Why do you use Gransnet?

Synonymous maybe you would gain some comfort and support from joining soop's kitchen? Everybody is kind and helpful. Perhaps if you read the posts for a few days and get a feel of what is happening, maybe then join in? I do not think that you will be disappointed.

I come on to GN every day at some point and have done since day 1. I don't suppose I am alone in feeling invisible and sometimes I really do wonder why I come on here. Both my DH and I are disabled so don't get out very much and my DH is in pàin for much of the time so retreats into himself. Our family are all hundreds of miles away. Many of our close friends are gone. I suppose the main reason that I persist is to feel a sense of connection with other people because life is generally pretty solitary.

(Introspection like this is not helpful and causes depression! On the whole we are both very positive and concentrate on our blessings and fortunately both love our home and garden.)

Once or twice I have been in regular correspondence with another Gran but it has fizzled out after a very short time so perhaps my life is too narrow to be of much interest. Sadly I would find it physically pretty difficult to take part in meet ups.

I rarely venture on to threads like politics which I find difficult to cope with as I find them confrontrational and that is more down to my own health issues which means that sometimes even the most innocuous threads exhaust me. I shudder to even contemplate my life without my DH but at least I would have virtual contact on GN. The GNers were very kind when my DH was so badly injured at the beginning of 2017 and that wonderful support is a real strength of GN.
I read much of all that is on the GN site particularly in the 'wee small hours' when sleep just won't come. I wouldn't change anything really but would like to be able to connect better with a particular post and find it exhausting trying to wade through long threads trying to find replies when it has actually gone off at a tangent. I don't feel I have put that particularly well but hopefully you will understand my meaning!

I just love that I can share thoughts and experiences with other people.
That is why I joined Gransnet.

Is it for information?
Not usually, but I often look for recipes on the internet. Could also look here, but if, as someone has said, you can't print them, then there's not much point.

Chat?
Of course!

Interest in other people's lives?
Not originally, but it can be fascinating.

Giving or receiving advice?
I have given up on asking for advice as I have had some very bad experiences. But I do often contribute when people are asking for advice, although not on relationships or political subjects. I try and read right through the thread first, and add something new.

Connecting to other people?
Very much so, as, as an expat, I enjoy hearing about things going on in the UK.

Do you log in because you're bored/need a distraction and want to while away some time? Or do you come looking for something specific?

Out of habit actually.

Do you use it in place of reading a book/watching TV/having a snack/looking at Facebook?
I don't watch TV and am not on facebook. I come to Gransnet when I haven't got the concentration for a book, or am waiting for dinner to cook.

Do you visit at certain times of the day?
In the morning, in the lunch break at work and sometimes in the evening if there's a thread I've been following.

If there was something we could that would encourage you to use it more or differently, what is that thing?

To be able to navigate the threads more easily. It is usually very difficult to find a question or comment when the reply comes on the next page.

I get the e-mail but always delete it immediately because it usually quotes threads I have already read, and I can't enter the competitions as I live abroad. (May as well unsubscribe, really)

Just the forums but I have done a couple of meet ups. I often go weeks without looking when life is very busy so I suppose I use it as a distraction when I am putting off doing something useful!

It does make me feel good on the odd occasions when I have the answer to someone's problem.

I used to read Mumsnet and thought it a great idea,so was pleased to find GN, I spent a lot of time alone and hate it,my husband is a farmer and works very long hours,I do not drive and live miles from anywhere,I am a chatterbox and miss people to talk to ,sometimes during harvest I can go three or more days without speaking to anyone else,so I see what the girls are speaking about today,I have posted with some problems,and it has helped to get other views,and it has been really helpful.
Have grown up children and grandchildren ,I am 52 and life has ground to a halt to me,so get very lonely.

I have been a member since day 1 and log in most days.
Over the years I have made many online friends but never had the opportunity to attend any meet ups.
As merlot stated the demographic has changed over the years but that happens as new members join and members leave.
I find GN gives excellent support when problems occur and helpful backup to people who are lonely or having difficulty by way of stearing them to the right path where they can seek help or support.
My favourite threads are the more light hearted such as fashion/beauty I never get involved with politics or anything heavy.

rosie, I’ll have a go at explaining. I’m using the desktop site. Not sure if the mobile site is the same.

