Who is Mumsnet for?

[JellySlice]

Obviously it's a business, run to make money. But originally it was not.

Originally Mumsnet was a little site for parents to exchange child-friendly holiday information. It grew into a women's network for support, information, entertainment, education. A women's network where all were welcome, male or female. Even then it was not yet a business (remember paying £5 to enable personal messages? Remember the auction of unused names to raise funds to run the site?)

The opinionated, forthright, honest women that populated the boards made MN such a successful site that it was courted and consulted by elected politicians.

Now it's a massively successful business. Has the focus changed? Has MN basically become an advertising channel? Have the priorities changed?

Who is MN for?

No, I think it was always a business. A business that did some good. A great idea, but still a business.

That's why women are being thrown under the bus for not following the rules of making money

It essentially still seems for the same purpose and people to me. Most of the tens of thousands of MN users do not post on this particular board.

The money is still there to be made. And it’s in the hands of women.

Women hold the purse strings in most households. Women account for 70% of high street spending and make most of the descisions on holidays, car insurance, and the big purchases. It has however many million unique users. Most are women. How many people viewing the ads, perusing the ‘I need a new doodah, any recommendations?’ Threads and spending money are aggressive transactivists and men’s rights activists? Very, very few. It’s our spending power that’s important. We are spending the money. Advertisers responding to twitter mobbing need to understand that - the mobbers aren’t your customers - we are.

What’s unique about MN is it’s tone, and its irreverence. It’s feminist focus which doesn’t exclude men or non parents. There is nowhere else like it.

We’ve had several posters recently from around the world saying they joined because this is the only place they can talk about certain issues.

If FWR gets taken down, which is the aim of a small but vocal section of the people whom I am not entirely sure how to name at the moment, then there will be not much to differentiate MN from other parenting boards. Revenues will drop as women leave the site. That’s the bottom line.

Yes agree babel
Tbh the rest of the site seems quiet after Jeffrey and the DM lifting threads. If they ban all the feminists it might kill the site off altogether.
Although I am a bit bored with trans threads now. Would be nice to talk other feminism sometimes

I’m bored of it too but it’s important. I feel that this is the biggest threat to women’s rights and safety in living memory.

I’m willing to bore on about science for as long as it take if that’s my contribution. As I’ve said before I’m not brave enough for a mankini the glare from the pasty whiteness alone could blind passers by....

Please start threads on other topics Quentin. When I start them they often die a death but I try to keep an eye out for them.

Well, given that MN have apparently signed the death warrant for the Feminism board, what’s next?
Pregnancy and birth? Transphobic!
Relationships? God help the Woman who posts because of her AGP abusive husband, she’ll be told to enable him in every way.
Schools? Parents won’t be able to discuss their daughters’ fears about Male bodies taking over changing rooms and sports, or Biology lessons unable to teach human reproduction properly.
Welcome to Transworld 2020.

Advertisers responding to twitter mobbing need to understand that - the mobbers aren’t your customers - we are.

Indeed.

MN hold the power here - they have a HUGE user base, skewed towards the kind of educated/fairly well off demographic that’s an advertisers dream. They have masses of goodwill from users. Kerr-ching! Basically.

They shouldn’t be cowed by a small number of very loud voices. The fact that they are makes me extremely curious because it implies a level of pressure that’s behind the scenes in some way, or targeted. We seem to be losing the art of being a stubborn bugger and telling abusive, unpleasant or shouty people to just bugger off. What these activists can’t deal with is calm, measured, adult resistance. NO is a complete sentence. Tell them NO.

Behind the scenes sounds like I’m implicating MN in it and I’m not at all - I mean pressure that is beyond the twitter mobbing and being directed more personally.

*I’m bored of it too but it’s important. I feel that this is the biggest threat to women’s rights and safety in living memory.

I’m willing to bore on about science for as long as it take if that’s my contribution. As I’ve said before I’m not brave enough for a mankini grin the glare from the pasty whiteness alone could blind passers by....*

I so agree.... I do believe Mumsnet is for people like us.... I think they may just have got their guidance a little wrong - or perhaps not worded it quite as they meant.....

As pointed out it is women like us - of all types, but with a high demographic of families with spending power - women who I believe if a vote was cast would vote by an overwhelming major city for keeping penises out of single sex spaces .... for all the reasons we do....

So I do trust to their sanity - and to their intent.....

But I am nervous about their capacity to manage an onslaught from TRAs... though suggestions before of only allowing "reports" from people who have been posting for 3 months if something like that happened would be an appropriate defense mechanism....

Darn - why has my bold stopped working?

I've never believed MN is for people like me. It's not for the people from restricted economic wealth, deprived backgrounds, people who have 2 kids sharing a bedroom and can't afford a more ecologically responsible new car.

MN is for the advertisers who want a ready supply of naice middle-class, affluent families to flog their shit to via the women they view as holding the keys to the family budget. That's it - pure and simple. We're tolerated on the site as long as we generate enough content/controversy/stories to be lifted by the Daily Mail etc to generate the user clicks and see the advertisers' adverts.

Pure and simple - we're the product MN is selling... same as we are on FB, same as we are on most of the internet these days. I no longer believe in any of their "campaigns" - they're just short-term headline grabs to generate site traffic... they won't stand and protect our daughters as their futures and the word woman is erased from any meaningful existence - that risks bringing non-advertiser friendly controversy... the controversy MN wants is the likes of the fucking penis-beaker.

Bowl - I think your "behind the scenes" is probably right.

MNHQ understandably keep quiet about the pressures they're under but I suspect it's not just lots of angry emails/tweets from transactivists and concern from advertisers. I don't know any more than anyone else but there may well have been alarming approaches from police and/or lawyers.

Can I just remind everyone that the furious and determined men who have been causing nonstop trouble with Mumsnet and harassing its innocent advertisers are a tiny number. Fewer than ten. (I would name them but my post would be deleted.)

This is a tiny minority, within a tiny minority, and I am absolutely astonished that Mumsnet are letting them wield aggressive male power over what is a women's forum.

Why do these men join a feminist forum anyway? Feminism is the movement to release females from rule by males. They oppose feminism. By their actions these men are showing us that they still think females should be controlled by males. Therefore, their sole purpose in joining this feminist chat forum is to make trouble, and to report anyone who won't drink the male Kool-Aid.

I cannot even believe this is happening and like many women have said on here, I pinch myself to see if I can wake up from what seems to be a feminists' worse nightmare.