Let’s Talk About Internet Forums in General

And Mumsnet in particular.

For anyone who missed it, the official launch of the Mumsnet Bloggers network was yesterday. Me and hundreds like me are now being fed directly to their Blogger Network Site as and when we update. They also have some ‘famous’ bloggers working with them but the main number of bloggers are also MN members.

Now, a lot of MN members like being anonymous. They change their user name frequently (this is allowed on MN, BTW) to keep their privacy intact. In fact, a lot of MN users don’t even like telling people they use MN.

I, personally, don’t get either of these attitudes, but each to her own. What ever makes you comfortable is fine with me.

But I was thinking about why I and millions like me even use MN and other parenting networks and had a very unoriginal thought. It’s because it proves we are not alone in this great ocean of parenting choices. That others have been there before and others will be there after.

Like I said, not original. But it was really brought home to me yesterday after I posted the following story from this week:

(Note: Copy and pasted from this thread that I started yesterday)

“So my mobile rings and I see it’s my son’s day care.

The manager is on the other end and she’s saying ‘Hi, how are you?’

To which I reply, ‘I’m fine, is my son okay?!?!’

‘Yes he’s fine.’

To which I had to reply ‘You know what? He’s not even there. He’s home sick.’

Of course, she had no idea he wasn’t there as she hadn’t been in the fledgling room yet today. And she was calling about something completely different…”

And 4 or 5 different people posted that they had done very similar things. And I felt a little less loony!

And that’s the power of MN. Not just that we come together when people need us, whether on a live labour thread or a cry for help with an ill child. Not just that we have a good laugh and lots of in-jokes.

It’s that we are never alone.

No matter how loony we are being!