bluegreygreen Thanks for sharing the screenshot and sorry you're having trouble posting.

The suggested title not loading shouldn’t prevent you from posting as it’s separate from the title field and the post button. As long as you’ve typed a title in the title box (which it looks like you have), you should still be able to post.

Could you let us know what happens when you click Post? If you see an error message after clicking it, a screenshot of that would help us investigate what's going on.

@KatyMumsnet I don't get an error message.

As I said in my first post, I simply get a little 'circle' over the post button as if it's processing, and then I'm back to the page you see with no changes.

I have previously posted threads without issue, so it's a strange coincidence that this has happened at the same time as the change to AI titles, especially when it can't generate one for my post.

When users are nudged none too subtly in a certain direction, it usually means someone somewhere has a financial incentive.

And still no comment on the environmental impact.