Just a random observation. It could be due to reduced traffic on the boards.
I do believe that since the change in format, there has been a change in the community for the better.
Much less school vs school ranking showdowns and infighting. Much more supportive posts, even when the student or parent may not understand they aren’t great candidates for a school.
The hot issue forums are also more respectful, even when clearly there is a major philosophical difference.
The quality of the advice is pretty strong this year too imho.
Although it’s not perfect, the seemingly endless and debates among grads and parents along school lines and selection bias are fewer and far between.
It just seems to be more of the welcoming environment that is part of the sites credo and not as harsh on the students at an emotional time.
Maybe the college scandal cooled the arms race a bit too.
I can’t speak to any change as I haven’t been on CC long enough. Once I found it, via the Athletic Recruiting forum, I’ve become kind of addicted. I view one of my missions here as giving kids who post "I have a mediocre SAT score. It’s only in the 97th percentile " a (nice) reality check that their score is most certainly not “mediocre”. And to not compare themselves to posters who say they have perfect scores/perfect grades/a perfect life
I, too, cannot compare to previous years’ norms around here. I can’t recall what specific need brought me here, but I have learned a great deal about how other parents think. I believe that for many of us, this journey is somewhat isolating, in a way. Whatever your kid’s situation is, any parent is navigating this journey holding in a lot of confidential info. Your friends are going through the same thing, but their journey is different, by definition. And you can’t really talk frankly about much that is going on. So this was a place where I could protect my kid’s confidentiality if I need advice about a specific issue.
I haven’t seen much vitriol here, but I do see a lot of pigeon-holing which kind of drives me nuts.
One thing is for sure, CC is the best testimony to the quality of the educational system around here (as most posters are North Americans) because I am constantly impressed with the quality of the writing. There are some posters who are a real pleasure to follow simply because of the quality of the writing.
So…I guess what kept me here was knowing that there was always something to learn. What would shoo me away would be routine bullying of young people. Some here can be pretty snarky, but it is not routine. Just my 2 cents.
@privatebanker I have to agree with you, but I am on CC less than I was before the format change (who knew a promotion at work would take so much more of my time). The one thing I am sure of is that I am seeing fewer banned CC members for ToS violations in the threads that I have visited.
CC is a rare example of civility, and it took me a rough personal experience to realize the extent of it.
I started a thread about Chicago teachers’ strike here, and there was a nuanced and polite discussion.
I posted about the same topic on a well known liberal opinion website, which I kind of liked, and shared 90% of views with, and within an hour I was called a ■■■■■, Breitbart sympathizer, and finally, Adolf, just because I
I’m not a long term poster but it seems like when things do get out of hand, the conversation is closed much sooner than before. In general it is a place where people don’t seem to fly off the handle and degrade to the name calling that happens elsewhere.
^It’s such a fine line as to when to close threads. It’s kind of a thankless job. Some people are annoyed when we close threads and others think we don’t close them soon enough!
The most frustrating is when long threads are closed with little to no notice because of problem posters. Agree, it must be a fine line though. Thanks to those that try to keep things civil !
