Why do you use Gransnet?

Not sure actually, it was supposed to maybe be a way for meeting new friends. I only look when I get the emails. Maybe I should be more proactive!

I look at GN while I have my cup of tea in bed so first thing I do each morning.
I consider GN to be keeping in touch with friends without having to ring everyone.
It has been a lifesaver over the last couple of years whilst I have been incapcitated.
I often return to GN just before getting into bed, a bit like checking that family is okay before retiring.

I joined when DGD was born but don't visit or post often. I do read the 'headlines' that come by email but am often amazed at the judgemental and unkind attitudes that are expressed.

I agree with annep that being able to reply directly to the poster rather than have to * their name to bold it or just like what someone else has said would be good as there's often a lot of agreement in comments which is repetitive!

I usually scroll through when I get the email each day, always on the iPad, often whilst watching tv or filling a gap in my chores. I enjoy reading the posts and identify with some of them, not all of course. Occasionally comment but guess as a new contributor not in the ‘gang’ as no one ever replies or comments back! No idea how I found the site.....but it’s fun .... nice to see a chat forum where everyone is (mostly!) nice to each other!

Very good point nellie.

Is this a drive to recruit more members Lara?

I use GN every morning whilst 'coming to' with my first cup of tea or coffee.I love it and only discovered it when i retired and was looking for something interactive on the PC rather than just F/Bk all the time.
GN covers so many subjects and issues it makes you realise you are not alone when things going wrong in your life. Someone can always advise, or comfort and sometimes you prefer help from a stranger rather than someone who you know as they are not emotionally involved with you and can give a more balanced view on a problem.
I enjoy the Limmericks game and that gets my head going to try and come up with a line to add. I enjoy the TV etc reviews and the health pages too. As for the lay out it is easy to find what you are looking for so please dont change it.

I joined ages ago looking for something then completely forgot about it and kept deleting the daily e-mail until one day I thought what the h* is this Gransnet thing so came to have a look - hooked I come on here at various times during the day and evening - it's taken over from FB which I started to find irritated me immensely with inane messages about what someone was having for dinner or yet another shared horror animal video. I only access it via my desktop pc in my office - occasionally from my tablet but not my phone as I can't see it very well on there.

I only visit the forums and often spend far too long reading everything then find I don't have time to answer!

On a more positive note, the layout and finding your way around the forums is idiot proof, unlike some websites.

I wouldn’t suggest you change that.

LaraGransnet We'd really like to improve Gransnet and to do so we want to understand why you use it? If you'd prefer to name change for this you're very welcome to in My Gransnet.

So GN "wants to improve this forum." This suggests to me that GN is not satisified with how it works now.
Could GN give us some idea what they do not feel happy about?

Will do a detailed answer tomorrow. But in the meantime I do think being able to reply to a comment (rather than asterisk the name) or "like" a comment would be very useful as on facebook. ( I prefer Gransnet though).

I like to dip in and out during the day. It's good to read other opinions on matters of interest and news. I like the fact that there is quite an age range of posters despite it being GN.
I'm not interested in the games threads.
I have kept updated on UK political news thanks to GN.
I agree with Cherrytree some Gransnetters have been through difficult times and found a source of support on GN.

I think Gransnet can be improved. As has been said posts get confusing. People do respond to 'other' points raised in a thread and even if you respond immediately, the response can get lost further down the thread.

If there was the ability to respond directly to any poster on a thread it would help.

Also for me, there are far too many forums. I think a few could be condensed into others. For example do we need a separate pets one or could it be included in chat/ask a gran? Do we need a menopause one as well as Health? Could 'blog' come under 'any other subjects'? I don't know - just throwing ideas around but many of them I never even get around to looking at.

I joined pretty much at the beginning of Gransnet and have been on here, most days, ever since. I always use my desk top computer, never my phone or i-pad.

The first thing I do each morning, is make a cup of tea and go on the Good Morning thread and then I browse anything else that is running at the time. Not a lot of threads usually open as I am an early bird.

I dip in and out throughout the day. It feels a bit like having a lot of pen friends to contact as much or as little as I wish. I have had personal messages to and from several GNs. It's odd how affectionate I feel towards certain Grans even though I have never met any in real life - not knowingly anyway!

I enjoy Soops Kitchen and also the competitions and the book club. I have won lots of books over the years and also two holidays. I think it is a valuable social service to link us together. A bit like the outback radio in Australia does.