Click or tap on Forums in the menu bar (red on my screen) at the top of the page. Click or tap on the Forum Topic you think is most appropriate to your thread. You’ll see a yellow box just above the first thread listed in that topic ‘start a new discussion’. Click or tap on that, enter your heading and away you go. Hope that makes sense.

I have often wanted to post a problem of my own on GN but never seem to be able to. I only seem to be able to join in other conversations and, by then, the thread has often gone cold. Would love to know how to post a new thread.

I like to recommend and be recommended to good TV series. I also enjoy speaking to GN friends I have made on the Good Morning thread.

Stansgran on my IPad I have to log in with email and password every time, it is a great nuisance. I wrote to HQ who tried to help but even their techie person could not solve the problem. It is fine on my main computer. I find it astonishing that the problem cannot be solved.

GabriellaG
I have a mental picture of most regular posters.
I always imagine you as blond and tall.
Personality, laid back, go with the flow unless it's something you feel very strongly about.

I dip in with a cup of tea usually. I would like to be able to say I agree with something without having to log in as my iPad insists on email and password every time I post. I think the games could go under one heading. Never look at the politics threads as people get too wound up and I know I'm right and they are wrong.

I use Gransnet for advice, to hear about other people's problems as they seem to put my own in perspective. I must admit I tend only to read the posts that appear on my daily email so do not spend a great deal of time here. That may change in the future though as I have found that occasionally when I have posted a problem I have received many replies - most of them sympathetic although some quite cutting. I think that is why I do not use it more as I feel intimidated.
I agree that a 'like' button would be useful as then we can see which posts are well received and which are not.

For all of the reasons you mention. I like the fashion threads and it is nice to get an unbiased opinion, sometimes those closest to you will tell you what you want to hear.

Several of you say you only read the "recommended" posts from the daily email. These are only suggestions and tasters. You are missing a great deal, and not just inlaw/generation problems and games threads. Relying purely on the preference of whoever is sending out that day's email may not be the best way to get things that interest you.
Give the other threads a chance; you will be pleasantly surprised. If you post answers on a few of them, and select "I'm on" from the list across the top, you will get those threads on your own personal list. "Watching" is another way to get a list of threads you have found interesting and chosen to watch, without posting on them.

I usually read gransnet on my phone. I have the daily email with a link to half a dozen recent posts. I read them but nothing else.

I can never resist having a peak at the daily email threads. Find them interesting and often very helpful, usually avoid the political ones as I would probably disagree and don’t want to get too contentious!

rocketstop until you try a local meet up you are not going to know what everybody will be like!

Our monthly meet up group has shrivelled down to 4 now, we are not cliquey and we would welcome anybody new.

Rocketstop someone would have to organise those big meetings. The admin people at GNHQ already have enough to do. I've done some fairly big ones (20 people or so) so I know that it is a lot of work. Would you volunteer to do one near you? That is what is needed - volunteers. You get out what you put in, and you make it into what you want it to be!

Had to just check if it was April 1st when I saw the 'Menopause magnet' 'Just place inside underwear' !! So yes, I do LEARN things from GN !!

I log in every day either on laptop or phone. I really enjoy the book club and the competitions, I have commented on every book I have been lucky enough to win.
I have sometimes posted on the forums and sometimes I have answered someone on thiere. I too think it would be good if you got a notification when someone had mentioned or replied to your post.

I would like to see more sort of National meet ups of some sort, at weekends, where all would be welcome, I would be a bit fearful of really local ones in cae they were cliquey, but at a bigger one you could suss out people that you got along with /same interests/family situation etc before having your own meet ups. Not sure how it would work though !

It's a little window on the world, isn't it? We get to swap ideas and opinions on many things in a way which we may not in RL. We can advise and support if someone is worried about a problem. We don't have to leave the comfort of our own home to do so.

I like the shared experiences. Feeling sad because a favourite singer from your teenage years has died - ditto actors or discussing major news items and TV programmes.

I do miss the humour of the early years though. Sometimes edgy but always irresistible.

Caro

WELCOME