What has happened to Nappyvalleynet Post Reply

[firsttimerSW11]

Why is it that no one uses this site any more?
I look though the topics and almost everyone has "zero replies". It used to be a hub of knowledge and info but now, nothing?
What has changed?
Even Papinian has gone!

[Annabel (admin)]

Thank you for the note - I hope you I can answer some of your questions!

First off, we do occasionally have to ban people.

It's super rare but it does happen.

I'm afraid Papinian fell into that category. Although he could be very insightful and very useful (some of his replies were extremely detailed and considered) he upset so many people that we ended up closing his account. It was not a decision we took lightly, and he had a lot of warnings, but I felt I couldn't defend his posts in the interests of "free speech" any longer.

As far as the general activity on the site is confirmed we've been a bit of a victim of our own success. We actually have more posts and more users than ever but we've spread the activity out so it's easier to find and that's meant that it feels more spread out.

A good example of this is that nanny/buying/selling/childcare posts don't appear in the newsfeed anymore as they were clogging the "latest posts" sections and another is that lots of companies will use the site to "announce" news and events that don't then lead to discussions as there isn't much discussion around these types of posts and so they tend to get posted, get read but then don't stimulate discussion.

We're looking at whether we need to hive these off into separate sections, or whether we need to restrict this sort of activity, and it's a big part of our current product discussions.

Thank you, as always, for your comments and hopefully this has helped!

Annabel

[Pod]

Do you feel you lost any users due to the new website update and layout?
I find it less easy on the eye and not as easy to navigate on my phone as I can't see it all at once like before. Sorry but wAnted to ask and provide feedback

[chorister]

Could [Local News] have its own thread if it is going to continue

[Annabel (admin)]

Firstly, thanks for all your feedback - and to FirstTimer for starting this thread - I wish I had done so!

1. Question: Could [Local News] have its own thread if it is going to continue

Answer: Yes - that is SO going to happen!

2. Question: Do you feel you lost any users due to the new website update and layout?

Answer: Well on the one had Google Analytics is telling us that we've never had more users, so in one respect no BUT if you feel it's harder to use and the way we've divided the site up makes it feel less busy then we need to (and will fix this). Whilst one finger typing this I am on the phone to our lovely developers discussing how we do go about fixing it. We may want to have a chat with you (if we can) to find out what's hard to use.

As always - thanks everyone!

[sw1234]

Have to say I agree with a previous post. I used to use this site frequently but now find it too hard to navigate. You can’t move to the next page without scrolling to the bottom of the page which takes forever etc. Maybe I am missing a trick !!

[chorister]

Could there be a thread for local tradesman recommendations, with tradesmen themselves banned from posting their own details?

[Annabel (admin)]

Thank you so much - please keep the comments coming!

[parsleysong]

Big thumbs up NVN for finally banning the odious Papinian: self-appointed judge of NVN (he named himself after Papinian the Roman judge). The man who had unlimited time to troll through years of members' posts in order to find that "nugget", such as a disclosure of depression or the death of a parent while a teenager - disclosures posted *in trust* to help other NVN members. He would throw this information back in their faces when he disagreed with something they'd posted and he often coupled it with a private evil message. That, and his thesis-long "research" fired off in the early hours to back up his mostly BS opinions. There were some good people who left the site because of him. I hardly post at all now on NVN or anywhere, even if I think I can offer advice or a recommendation, because of internet bullies like Papinian. It took you too long to realise the problem NVN but I'm glad you did it in the end.

[Annabel (admin)]

Yes it did take us too long - apologies!

[Denwand]

Agree about dear "Pappy"

he certainly had " issues"

Shame because as Annabel said he could be quite sensible and informative about educational issues etc.

However, although I crossed swords with him a few times it was usually good knock about stuff - but out of the blue he suddley yurned boorish and breathtakingly rude and frankly ignorant,

Sadly it was "good riddence"

[Pod]

Have to say I agree with a previous post. I used to use this site frequently but now find it too hard to navigate. You can’t move to the next page without scrolling to the bottom of the page which takes forever etc. Maybe I am missing a trick !!

Yes sadly I completely agree, I struggle scrolling up on my phone as it starts opening other posts and links because I have to scroll back up for ages - but perhaps my iPhone skills need honing! As I'm
Typing I can only see half the width of my message too? Ahhh just realised I have to turn my phone sideways Which I haven't done before

[juliantenniscoach]

The opening up a new page when you click on a topic is a pain on the phone. Just my take on it.

[gail0810]

I think the advent of a lot of the Mums Facebook groups has had an impact I feel - some of them in our area have a huge amount of followers from a wide range of backgrounds and can generate a lot of interesting debate and the topics can disappear quickly and be replaced by something new.

I also find the site much harder to navigate on my phone than it was before and it’s easier to close down and reopen than finding your way back to a post. I also think the latest news section needs culling/rethinking. Just take today, the latest posts are so clogged up with many nanny job posts it seems there is nothing interesting to read and puts me off looking through. Think it’s a great idea to put a lot of such posts etc to go straight under the relevant category heading and keep the latest posts for a mixture of news and interesting discussion topics that can genuinely engage and interest everyone.

[rooting4tooting]

by the way, just filled in the "quick reply" form, pressed submit, took me to the sign on screen and my input has disappeared..
joined up thinking?