To GNHQ

Go round again.

Going round yet again, in the hope of the thread getting one of those stylish blue background replies from GNHQ.

No, this is not what I want!
I like the fact that advertising is kept in its place - there's enough already!

It would be one to avoid as far as I’m concerned !

Email them ElderlyPerson
[email protected]

nanna8

It would be one to avoid as far as I’m concerned !

There are lots of active threads at any one time so plenty of choice, so if GNHQ does institute the thread that I suggest, it would be just one thread among many and could easily be avoided by anyone who so chooses.

A thread providing opportunities to make and discuss suggestions for some people yet with hardly any inconvenience to those who choose to ignore it.

So hopefully GNHQ will take up my idea for a GNHQ initiated thread please.

FannyCornforth

Email them ElderlyPerson
[email protected]

Good morning Fanny.

Thank you for the suggestion.

This thread does give the opportunity for other participants on this forum to support the idea.

And, yes, for people to oppose.

How many times do you want to bump your own thread - until GNHQ gives in?

You started a similar thread a few days ago and I responded by pointing out that the sponsored threads are marketing exercises by the likes of Santander and McCarthy & Stone - Gransnet is a business and it's way for them to raise revenue.

GNHQ deleted your thread.

No thanks. Can’t see the point.

Riverwalk

How many times do you want to bump your own thread - until GNHQ gives in?

You started a similar thread a few days ago and I responded by pointing out that the sponsored threads are marketing exercises by the likes of Santander and McCarthy & Stone - Gransnet is a business and it's way for them to raise revenue.

GNHQ deleted your thread.

Well it is like that documentary that was on the television of aircraft flying out from Yeovolton to land on an aircraft carrier and they either landed at first attempt or they had to go round again for a second approach, but there was a limited number of attempts allowed and it they did not make a landing they had to go back to Yeovolton before they ran out of fuel.

Now whether the ship went off without them or waited for another go I do not know.

Yes I did start a thread, but not quite the same because that asked for ideas directly.

This time I am asking GNHQ to start its own official thread asking for ideas. So a GNHQ initiated thread giving the request official provenance by GNHQ.

GNHQ deleted the thread "for now".

I had been adding a post and found it would not add so investigated. I had, upon being informed by another forum participant that it was in the wrong forum, self-reported the thread to GNHQ asking for the thread to be moved to the Site stuff forum.

So not quite as clear cut as that.

Maybe a reply from GNHQ will arrive.

I don’t understand what it is you are asking for.

A sponsored thread requires GN to find a business which is prepared to spend part of its advertising budget with the company in the expectation of getting a return on its investment.

So a bank, or a private health care company or a retirement apartment builder etc invites questions about banking, health, retirement living because it wants people to bank with them, buy health insurance or buy an apartment.

If the discussion is run as a Q&A, GN members might learn something and win a voucher in the draw but I suspect it’s a lot of work and expense for the sponsor for little or no return - and that most members responding to a sponsored thread only do so to be in the draw.

It’d be interesting to know if any GN member has ever changed bank, taken out health insurance or bought a retirement apartment as a result of these discussions.

Don’t forget that any sponsor is going to have to be a sizeable company with a nationwide reach. I doubt many of those see GN as a good use of its advertising budget.

What we would like, of course, is a way of helping one another without the profit motive c/f the request for a Benefits section where members can offer peer-to-peer support - a request which GN is showing resistance to.

25Avalon

No thanks. Can’t see the point.

The point is that GNHQ could have the opportunity to approach potential sponsors to suggest their sponsoring of sponsored threads of known interest to the readership.

That seems a good opportunity to obtain.

More sponsored threads, more business for the sponsors, more business for GNHQ, opportunities to get advice and improve choices of products and services for older people.

Wow, a great opportunity in many ways!

Early

I don’t understand what it is you are asking for.

A sponsored thread requires GN to find a business which is prepared to spend part of its advertising budget with the company in the expectation of getting a return on its investment.

So a bank, or a private health care company or a retirement apartment builder etc invites questions about banking, health, retirement living because it wants people to bank with them, buy health insurance or buy an apartment.

