What do you think of Gransnet?

PS , copy to escaped

Kandinsky

*The worst topic on here to discuss is economics*

How many people know enough about that subject to talk about it with any real authority?
Not many.
To me, GN is ( or at least I thought it was ) a place to discuss the changing relationships with our children ( now that they have become parents themselves ) or are adults navigating their way through life. And of course how we feel about aging and all the issues that go with that.
Pretty much every other subject discussed on here can be discussed on MN.

Kandinsky, I believe that people who lack academic experience but who are curious and willing to discover new ideas should always be welcome on a forum, or a university.

Credit ChatGPT research Russell quote

JackyB

That was supposed to read "competitions,book club, etc". And I previewed and edited twice before posting!

Sounds like you should have gone to Specsavers, JackyB! 🤣

Kandinsky

true.
We’re all ‘experts’ on the internet.

Kandinsky, I avoid posters who don't know the difference between knowledge and opinion.

Knowledge is defined by Bertrand Russell:-

Russell explicitly lays out:

Truth (the belief corresponds to fact),

Belief, and

Justification (reason or evidence)

as the three necessary conditions for knowledge — the “justified true belief” model that later became the standard in 20th-century epistemology until Gettier’s 1963 paper challenged it.

Aveline

Not sure I agree that. From time to time new posters come on and tell us to be nicer in our responses. Sometimes the nippier responses can be useful or completely appropriate. We're not all sweeties here!

By "nippier responses" do you mean more brief, more objective, more ad hominem, less'nice' ?

If you mean less nice, I agree unless the original poster has requested emotional support, which request should be honoured.

The list of suggested fields should include Emotional support.

true.
We’re all ‘experts’ on the internet.

How many people know enough about that subject to talk about it with any real authority?

😆
Pretty much ANY subject in the news actually! I don't think anyone on here is part of the cabinet, is in charge of education, immigration, inflation etc, runs a multi million pound company, designs new technology, chases criminals, decides the cost of postage.......
But we all like to think we know enough to have a good argument! 😆

The worst topic on here to discuss is economics

How many people know enough about that subject to talk about it with any real authority?
Not many.
To me, GN is ( or at least I thought it was ) a place to discuss the changing relationships with our children ( now that they have become parents themselves ) or are adults navigating their way through life. And of course how we feel about aging and all the issues that go with that.
Pretty much every other subject discussed on here can be discussed on MN.

I have been on Gransnet from the very beginning and think it is absolutely fine the way it is.

seasider

I was one of the original local reps for GransNet tasked with organising meet ups and trying to attract advertisers. I was reasonably successful with the meet ups and a few of us have remained friends for years though I do remember a lady who used to come when she was new to the area saying she was leaving as she had found some nice friends! . I think advertisers were concerned about the perceived demographic. I do flit over to Mumsnet but it’s now getting harder to access unless it’s my old phone. I do think there are too many games on GransNet now and not enough discussion.

Not enough people to have broader discussions.
Peple are frightened off the site.

The more this thread goes on, the more I am in favour of incorporating GN into MN.

The worst topic on here to discuss is economics.
There are only about 6 posters who will do that.

It does mirror real life a bit though.
I am involved in rl with meetings[membership 300 or so] that involve finance.
Sometimes there are only about 2 of us that say anything!

I hope Gransnet remains as it is and that it never changes to the Mumsnet lay out. I only occasionally look at Mumsnet as I find it is hard going.

I was one of the original local reps for GransNet tasked with organising meet ups and trying to attract advertisers. I was reasonably successful with the meet ups and a few of us have remained friends for years though I do remember a lady who used to come when she was new to the area saying she was leaving as she had found some nice friends! . I think advertisers were concerned about the perceived demographic. I do flit over to Mumsnet but it’s now getting harder to access unless it’s my old phone. I do think there are too many games on GransNet now and not enough discussion.

Suzieque66

The only thing I find annoying is the length of the posting ...so I keep it brief ...

Each to her own, but a nuanced post can't always be boiled down to a soundbite. If someone is trying to explain a complex point then posts do have to have a bit of length. As long as it is broken up a bit, so there is not a lot of continuous text to be read on a phone, I would much rather have that than a soundbite or cliche that adds nothing much to the discussion. But I would say that, I suppose

The only thing I find annoying is the length of the posting ...so I keep it brief ...

