What do you think of Gransnet?

Kandinsky
I think you are right about Mumsnet. I remember the chats in the playground about it as it was something new and quite different. My daughter was at primary school then and now she has her own children at school.

I still look at MN but haven't posted on there for a while. GN does need a shake up to encourage more people to join but every time we are asked for suggestions they are never implemented.

It is odd that any public discussion forum set parameters of age, gender, or parenthood. I suppose there must be a market for the parameters.

On the positive side, Gransnet is easy to use despite the lack of an editing facility. Especially, the quote system is clear and concise.

I thought GN and MN were one team. When I first joined GN in 2021 I contacted them and asked if they were had any intention of updating the site and was told that they were currently working on MN and GN would follow.
I've just been over to MN and theirs is so different.

I don’t think there’s the exodus from Mumsnet to Gransnet as perhaps they thought. Most posters on Mumsnet ( who were there when it started ) are grandmothers now, but I think a lot of them just stay there?
Hopefully GN will keep going as it does have a cosy, familiar, feel about it which is nice. But I wouldn’t be surprised if it merges with Mumsnet.
I’ve been on GN for years now and it doesn’t seem to be growing.

PS I'm in 60 - 70 bracket.

Maybe people like me should try to post more if we don't want gransnet to to close down due to lack of traffic.

That is a very obvious, but very true comment! You're right gardenoma, and you'd be welcomed if you posted more, I'm sure.
I sometimes think there's a dozen or so posters who actually keep gransnet going. It's not enough.

And then, we have complaints that it's always the same "old" people. That their longstanding familiarity with each other spoils things for others. Or that their comments are repetitive, and that they refer back to threads from 2005. Etc etc.

New blood is definitely needed, but I still say thanks to the "very old" core of members who have "old" stories about GN to tell, and who kind of hold the site together. There's plenty of room for all.

PS "old" is not used insultingly here!

Another vote for mostly leaving it the way it is. It's simple, easy and such a good way to start the day even though I hardly ever post.
Although lately I've found myself getting really interested in a few threads and will come back during the day to see what other people have responded with. Yes to a possible edit button.
Maybe people like me should try to post more if we don't want gransnet to to close down due to lack of traffic..

I love it just the way it is. It’s not frighteningly modern like everything else seems to be these days. I find it comfortable and, sometimes, comforting.

I think it’s fine. Yes be good to have an edit button and some of the other facilities MN has, but I quite like the fact that’s it’s a bit dated ( same as me really haha )

I find GN entertaining and sometimes informative. I don’t pay attention to the adverts which you get on most sites these days. I do think the format is old fashioned though but what others have said about financing and staffing probably explains that. It probably reflects the general attitude towards older people too.
I would love the site to have the facility to uptick / downtick a comment to signal agreement / disagreement.

Been on here since when it started as became a Grandma in 2014. Read what I want to, comment when I want to - not a lot! Know who to avoid! Look up things in threads if need to know something that might be on here. Please don’t join it to mumsnet it’s a totally different world. By the way I’m only just 68 and I think I have a youngish outlook on life! Maybe we need a button for “I agree” rather than a “like” button?

Seapebble

Grammaretto- to avoid ads (I don't see any) you go into settings and choose not to see them. It will say something like "manage my settings". You can do this for every website you use.
As I'm here - does GN notify you of additional posts to a thread you're following or have posted on?

I think you can get emails telling you about posts on threads you've posted on, but I'm not sure. It would be much better to have notifications (as on MN) so that as soon as you log on you can see if anyone has quoted you, or if threads you are on have any more traffic. I use a different email account for SM from the one I use for other things, and I almost never check it.

Not for me but I chose not to have emails etc from them. It would be my idea of hell!

Grammaretto- to avoid ads (I don't see any) you go into settings and choose not to see them. It will say something like "manage my settings". You can do this for every website you use.
As I'm here - does GN notify you of additional posts to a thread you're following or have posted on?

Obviously other people don't find it boring or dull,or they would be looking elsewhere ! Perhaps you should find some other forum more to your taste, Mumsnet for example.

I’m quite happy with Gransnet as it is.
Is it dated? Possibly but it’s not something which bothers me.
It’s easy to navigate, and I’m delighted the adverts seem to have stopped.

Years ago I found Mumsnet after reading about the site somewhere.
It was ok and I found some hilarious threads, especially the parking ones but the constant swearing put me off.
I then found Gransnet and haven’t bothered with MN since.

