Is MSE the UKs Biggest?

MSE_Martin

Well done SRA - since seeing it i have asked if we can include the yumptypumptycodeconfusing stuff that makes it get our stats properly and we should as it soon

Edna_Bucket_2

MSE_Martin wrote:

...I don't want to come unstuck

Then with respect, how about some humility?

That is not a criticism of some of the the excellent content here, but just to say that there is no merit whatsoever in being "biggest" for its own sake or for dubious publicity.

I'm a relatively recent reader but my honest observation is that for all the good stuff, there is a phenomenal amount of absolute garbage as well. If you discounted all that (and all the strictly not "money saving" stuff) would it still be "biggest"?

The danger for you is that if you plug that angle too heavily it will also inevitably draw derision and negative PR for the reasons stated.

Treading carefully and with humility is the approach I'd suggest.

MSE_Martin

Edna, being the biggest is phenomenally important, as we're not the same as others. First of all the main site is the driver of traffic, and if you think there is stuff there that's a waste - i'd ask you where.

Yet this is a movement. All the other websites are commercially driven sites part of the business world and financial services industry. This site is the opposition. The fact that in less than three years, started for £100, with no advertising it has become the UK's biggest site does mean something. It means people are starting to fight back and look after themselves rather than the paternalistic old style system

Humility is of course worthwhile, but why would publicity be dubious? It'd be great! If blowing the trumpet means more MoneySavers, more consumers saving, more people taking on big business, more people not getting into debt, more money in peoples pockets not in company profits, then i say

TOOT

Rex_Mundi

Fair play to you Martin. From starting this site from nothing to take it to where it is now is an enormous achievement! To do this without plastering us with adverts and running a growing team in the background (IMHO) shows the usefulness of the information you are providing us with.

If anything, I don't think you are shouting loudly enough about this site. I've lost count of the amount of people that I've told about this site. It almost gets to the point where I'm frustrated that friends/family don't seem to beleive that they could save a small fortune if they only spend an hour or two going through the main articles (I've even gone as far as printing out specific articles in the past and pushing it under their nose, just so I know that they've read it).

I think you've got every right to wonder how big this site is getting (not bl00dy big enough yet as far as I'm concerned). You keep it up!!!

intel

How come no-one saw this site



Can someone pass me coat. :rolleyes:







Well done Mr Lewis. :j :j

Edna_Bucket_2

MSE_Martin wrote:

Edna, being the biggest is phenomenally important, as we're not the same as others. First of all the main site is the driver of traffic, and if you think there is stuff there that's a waste - i'd ask you where.

You're a mite sensitive to constructive criticism Martin - that's all I'd say. You must have heard the old saying that "size isn't everything" surely?!!!

I was referring to the Forums of course, and the circular traffic - people go to the Forum, then go to the main site and then back again. That's great, sure, but when you trawl through the unregulated tangle of stuff in the Forums, you might wonder what a debate on say "should I tell my ex about my miscarriage" (one example and no offence intended to contributors to that item) has to do with Money Saving. Some of the threads in the Forum also take the issue of "money in peoples pockets not in company profits" (I wonder how far you take that concept? Another debate another time no doubt) to the real edge of deception and petty criminality - I note that one where I politely made that comment (after it had been running for some time) was then promptly deleted in its entirety!

You obviously subscribe to the old adage that all publicity is good publicity, and you are in very good company. Personally I don't and hence my word of caution, but we'll agree to differ - to which I would also say

TOOT (but in smaller letters)

innovate

Edna_Bucket wrote:

snip....That's great, sure, but when you trawl through the unregulated tangle of stuff in the Forums, you might wonder what a debate on say "should I tell my ex about my miscarriage" (one example and no offence intended to contributors to that item) has to do with Money Saving....snip

Edna_Bucket, I am absolutely positive that once you have spent a little more time on MSE, and the MSE Forum in particular, than your post count suggests you have, you will appreciate that one of the ingredients to the successful MSE recipe is that people feel 'at home' and 'safe' on the MSE fora.

I am a recent 'convert' to MSE - IMHO it has everything that's good on potential competitor sites (i.e. good, and current, facts) and nothing of what really puts me off other sites (i.e. promoting whoever pays most at a given stage). Plus the forum adds a credible sense of realism to the whole thing - there are real people here, with real life everyday issues that pre-occupy them. Like in real life, some of it interests me and some of it doesn't, and I reckon it's the same for others.