I do avoid contentious threads and avoid confrontational posters as I would do in real life. I would prefer all the games threads to be under one heading - the take up too much space quite often and do not interest me.

Please maintain Granset - it is important to me and to many others as demonstrated by the number of regular posters. for GNHQ!

I have mentioned a few times that I liken GN to a nice magazine.
It has some good articles, on almost everything and anything.

I have had some good travel suggestions

Helpful health and medical advice.

Plus some very useful
cookery suggestions (the classic one has got to be using a slow cooker to bake bread!).

Fashion and gardening often make interesting reading

I very much enjoy the games threads

And I often have my nose pressed against Soops kitchen Windows.

However its our lovely Grandsnetters that keep GN interesting and amusing.
And of course HQ that keeps the GN wheels turning.

I know that some gransnetter have received much needed support through some very tough times.
It is wonderful that in some small way virtual friends can reach out to people in real life

I look in several times a day (probably too often), generally just look on the Active page, but not at the games. I have picked up a few tips on various subjects, and had a good few laughs too at some of the threads. If they start getting really contentious I tend to stop reading, but I enjoy it and have even started a few threads myself!

Keep on doing what you are doing GN, it certainly adds interest to my day!

I use Gransnet to brighten my day, obtain helpful hints and information, and have also made a few friends through it.

I joined quite a while ago but didn't post until a couple of years ago. Now I find that GN has become the first thing I check in a morning, after the news. I've met some really lovely and interesting people (and look forward to meeting more in the future) and I've made some good penfriend too. I like it!

I use it to ask for advice and to feel there are people out there to connect with. I am incredibly careful now (having had a very bad experience) to change details and sadly not to share anything really challenging that could be picked up by newspapers or placed on Facebook.

I tend to just browse the 'last day' forums on my laptop only and usually when I'm having a quiet day. I probably use it more in winter when there's no gardening to be done. Very occasionally I will respond to something that really grabs my attention. Initially I'd hoped that I'd make a few virtual friends but that hasn't happened and I don't live near enough to any of the meet-up groups so don't see that changing.

I joined GN for the competitions which I found via a competition website. But my curiosity (nosy!) led me to reading the forums. I lurked for a long time then bit the bullet!
I have has some great advice and support along the way and (I hope) have made some friends both here and in the real world.
The only change I would like to see is a like button which I know has been mentioned before.
Thanks Gransnet for being there when (and when I didnt) need you!

I come on GN when I’m sitting with a cup of tea.

Why? I don’t really know as sometimes it irritates me to hell with the trivia. Another thing that irritates me is when I really agree with a poster, and would like to register that agreement, or acknowledge a point being made, but the moment has passed as the post is 3 pages further back or a day old. A ‘like’ button would help in these circumstances. Also a ‘like’ button would stop some posters feeling ignored.

Sometimes a poster hits the nail on the head and makes me LOL, but this was mainly in the ‘old days’. I do like to try to follow the thought processes of posters, and it makes me realise there’s a whole different world of people out there that I’m never likely to meet in RL.

However, I prefer FB and spend more time on that as my FB friends are people I know from RL, past or present and I can keep up with them via that media.

Much has been said and I totally agree,as mainly disabled and housebound I probably look in more often than others, starting with Good Morning and a few games to get me going. I pop in and out most days until my early retiring at 6/7 pm....using my PC.
I have made a number of friends in the relatively short period of time I have been here,messages flow, having no children I find a disadvantge sadly,because of course it is aimed at Grans.
I hope to actually meet a few GN`s one day,meanwhile I enjoy my interaction in the Kitchen,on the games and in the chat threads, whilst have made my own contribution to the Blog section.
Personally I am more than satisfied and just say..........more of the same if you please!!!......and Thank you .

I like Gransnet because it gives me interaction, information and a bit of a laugh now and then. I always start my day with the Good Morning thread, and have a couple of visits to the kitchen, but I dip in and out of the other threads as the fancy takes me. It doesn’t take the place of books, but it does quite often take the place of TV. I have met some lovely grans, and hope to meet some more. I could not imagine my day without Gransnet in it somewhere.

I access GN on my iPad. Never on my phone and not generally on my computer.
I can’t remember why I first went onto the forum but I find most of it interesting and informative.
I never join in the games and rarely do anything other than read and post on threads.
I feel it would be extremely helpful to have a warning at the top of every thread to remind me to engage my brain before posting!