If the discussion is run as a Q&A, GN members might learn something and win a voucher in the draw but I suspect it’s a lot of work and expense for the sponsor for little or no return - and that most members responding to a sponsored thread only do so to be in the draw.

It’d be interesting to know if any GN member has ever changed bank, taken out health insurance or bought a retirement apartment as a result of these discussions.

Don’t forget that any sponsor is going to have to be a sizeable company with a nationwide reach. I doubt many of those see GN as a good use of its advertising budget.

What we would like, of course, is a way of helping one another without the profit motive c/f the request for a Benefits section where members can offer peer-to-peer support - a request which GN is showing resistance to.

Well, it could be a food company seeking ideas for new products, or an art gallery about what services it provides, or a software company, or whatever people responding to the thread suggest.

What would you like to request, EP?

Just to give us an idea of how this would help you.

If the thread exists, one thing I would suggest, is for a food manufacturer to ask if people would be interested in sachets of purée food of the same quality and lack of lumps as for 4 month old babies, yet not intended for babies and labelled as for adults, but of recipes that adults may appreciate but which would not be suitable for babies. For example, containing onion, tomato, maybe spices, and so on.

A lady on a care line told me that they are aware that a lot of their baby food is in fact eaten by adults.

So a niche product for a manufacturer, yet sometimes a niche product can produce amazing results for a business as there is so little competition for supplying their product.

And no, I am not suggesting it would be their only product range.

I read in a book when I was young "Never grumble away your opportunities".

Knowing that and acting on that advice has helped me in many ways over the years.

Thank you

Early wrote

> Don’t forget that any sponsor is going to have to be a sizeable company with a nationwide reach. I doubt many of those see GN as a good use of its advertising budget.

Not necessarily. A small business can have a nationwide reach using Royal Mail and a courier service such as DPD. For example, the Papier business.

EP wiltshire Farm Foods has a section with pureed meals.
www.wiltshirefarmfoods.com They are on the "Select a Meal" page, under "Softer foods" They look good - each item of the meal pureed separately as meat, potato, vegetables, not all squidged together.

No one is grumbing away your opportunites but it’s all very niche, isn’t it? If it was a viable business opportunity for a pureed food manufacturer they would already be making it in industrial quantities. Why would they want to spend tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds on GN to see if there is a market?

In fact, the food you suggest already exists in many ethnic brands. Ashoka, for example, make microwavable food which comes in pouches. The contents could easily be run through the blend if a finer consistency is required. Available widely in Indian supermarkets and online.

There you are, EP By mentioning it on a thread about something else entirely you have two replies with suggestions for where to obtain what you asked about. By starting a completely new thread with that in the title so that the subject was obvious, you would get a lot more replies, and perhaps a discussion on different brands, and of different liquidisers and blenders too

Thank you.

I have in fact had one of those meals several times. In fact as I am vegan and avoid gluten that is the only one suitable for me. Even then advertised as vegetarian and a nut traces possibility warning on it at that time, I don't know about now.

I get their newsletters, they are very sparse on purée and then for purée there is this the emphasis on petite rather than a good sized feed, but nevertheless the one I had was very tasty, very filling and I had it with some white long grain rice as I am alright with white long grain rice as it digests and breaks up very easily.

They seem reluctant to have a vegan range, so a sponsored discussion from them to ask if people want meals that tick many boxes all at once, asking about gluten-free vegan and also gluten-free vegan purée too.

Quite possibly an opportunity for them for high quality market research at a budget price.

But rice is the only thing with any lumps in it at all that I have. The only flavoured rice I can have is that delicious lemon and herbs basmati microwave rice that Tilda produce. I wish they made one with just a little cinnamon added. Another possible sponsor for GNHQ to approach?

Exactly, Elegran. Freely offered peer-to-peer support.

Why do you not just cook and puree your own fresh vegetables adding herbs and spices to taste? If you are a vegan and care about the environment, all that packaging is causing a lot of environmental damage. Why buy Tilda rice sachets, more plastic packaging, when you could buy a bag of, say, basmatmi rice and add cinnamon to taste?