I am in agreement with the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” maxim.
There are plenty of other social media platforms such as Facebook that you can give a thumbs up to or not.

I don’t get any ads at all now since I used the ad-blocking feature on my iPad- and yes the repetitive little pop-up videos featuring stereotypical situations or subjects were often excruciatingly twee and always extremely annoying and patronising.
Just Google how to block them.

It doesn't feel dated to me - though goodness knows ITRW I'm fed-up with having to fend off "updates" to life that I don't need and don't want - eg smartphones, smart meters, replacing our copper phonelines, worried about the downside of identity cards (and yep our "carbon footprint" is starting to be mentioned on things).

One of the plus sides of living in an old-fashioned little town like I do now is all that sort of thing is easier to "fend off" than in many more modern places. So - yep...I don't agree with changing things just for the sake of it. Imo there has to be a benefit from changing things - eg that missing facility to correct our mistakes in our posts.

I tend to think "If it ain't broke - don't fix it".

Mollygo

What pictures?
Since the only pictures put on GN are posted by GN members, that’s rather rude of you LS.

I took it to be the pictures on the Gransnet.com landing page.

I like Gransnet and the people on it, it is a xx bit dated, but tbh, this doesn’t really bother me.

PaynesGrey

Elless

I enjoy reading Gransnet and it has been really helpful and informative over the years but the interface is very old fashioned. It doesn't seem to reflect today's Grans - the pictures that are used are boring and the whole layout is dull. I know some will say if it ain't broke don't fix it but the systems need updating too.

It’s incredibly dated. In theory, it should have a similar look to Mumsnet but the fact is, GN has never made a profit and relies on substantial funding from MN to keep it going.

Last accounting, year end to 31 December 2024, it had just £27,000 in the bank. creditors of almost £300,000 (mostly owed to the parent company). It employs only one person.

tinyurl.com/2yf5pnvz. if anyone is interested.

Compare MN with pre tax profits of £3.1million and £3 million in the bank.

Membership numbers are not known but there seem to be very few active forum members. The same names and same arguments come up over and over. Other content is tired and stale.

It’s suposed to be aimed at people 50 and over but I suspect the average age of forum participants is 75-85.

I don't understood why it isn’t absorbed into Mumsnet.

That's interesting to know, thank you, PaynesGrey.

I started off on Mumsnet and still go on it sometimes, but I prefer it here as I find the general tone of comments is kinder and more considered. (Although the News & Politics threads can get quite heated.) I also found the advice given on here was better on average.

I guess the site could do with an update and an edit button. It's also useful to be able to see all the posts from the OP together if you don't have time to read the whole thread, as on Mumsnet.

I think Gransnet serves useful purposes of connection and support, information and entertainment (I like the Wordle and Quordle threads). I hope it won't be absorbed into Mumsnet.

I've seen lots of photos on GN, and I don't mean those of posters. They come regularly on the home page.
There was an elderly couple with a child in a swimming pool, the lady with the dog, the white haired lady with a white laptop in a white kitchen, (always white I'venoticed!), a lady with a stripey Joules (?) top etc etc.

It may be my imagination but there do seem to be quite a lot less regular posters than there used to be. I seem to remember quite a few years ago someone starting a thread to count the number of posters and there were about 30ish. Would there be 30 regular posters now?

I also think the average age used to be lower. I remember someone starting a thread about being 50 and wanting another child. There was quite a mixed reaction from an age range from 50 to 80+.

Casdon

A lot of the technical and site support comes from Mumsnet to Gransnet though, so those figures are misleading, it presumably means that only one person is dedicated to Gransnet only?
It doesn’t worry me that there isn’t much investment into Gransnet. I think we are lucky to have it in the present form, there isn’t anywhere else with the same feel that I’ve found, and as long as it chugs along that’s fine with me - I’m sure plenty of people disagree though!

Yes, I suspect the moderation is combined. There must be a number of staff writing content and sales staff whose job it is to get advertising revenue. I would like to know what the one staff member dedicated to GN does.

It's MNs poor relation for sure. I spend more time on MN but pop in here occasionally.
You do see the same posters on every thread. It feels dated and definitely feels like the demographic is more like 75+ than 50+.

Lots of better features on MN such as edit, highlight OP, highlight own posts.

It would be better as a sub section of MN