I didn't mean for this to become specifically about nannies!

I just meant that this website has a specific section for people buying and selling goods (Annabels Arcade) and perhaps that could be used for the advertisement of services and local businesses too.

Of course anyone, be they nanny, handyman, local business person should still be able to contribute their views/ opinions and advice in the main site.

Just that way the newest & most read post sections can be free from adverts, especially the duplicate posts!

I agree that sometimes posts on the most read/ new posts come up as nanny jobs or parents requesting nannies, and maybe this needs looking at, just like advertising for Zumba etc

I would like to say that as a nanny I have recommended this site to first time parent - over 100 parents. I talk about how it is a beautiful site to connect with others, maybe help with advice (as I know many professional nannies / maternity nannies / sleep trainers and mothers try to leave some advice for parents, which the parents are Always so grateful) and a great tool to finding activities in your area, meeting mothers, and information.

Shame if it was to become a different website where groups didn't feel welcome to contribute, and of course there are lots of new websites with the same idea, shame to loose lots of valuable people I say., maybe just needs a bit of re style with the boards?

It's literally nanageddon! This is how civil wars start force one group of society into the recesses of the bulletin board only for them to join forces and conspire to take power from the moderator. Then where would we be faced with endless adverts for caring ladies who's only desire is to care for our kids in return for minimum wage. Don't know about you but I can't live in such a sick world.

Hi Annabel
Did you know that attached to the bottom of your 'how to post' section there are also several nanny/handyman posts? Perhaps they could be moved to the right section as it was a little odd seeing them there.
Many thanks

I would agree that posts from mums asking for childcare and posts from nannies looking for work should go on a separate board as they are most frequent adverts and request for services that clog up the new posts board. I absolutely would not want to see all posts from nannies moved elsewhere as they have a valid and often interesting viewpoint on most matters here, but I don't think that is what previous posters were actually suggesting.

I took offence to comment aimed at putting nannies on own board and totally understood original complaint no need to explain what is happening. But i also see alot of mum's asking for childcare too. I am sure annabel is trying veryhard to provide us with this very useful website and its very easy to complain its helping to find a solution which is the difficult part. Being with children is an important part of everyday for most lets work together and make a difference to our society thank you

Just wanted to come back to apologise if anyone feels nannies are being picked on. The main issue is that to follow or pick up on an active conversation it's easiest to do so from the new posts sidebar. When someone advertises their services this pushes conversations down and off the bar fairly quickly. If a nanny posts in childcare under nannies wanted and babysitting topics, then on the notice board, then on chat, that's 4 duplicate 'new' posts that fill up the sidebar and push conversations off. It makes the site much less interesting unless you happen to be looking for a nanny, and if you are, surely you'd look directly on the nannies wanted/ advertising board anyway?

Perhaps people offering maintenance or exercise classes do the same but I notice it most in relation to nannies, which is why I mentioned it above. I don't have anything against nannies personally!

I am absolutely against moving the nannie ads/pists/advices, you name it elsewhere.

Lets be honest, most of us couldnt carry on our lives if it was not for them.

Agree for all other businesses. For ex there us one on here who has at least 6-7 aliases. I wont name the business here but will PM Annabel sbout that.

Why are we so against nannies ? This site is for everyone who has or working with children. Just because we are nannies doesn't mean we don't have an opinion on topics which can often be helpful. Jobs and alike agree should be placed elsewhere but lets embrace all not make people feel different which i feel is happening on this subject. Thank you

Just a quick apology to whoever may feel my posts have clogged up the 'new posts' list.
From the type of posts I regularly see on this site I thought that was partly what this site had been built for - to share what's going on in the area.
It's very hard starting up a new business from scratch as all business owners will tell you, but now I appreciate the other side of the story.
I would love to advertise on here 'properly', having enquired a while ago, but I am still waiting for Annabel to get back to me on that one...

I agree with the other posts, a separate forum to advertise for nannies/childminders is a great idea.

I agree nanny jobs etc should be on one place, obviously you would have to check references and back ground before introducing them to your family. But as working as a fulltime nanny jobs are difficult to come by and good nannies find posting job ads as a way of helping them find work and also cuts out the expense for parents as going through agencies cost an arm and a leg!
When out of work sites like these are handy and nannies also use this to communicate not just mum and dads its a site for all. Appreciate your site annabel very much. Thank you.

I particularly agree about the nanny ads clogging up the "new posts" sidebar. While I write this, there are 6 ads from nannies on there, and they are all unique posts. Sometimes the same post is up there 3, 4 or 5 times as the nanny in question posts on different boards.

What about restricting nanny ads to a board which doesn't show up on New Posts and bar ads for childcare on any other board? After all, if you're looking for a nanny you're likely to search more thoroughly than just clicking on one link.

To be fair, you could have a more obvious link on the front page which takes you to a nannies available / wanted board?

I completely agree - this is becoming just an ad site...it would be great if the ads for services could have their own board so interesting questions/ discussions do not disappear so quickly

Annabel
I wondered if it would be possible to also put the nanny and babysitter available directly to the child care board. I know we all may need a nanny or babysitter but i would rather just go to that board as you can miss useful posts as sometimes there are so many they bump the advice needed / information posts before the end of the day.

thank you

Thanks guys for the comments, as always, hugely welcome.

It's something that we tried to address with our latest terms and conditions with the redesign. But it still needs a lot of work to be honest.

We explain to businesses that we are happy for them to "introduce" themselves to our users *once* but they shouldn't...

a) multiple post the same message e.g. "I am a really good handyman" which keeps clogging up the board

and they also shouldn't...

b) "crash" conversations where people ask for advice from other users and they jump in with a commercial message. That's not to say we don't want businesses to post advice if it's of genuine use, but I hope we'd all agree that this post might be useful "as a builder I know that you need a picture frame steel for a side return because of building regs" versus the useless "I am a builder and I am good value I can do your side return"!

About twice a day I will check the email address and the IP address of a "suspect" poster to see if I can "tie" them to a business and if so we delete ALL their posts and then send them a grumpy email.

For a lot of businesses it is naivety as they don't know what they should and shouldn't be doing, for some it is a deliberate business development tactic and we are pretty good at weeding those out as we know who they are.

If you see someone who is abusing the site, email me, I'll look into it within the hour.

As always, thanks for using the site and I hope this helps.