I'm sure I remember a few years ago GN advertising that there were 300,000 members (or maybe it was 200,000...). Either way a thread someone started showed that there were only about 30ish actively posting members. The 200 or 300,000 was probably the number of people who had registered since GN started.

Gransnet launched in 2011 @ Casdon

Sorry all, one of my earlier comments referred back to threads from 2005. I thought it must be around 20 years "old"!!

I use both Mumsnet and Gransnet, but I much prefer it here. Maybe it's because older people have weathered more of life's ups and downs, but I find most posters here to be empathetic and kindly. Mumsnet can be very abrasive at times.

The trouble with a 'like' or 'agree' button is that there are already many people who by their own admission lurk but don't contribute anything, and others who say they have to pluck up courage to post.

If lurkers could 'like' a post there would still be low numbers of contributors but those with lower levels of confidence might feel even less confident if their posts got few 'likes' as judged by non-contributors. Others might decide not to bother posting at all if they are unsure of themselves but could still add a 'like'.

Also, it is often not possible to know why someone likes a comment. It's easy to agree with a simple statement, but not to use a simple 'like' to comment on a more nuanced contribution. On boards that do have the facility there are often many posts asking why people have disagreed or agreed with points that have been made, so the threads veer off topic. The whole point of a discussion board is that people discuss, so why encourage what would amount to polls at the expense of actual debate?

I would guess that the number of people who contribute to the forum on any regular basis amounts to no more than a couple of hundred.

I did start to add it up at one point.
I guessed it was about 300.

Casdon

I asked AI ‘Has gransnet membership grown’

Overview

There is no specific data on whether Gransnet membership has grown or declined recently. However, Gransnet launched in 2011, and as of 2019, it was described as a busy social networking site with over 11 million visitors per month, indicating a large user base. Its parent company, Mumsnet, continues to be a significant and financially successful platform, though the specific growth of its sister site, Gransnet, isn't detailed in the provided search results.

That year, 2019, GN posted a trading loss of over £700,000 and owed £425,000 to the parent company.

That was a poor year for MN too as advertisers cut their budgets over Brexit concerns. Turnover was down £2 million on the previous year.

I have no idea where the GN throughput numbers come from as they aren’t published in the accounts, whereas MN data is.

The only reference i could find to that 11 millon visitors a month claim was from some marketing for White Label Dating which appears to have been an online dating collaboration with GN. It makes reference to FindCompanionship.com now defunt.

www.whitelabeldating.com/partners/gransnet-case-study/

Does anyone remember those?

Eleven million vistors a month would be over 300,000 visits a day. If traffic is anything like that now, that’s a lot of people viewing out-of-date content and not participating in online discussion.

I would guess that the number of people who contribute to the forum on any regular basis amounts to no more than a couple of hundred.

Goodness me, not a good idea!! 😲

People might post about personal matters they wouldn't want family or friends to know about.

Although, of course, Allira is my real first name 😀
And I do know you are the real Countess Fosco.

fancythat

No, I will not be naming names! If anyone is thinking to ask!

Thank you to those who have sent kindly positive messages. Much appreciated. However, I frequently wonder if posters were to give their full names instead of hiding behind pseudonyms, this forum would be a friendlier, less antagonistic site. And yes, there have been other remarks, sad but true - I feel rather sorry for those who are obviously bitter or permanently unhappy

I asked AI ‘Has gransnet membership grown’

Overview

There is no specific data on whether Gransnet membership has grown or declined recently. However, Gransnet launched in 2011, and as of 2019, it was described as a busy social networking site with over 11 million visitors per month, indicating a large user base. Its parent company, Mumsnet, continues to be a significant and financially successful platform, though the specific growth of its sister site, Gransnet, isn't detailed in the provided search results.

Does anyone recommend GN to anyone else?
I dont.
Far too snarky a place to recommend. In my opinion.
Not just meaning the N&P threads.

How often do we see people say "I dont post much anymore".
Who can blame them?
Even on this thread a poster said excactly that.
And then had at least one snarky comment about what she wrote.

But it wont stop any time soon.
So the site may die off. Again, in my opinion.