People working for anything from small, local, struggling 1-man-and his-dog outfits to big, hugely successful, multi-national corporates share bits of their private/non-work life with their work colleagues, why shouldn't there be a 'social' side to this site? Why does e.g. the Financial Times have e.g. a Culture section, instead of sticking to reporting about financial markets and businesses only? You get my gist, I am sure.

EDITED: if you go through the Forum in detail, you will also find countless examples of people getting help with specific issues that can't really be covered on a general site. Why don't you give MSE credit for that?

If "unregulated tangle of stuff in the Forums" (your words) is what you dislike most about MSE, just don't read it, like you wouldn't read anything that doesn't interest you in e.g. the Financial Times.

I subscribe to the newsletters of MSE 'rival sites', and haven't yet seen anything that I hadn't already seen on MSE before. Moreover, on those 'rival' sites, I can't find a forum of generally like-minded folks that I can have a really good discussion with, incl. agreeing to disagree.

Really interested in finding out what your real gripe with MSE is :santa2:

Edna_Bucket_2

innovate wrote:

Really interested in finding out what your real gripe with MSE is :santa2:

I don't have a gripe as you put it of any sort - I made a candid observation.

I actually find it a tiny bit offensive that you should seek to insinuate anything else - is it not legitimate for anyone to "tell it like it is" as long as they do so politely and constructively?

I respect the right of others to disagree and they may well find the lifestyle items fascinating - all I was saying is that you (or maybe Martin) have to be careful and think about these things before you start trumpeting the "biggest" the "best" the "fastest growing" or any other superlatives.

Martin appears to be creating a very successful personal brand and career out of this and good luck to him in that - I'm sure he deserves the rewards from the hard graft put into it all. He simply asked for input, and I made a general comment - to be taken at face value by most people I hope.

MSE_Martin

Edna I understand your point about the forums, yes of course you could argue a small percent of it isn't money stuff. Actually even on the forums thats a negligible proportion, the shopping section dominates in terms of traffic and i count shopping and bargains as money (i find the sites who think money must mean shares are old hat)

Though I do understand your point. The MSE being the biggest for me could be seen as a popularity contest. I dont believe it is. I believe its due to the unique content and flavour. The marketing budget of this site is tiny, compared to something like This is money which is owned by Associated Newspapers and plugged relentlessly in the Mail.

The reason I think the fact it is biggest is so good is a David and Goliath story. You are entitled to your opinion and it is valid - one criticism often laid at me is a 'self publicist' and of course its true the site and me are the same brand. Yet i believe in the message. Don't worry about the debate here, people (me included) are defensive of MSE, yet you were polite and articulate in your argument and this is a broad church. While i disagree i think its important to acknowledge if everyone made their point in opposition the way you did we'd have a lot less fights on here

martin

Edna_Bucket_2

MSE_Martin wrote:

...You are entitled to your opinion and it is valid - one criticism often laid at me is a 'self publicist' and of course its true the site and me are the same brand. Yet i believe in the message. Don't worry about the debate here, people (me included) are defensive of MSE, yet you were polite and articulate in your argument and this is a broad church. While i disagree i think its important to acknowledge if everyone made their point in opposition the way you did we'd have a lot less fights on here
martin

Thanks Martin - very well made comments.

I must stress too that I am certainly not in "opposition" at all to anything you are doing here - not at all. It's very worthwhile and the enormous growth of the site and the Forums area is testament to that, and to the demand out there.

There's nothing wrong in my book either with being a "self publicist" - if you don't use your profile, background experience and connections to raise the profile, who else is going to?

It reminds me of a saying of one of my former bosses - many years back. A bit of a crude comment, but one that has always stuck with me over the years (and I'll asterisk out the offending word!) His words ran:

"If you don't blow your own trumpet, someone else will p**s in it!"

Mmmn - well, quite.

I think I'd really only picked up on the issue of "biggest" because it's a challenge for you and your colleagues as well as a plus. This is about my second or third attempt to get into the Forums area in recent times - previously I admit, I'd given up a bit in terms of wading through what I wasn't interested in to get to what I was.

The exponential (and creditable) growth in interest in the site poses that risk - as it becomes maybe "biggest" it attracts an ever growing and diverse range of posters, who have very diverse interests, and it can therefore head off in a multitude of different directions, like some multi-tentacled monster. For those readers, maybe like myself, who visit a few sites and rely on viewing "New Posts" to keep updated, that poses a challenge, simply in terms of time.

Thanks again for responding to my earlier comments in the spirit in which they were intended.