What would you like to see on M2M in the future.

[fibromom]

When I joined m2m in late 2007 the best part about it was the conversation. The different opinions. Throwing a comment out there and finding 12 replies to some interesting topic. And the power mom having over 100 post. And yes, even the controversy. Although some of us need to learn to agree to disagree. And unfortunately in today's political climate that doesn't happen very often. I stopped checking in on the sight long after the conversation stopped. It seemed when I did all I really ever did was read some of the blogs. But the part of the sight that everyone could post whatever they had to say seemed to be nothing but ads from the shopping scout and receipes or some deal someone found somewhere. I would like to see the sight go back to the was with more actual conversation, not so many receipes and sales deal. I would also like to see the stream showing the threads 10 or 12 long instead of the more recent 4 or 5.

[mythreesons]

Agree - not that I have time like I used to to get on here, but the conversations are not what they used to be.....

[sabella511]

I rarely stop through anymore, but i think there aren't many captivating posts. The format of the page is lacking a little, it's hard to navigate. Maybe add a monthly meetup group or some how to sections"? Instead of just the weekly bloggers, have a "meet your moms" post each week/month. Move the placement of the advertisements. I know they pay for the site, but they are super annoying. What about mommy classifieds? A loveline? facebook group instead of a page?

[fibromom]

I rarely stop through anymore, but i think there aren't many captivating posts. The format of the page is lacking a little, it's hard to navigate. Maybe add a monthly meetup group or some how to sections"? Instead of just the weekly bloggers, have a "meet your moms" post each week/month. Move the placement of the advertisements. I know they pay for the site, but they are super annoying. What about mommy classifieds? A loveline? facebook group instead of a page?

Alot of us old timers are on FB. FB isn't really used much for conversations, intead more quick comments.

[sahmiam43]

I understand what you mean, and noticed the lack of participation dwindle, too. I guess I thought that as relationships moved beyond a message board format that other moms would fill the spaces and keep the conversation fresh- at least for them. I mean, how many posts does a person need to read- or answer- about potty training advice? BUT if someone new were here, it wouldn't be an old conversation for them, it could be the first time they had it.

But some conversations, current events, pop culture, trends and fads and new things that our kids are into CAN be fresh for everyone- old members and new. The members are here, there are new moms in the city everyday, I suspect that a big challenge is to get them both here for conversation.

And, because I'm on a roll- here are three areas and ideas that I had:

Technical: I suppose the thing that often kept me from posting was that links open in the same window. If we are directed to read about a current event via a link, a new window opens to that article. To get back to the page, you have to go back, not just click a window- and clicking back and forth to reference the article and make commentary wasn't simple.

Societal: The ability to meet up and take conversation from the board to face-to-face because we are all in the same city is one of the great things about this site. I did plan several meetups and they were always, always worthwhile- but I got tired of being the planner. I don't know how to solve that, but I got burnt out on it.

Administration: The lack of moderation for extremely hot topics was also off-putting. I realize that we are all grown women and should be able to maintain a level of respect- but sometimes discussions got out of hand and self- moderation wasn't possible.

And the blog page was so frustrating as a non-featured blogger. My posts often got bumped down into almost archived status too quickly, never to be seen again by the casual reader. The featured bloggers rock and I love reading them- but maybe revamping that page to allow featured bloggers one space, and non-featured another that would highlight both.( And rapid detection and deletion of spam would be nice, too.)

[fibromom]

I understand what you mean, and noticed the lack of participation dwindle, too. I guess I thought that as relationships moved beyond a message board format that other moms would fill the spaces and keep the conversation fresh- at least for them. I mean, how many posts does a person need to read- or answer- about potty training advice? BUT if someone new were here, it wouldn't be an old conversation for them, it could be the first time they had it.

But some conversations, current events, pop culture, trends and fads and new things that our kids are into CAN be fresh for everyone- old members and new. The members are here, there are new moms in the city everyday, I suspect that a big challenge is to get them both here for conversation.

