What do you think of Gransnet?

I have learnt a lot from the knowledgeable posters on GN.

On one issue I totally changed my mind after reading other posters comments.

I do dip in and out of MN.

Haven't visited MN.
Enjoy being on GN.

People often complain there is no way to edit posts, but there is. Once you have written your post there is a PREVIEW button - click it, read what you've written and edit if necessary before posting. Simples.

I’m a MN member too, it’s different but not necessarily better.
The format on here means this site is easier to navigate.

One of the - downsides imo - thing of Mumsnet is there don't seem to be any discussions on there. It's all personal - ie Person A having a problem with Person B (either a man who "done her wrong" or a friend that turned out not to be a friend at all). These things have a "time and a place" - but it's nice to have some "discussion" too. Life isn't just about the "strictly personal".

Aveline

I'd certainly just leave if GN merged with MN.

@#££%&-

I agree. MN is a bit overwhelming.

I've just remembered that one thing I would change about GN is a way to tell where a quote ends and the commenter's words start. I always put a row of different symbols (if you put more than 2 of anything they get automatically edited out) to show this, but on other people's posts with quotes, I can never see the difference.

I, too, would leave if they merged.

5geecees

People often complain there is no way to edit posts, but there is. Once you have written your post there is a PREVIEW button - click it, read what you've written and edit if necessary before posting. Simples.

It's rubbish doing that on my mobile tbh. It doesn't scroll smoothly enough to use effectively. Only site l have that problem with. So there.

I am bemused by the very concept that a user would want to categorise herself as belonging in an age group ,or as a parent or grandparent.

Interests are common to people of any age, gender, or kinship.

I come here not as a very old woman or as kin to anyone else, but as myself.

5geecees

People often complain there is no way to edit posts, but there is. Once you have written your post there is a PREVIEW button - click it, read what you've written and edit if necessary before posting. Simples.

I think we are all aware of the existence of the preview facility . What is less 'simples' is that the vast majority of discussion boards allow a temporary editing period (often five minutes or until there has been a reply) so posters aren't used to remembering to preview everything before posting. I use a few, and GN is the only one where editing is not possible.

Previewing is not editing. I often notice mistakes (typos, autocorrect bloopers or stray words left behind after a pre-post edit) just as the post appears. Sometimes reading the final post shows that a point could have been better expressed otherwise the it is ambiguous. I could edit in seconds, but there is no facility to do so.

I agree, Doodledog.

Sometimes, if you take the time to preview a longer post, someone may have posted in between and they then say, 'well, I've answered, didn't you read my post?'
No, because it's taken so long to type and preview my own!

The opening post was about the outdated look of the site rather than wished for functions. Neither is going to change.

The site will continue to look like a student GCSE project from 1980 with a 1970 logo and outdated content.

Active membership will continue to dwindle unless the directors wake up one day and remember that they own it and start to invest and promote it.

Looks like we're doomed then PaynesGrey.

Well this was enlightening. I'm relatively new to Gransnet and was a bit surprised by how dated it is in comparison to mumsnet, it's harder to follow a conversation between the OP and replies. I also see several ads, today clothing, Tesco mobile etc.

PaynesGrey

The opening post was about the outdated look of the site rather than wished for functions. Neither is going to change.

The site will continue to look like a student GCSE project from 1980 with a 1970 logo and outdated content.

Active membership will continue to dwindle unless the directors wake up one day and remember that they own it and start to invest and promote it.

Where is the evidence that membership is dwindling PaynesGrey, I can’t find any?

It's only conjecture. Nobody knows any stats for the business as none are published as they are for MN. It's just a feeling based on how few regular contributors there are to the forum. I thought a couple of hundred maybe. Someone upthread agreed with that. When I see that MN had nine million posts in 2024, this is a minnow.

Posts and contributors aren’t the same thing though, you’d have to count up how many posts a day there are on Gransnet to know I guess. Mumsnet users also have the ability to change their names, so it’s hard to know if the same people are posting on there a lot. I’m not going to worry about it anyway, as there haven’t been any suggestions about merger from GNHQ as far as I know. We’ll have to see I guess.

Being old, a fuddy-duddy and a Luddite, I "do" the internet on my laptop. There is no way I would attempt to read anything other than a short text message or equivilent on a Mobile Phone (not that I use one other than, very rarely, a Nokia 1200).
Maybe because of this, I have never once seen any advertisement whatsoever when perusing Gransnet. Nor do I remember changing any settings to bring this about.

I would be prepared to pay a small subscription to retain this happy state of affairs, if necessary.

Well no but it's the same familar names most days with the occasional blow in with a lengthy saga never to be seen again.

There haven't been any suggestions about a merger. That was me wondering several pages ago why a business that the owners clearly can't be bothered with, that loses over half a million pounds a year, and probably has only a couple of hundred regular contributors is left to keep going.

It provides a service, and the costs are absorbed into the costs of running Mumsnet, which is profit making, I guess. As far as they are concerned, the number of contributors is much less important than the number of views per day.

Yes, MN is making enough money to be withstand the loss but it does annoy me that the site is so out of date. Links that go nowhere, content that hasn't been updated in years. It must look like amateur hour to prospective advertisers. Why should they invest their precious media budget on a business that the directors couldn't care less about?

It's absolutely fine by me. Long may it continue as it is.

The thing is I think, PaynesGrey that most Gransnetters aren’t that bothered about the appearance or function of the site either? The fact that the site is plain and simple to navigate has its pros as well as its cons I guess.

That's fine. I was just responding to the OP who thinks it's tired. I agree and think it's shoddy of the directors to neglect it year after year while putting all their efforts into MN.