I’ve generally been annoyed by portal astrology discussion, but didn’t really think much of it. Earlier today, however, I joined the r/applyingtocollege Discord server, and they had an explicit ban on portal astrology. I think it would be helpful to do the same here; for instance, the Yale '27 thread has ~750 of its 900 posts talking about if certain financial aid forms are a sign, while the Georgetown thread is roughly at 100 of 150 posts discussing whether Slate is “decided.” Conversations in those threads would actually be productive that way, rather than just endless speculation.
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Here’s the Discord’s reasoning as to why, by the way:
“Any discussion about whether or not material you’ve received or a change related to your college portal means you’ve been accepted/rejected/etc. falls under “portal astrology” and is not allowed. This includes suggesting that having a button on your portal determines if you get in or not, a checklist disappearing meaning you’re rejected, or assuming financial aid emails get you into a school. This is due to these speculations being usually incorrect, and can cause the spread of misinformation, panic, and anxiety at some of the most stressful times.”
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I personally find it harmless. I also find it pointless, but that’s another thread. And there’s a dedicated UCB thread with 1600 posts that only deals with portal astrology. TBH, if they didn’t talk about that, users will not be filling the void by crowdsourcing a solution to the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture.
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I don’t understand why people who don’t want to engage in portal astrology just refrain from doing so. If anything I could see it being contained in its own thread so it’s clearly marked and avoidable to those who don’t like it.
FWIW, four out of four decisions of my daughter (a mix of positive and negative) were accurate.
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I too am in the “its a pointless but harmless” pool and liked the idea of having a separate dedicated thread just for portal astrology. This way, people who dont like it can avoid going to that thread (while other who deal results stress through harmless astrology).
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That’s a good idea, actually. It’s just annoying to see “25 new posts” and think that it’s productive discussion when it’s absolutely useless instead.
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The UCB portal astrology thread is pretty wild, but it’s not causing a problem, since it’s in its own thread. Having the separate astrology thread really improves the main thread, so my feeling is that if any admission thread starts to accumulate a lot of astrology (as described by OP on the Yale and Georgetown threads), it might be helpful to spin off an astrology thread for that school.
If you ban it, on the other hand, students will find another place to discuss it. At least here on CC there are some people who serve as a voice of reason on these threads.
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If you don’t want to see this…use the mute function and that thread won’t ever appear for you again.
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Did you intend that comment to be for another poster? I don’t have a problem with the wildness of the thread. (I have posted in it as well.)
Not meant for you…but for the readers in general. If one does not like a thread…that mute function works very well.
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Harmless but may or may not be pointless! Guess it depends.
Can help manage expectations for those that are accurate.
I’m typically not one to jump on the banwagon 
freedom of speech . like people i know are tired of being banned from just enacting their right to speech
yeah but my view on it is that it should be allowed, but that it should def be placed be on a separate sub- thread. ppl should also be warned of if the risks of it, and know that theyre JUST predictions and not to get hopes up
I personally am not bothered by it.
Here’s the thing though: While we write if off as “astrology”, those how are asking/discussing are likely anxious seniors without the benefit of our “experience”. So they are assigning factual meaning to even the slightest, accidental side-effect of some web master already pulling in updated code to be ready for the “day after”.
So “we” can actually be helpful by (dis-)qualifying whatever creative interpretation to avoid even more anxious seniors crawling up walls, checking the portal for the same clue.
Not quite sure about the “harmless” point, though.
I can see some seniors on the edge over their “dream school” getting genuine anxiety attacks because “their” portal page doesn’t show whatever little fluke someone else observed.
I have to say that I’m not a fan of the portal astrology either. It feels obsessive and unhealthy to me.
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Not at all in favor of banning posts on portal astrology. There are hundreds of these types of posts at this time every year. Clearly riveting to the many, many forum members who participate in these discussions. Very popular discussions year after year.
Perhaps separate breakout threads on portal astrology would be appropriate instead — in order to prevent clogging official decision threads?
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The UC/CSU threads have the benefit of @Gumbymom who is very efficient in moving astrology posts into a separate thread. Most college forums don’t have someone watching over them like the CA schools do.
For what it is worth, she is also good about moving waitlist discussions into a separate thread. That really helps the conversation on the primary thread stay focused.
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Over the years, at least in the Michigan thread, “portal astrology” has actually worked, many times with varying clues. “Predictions” were correct.
I file it under “can have a point and also harmless.” It’s just students acting like detectives sleuthing their outcome before the outcome date.
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Agree but on the Michigan threads it’s more detective analysis and AI configuration. They even try to analyze the code in the actual website code.
I mean… It’s Michigan… Why would we do Portal Astrology?? 
…
So portal astronomy?
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