<p>Here's a quick informational question: how many of you search for previous threads on a related subject before posting a new thread in a CC forum?</p>
<p>For threads that I didn't create or participate in, the answer for me is close to zero. However, that is partly because I want the opinions of current participants that I can exchange with rather than some poster from 6 months or two years ago who is long gone and whose meaning I might misconstrue. I don't have a problem with the repeating of information as new interpretations can occur and there very often are new readers/participants.</p>
<p>I'll also note for the record that when I first started FREQUENTING this College Search & Selection Forum (as contrasted with just bopping in every once in a while), I soon noticed that many of the most acrimonious threads here, on a generally well behaved forum, were those pertaining to comparisons of Ivy League and non-Ivy League colleges. Since I became one of the several volunteer members of the moderation team (I am still one of the very newest of those), I have become more aware of where flame wars start on this forum. Ivy League comparison threads have a bad record in that regard. </p>
<p>This current thread is mostly evoking disagreement with the idea of merging threads about the Ivy League :) , which I will treat as an honest and helpful expression of participant opinion. I do want to be extra sure that everyone takes care, when defending alma mater, to keep comments factual and not personal, and to define terms such as "Ivy League" so that people don't talk past one another. My review of the forum's history is part of what has motivated my tendency to merge Ivy League threads, but perhaps further experience of current events will motivate a change in that tendency. </p>
<p>Best wishes to all of you, and thanks for a civil and informative discussion about the colleges, and a civil metadiscussion about how to group or not group threads.</p>
<p>Stanford vs. Ivies is a separate discussion from Ivies vs. Non-Ivies in general.</p>
<p>Is it a discussion of elite schools in general vs. non-elites (in which case Stanford would definitely be on the side of the Ivies)? Is it a discussion of the Ivy League pedigree as opposed to other elite colleges?</p>
<p>Now that the threads have been lumped into an indecipherable mishmash, we shall never know.</p>
<p>To paraphrase someone far wiser than myself, "He who moderates best moderates least"</p>
<p>Or she.</p>