And, because I'm on a roll- here are three areas and ideas that I had:

Technical: I suppose the thing that often kept me from posting was that links open in the same window. If we are directed to read about a current event via a link, a new window opens to that article. To get back to the page, you have to go back, not just click a window- and clicking back and forth to reference the article and make commentary wasn't simple.

Societal: The ability to meet up and take conversation from the board to face-to-face because we are all in the same city is one of the great things about this site. I did plan several meetups and they were always, always worthwhile- but I got tired of being the planner. I don't know how to solve that, but I got burnt out on it.

Administration: The lack of moderation for extremely hot topics was also off-putting. I realize that we are all grown women and should be able to maintain a level of respect- but sometimes discussions got out of hand and self- moderation wasn't possible.

And the blog page was so frustrating as a non-featured blogger. My posts often got bumped down into almost archived status too quickly, never to be seen again by the casual reader. The featured bloggers rock and I love reading them- but maybe revamping that page to allow featured bloggers one space, and non-featured another that would highlight both.( And rapid detection and deletion of spam would be nice, too.)

A lot of this makes since.
Us older moms don't really want to talk about potty training and the sort of things new moms like to talk about. At least I don't.
And yes a moderator would be great. Back in the old day it would have probably been helpful when the discussions got heated if there was someone that was partial to step in and settle it down.
One thing I had difficulty with a long with the lines of blogging. Quite often you could post something that you really wanted to talk about and someone would post five different quick comments and your post got pushed out quickly not to be seen by anyone for more than a day, maybe even a few hours.
And sometimes by adds like shopping scout who would post a bunch at once. There should be some standard for how may new post you can do in a day.

[fibromom]

Another thing that I wrote Kady about several months ago.
The question of the week. We never knew where those questions came from. And even though she said she would take suggestions, unless it was your suggestion she used none of us ever knew if it was a suggested question. Therefore no one really had a reason to believe that if they submitted a question it would be used. I submitted tons of questions, and would have all kinds of ideas for questions but I never knew if there was really a need for me to speak up or if Kady already had plenty. When the question is put up on the sight it could simply state, Suggested by ...., or it could even be printed in the paper that so and so submitted the question. Then anyone reading the question of the week would see that the questions were actually submitted by different moms and not something the paper came up with that the thought would be interesting. It also bothered me that it breaks up the percentage of the answers but never list how many responses there were. Quite often their might only be 12 to 17 responses which doesn't really mean a whole lot in the way of how the pie is split.

[fibromom]

One more thing.
Power mom should be able to win more than once a year. I don't think it is fair. Some of us might like to spend quite a bit of time talking to other while some might just check in every once in a while. If you have 11 of us that talk a lot and we only win once a year then you end up having to go down a long list to find a person that qualifies, and that could be someone who doesn't have much to say and won by default. Every 4 months would be more fair.

[mighty]

Good topic - I've wondered what happened to this site, too. It used to be VERY busy, and now it's ... not.

While we're posting our wish list for this site to remain active, how about the Star moving the section with the M2M site up higher on the web page? Say, right after Sports? I know, I know, it just CAN'T be above sports. Look at the 'Most Read' sidebar and count the number of sports stories to see why.

Meet ups - another great idea that I've participated in and now miss. Sorry sahmiam43, I didn't know you were doing all the work for that. When we get a new moderator, could they take on that task? And possibly meet 2x/yr?

Moderator - speaking of which, this person would need to be able to break up cat fights and erase spam quickly. As in, "It's a bird! It's a plane! It's SUPER MODERATOR!"

Any response, KC Star people?

[fibromom]

Hearing from someone at The Star would be nice.

But was Kady really a moderator or was it really just her job to keep the sight going and throw out the question of the week.
I know a couple of times a few years ago things got heated, and maybe she stepped in to calm the gals down but not much.