Sudden Increase in First-time Posters?

i'm right there with you, sister.

i answer 'em straight, for the most part (except for the ubiquitous 'am i pregnant?'), but the huge influx of illiterate posters who don't appear to have ever MET a child let alone engendered one is a big red flag, isn't it?

for now i'm going with it.
khairete
S.

I think some, a fair few, are people hired to gain traffic for the site. I mean most of the questions aren't inflammatory just stupid google worthy. Like the splinter in the foot, or something, they don't know. When everyone knows someone who has lost a foot to infection from a splinter because diabetics don't heal like the rest of us.

The must have dug deep to hire the seventeenth months old question.

Oh and the survey question so I could read the idiocy was more than I could take yesterday.
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Reading the new crop today they seem like they were written by someone who doesn't understand any parenting problem but is reading other questions and thinks they understand. Like someone who is neither married or has kids. Like the marriage one this morning, no one who has been married for 10 years sees the house as his or hers even if they owned the home before they were married, ya know. Then adds in, they don't help around the house, doesn't play with the child, oh and to make sure we have a full country western song, sex is an issue too. I am rather surprised there wasn't a horse involved.

Agree. It's the beginning of the end for this site, IMO. Hate the new format.
My conspiracy theory? They are profiles/questionsfabricated by (O. or more of the very few) employees attempting to create hot button topics to drive traffic to the site.
I don't think it's working.

I agree that there are some oddball first time questions.

Fyi, if you look at the Mamapedia FB page... Some recent questions from this site are posted. Past questions that have already been resolved in some situations on this MMP site.

Beware.

Yes, I have noticed it, and their lack of good grammar and spelling. Don't know what to think.

Yeah, I want to take it seriously and answer but there's too much odd-ness.
Isn't is Fall break for some schools? Like 2 weeks off or something. Maybe someone's really bored? It feels like click bait though. Some of it is stuff that doesn't make any since to find a new site just to air your dirty laundry. That post about the husband's receipt where the girl supposedly wrote a pick up line on the back. That was the biggest, strangest stretch I could think of.
I've been spending less time here, partly because I've been busy and partly because way too many things make me want to roll my eyes and I don't have anything to offer them even if they are legit. It's just guh!

Yes just read more this morning .. they do seem odd.

The family drama ones are odd. I sometimes wonder is someone enjoying creating these weird scenarios ... like is this someone's imagination gone wild? Because some are like really bad soap operas.

The ones with the many fathers/boyfriends/all upset and yet there are children involved kind of upset me. I tend to be rude I'm sure. While I know these kinds of moms are out there (more concerned about their men then their children) - it really bothers me. So I hope those ones are not real. I really hope so.

Those particular posters don't sound like women who would take advice given anyhow. So I often lose interest.

The pregnancy (am I pregnant) ones are driving me nuts. I remember taking a pregnancy test as a teenager and I could figure out the results.

Yeah, there seems to be a smattering of things posted that are better suited to FB.
There's just a lot more parenting sites out there than there use to be and when you Google "Mom sites" Mamapedia doesn't show up - I think it use to.
If they want to attract more traffic, they need to have a better way for Moms/parents to FIND the site.

Additional:
The thing is - you don't get new people on to the site by creating stories on the site.
They are only advertising to people who already use the site.
To get new people to try it out, you have to advertise OFF THE SITE.

I have no conspiracy theory per se, just Confederacy of Dunces all around.

I'm not on here as often because it make my eyes hurt, rolling them so hard.

I'm new to the site so I can't compare and I've only been hanging around for the past few weeks. Within that time I have thought some of the questions were really odd. I thought maybe the site was mentoring teenagers or something. I'm glad to read it's not the norm.

I found this place because I googled my problem and it popped up past posts. They seemed pretty cool to me so I posted my own.

Yeah, I noticed it. With as long as I've been with this site? Things ebb and flow.

BIG Bonus points for conspiracy!!!

This increase? I do believe it's from the Facebook page, which I stopped following last time they made a HUGE guffaw regarding one of our well-respected regulars!!

Now that GetitNow owns the site? They are trying to "revitalize" the site. New format. New people. People swear they are leaving this site or they are done with it, but they come back....same people that voted for hope and change!! And when change happens???!! They don't like it!! LOL!!

Yes I have noticed it as well. Blah!!

I'm with ya, the influx of traffic and crazy newbie questions make me want to throw something.

I think there should be a step type membership where one has to go through a trial period before becoming a full fledged member with access to the real questions/group. Might filter out some of the noise.

For now I'm scaling back to lurking every couple of days.

You nailed it, M.. I too find the sudden influx of new users asking somewhat "off" questions to be odd and off-putting. Having new folks come on MP is great, but the sudden rash of questions so recently since the "mobile-device-friendly" change does indeed make me, like you, wonder if there's "generated content" happening.

Though the colossally dumb "Could I be pregnant?" questions have been around, off and on, for a long time....

I hope the moderators are heeding these posts like yours and Diane B.'s about the huge issue with her real name appearing on FB due to an MP post. Again, new users with fresh questions -- that's great. But between the gray, glitchy, ad-ridden screens I see on my non-mobile device, and these content issues, well, I'll still come on to see what some folks are posting and answering, but I won't do it as often.