Thanks for your honesty Jon. I hope you can take a restful break and enjoy your evening. We’ll all still be here tomorrow!
@CCadmin_Jon I want to reiterate points others have made. I’m newer here, but have found it to be a great community of intelligent people. I came to learn about Athletic Recruiting, but post frequently on boarding school threads, because I know a lot about them, as well as the colleges my older kids went to etc. If I didn’t have the Parent Cafe and during the pandemic, the COVID thread, honestly I wouldn’t be here. I don’t need to learn about boarding school, or SMU, I already know about them – and I’m happy to share my knowledge. Having experienced posters absolutely furthers your goal of a site with excellent college advice!
I am afraid that because you are SO new, you may be about to make another error, of the magnitude of the last “upgrade”. There is consensus on this thread – disregard it at your peril (I do not mean to say this in a snarky tone). But seriously, the users are telling you what they want, eloquently. Listen.
Seriously, if moderators time out and ban users pretty quickly I know that posters will be circumspect. If they aren’t circumspect they will be banned, and no longer a problem. Consider putting someone in a time out if they flag more than X number of posts too btw, that may help the work load.
so - I love this site. for the most part, I love it because of the moderators and rules. I don’t always agree when threads get shut down; but I can’t stand reading some other forums and comments on news items that get vile.
I read my bookmarks, and latests posts, and financial aid posts. The original COVID post was truly very helpful; it did get long. I like the idea of splitting it up. Speaking of long - the original varsity blues posts when that first started was crazy too.
I have kids in your range (14-23) ; this site has helped with so much with figuring out college for three of them so far. I stick around because of the community when I don’t have a senior. so - I appreciate all that is here very much.
Is there a poll option on the board? Maybe that would help you get a better sense of the feelings of the greater community, both the loud and the quiet.
I haven’t seen anyone arguing for no moderation, most of us are opposed to the heavy handed. I might have read every post on the Tatin/DosChicos original thread and miss it horribly.
Were there some posters who seemed to come to pick fights and hurl insults? Yes, and they were in the minority. They succeeded in getting it shut down, and appear to be working on the other threads. I have never believed in punishing the whole group for the actions of a few. It seems pretty obvious when lines get crossed. I vote for banning/suspending the offenders, it does seem like a small handful.
I agree that moderating is a tough job, and appreciate that there are people who put the time in and do it well, especially in crazy covid time, thank you. If I wouldn’t get too much pleasure from banning and deleting certain posters, I’d volunteer myself.
Respectfully, here are my thoughts on this.
According to some here, the parent cafe basically shouldn’t exist. If we’re taking the logical extreme that this forum is about college and only college, then what is the purpose of the parent cafe? I don’t buy that there’s a place for talking about American Idol that fits into the narrow category of: “College Confidential helps you find the best education for your career goals”.
Anyone who doesn’t recognize that this is a social forum basically detached from the rest of the site hasn’t spent enough time here. There is a reason that when you go to the most active members list, you see people who post in the parents cafe - it’s because we’re the bread and butter that keeps this site alive and active year round.
Like @apprenticeprof I have been on here for half my life… quite literally. There’s really no reason for me to be on here at all now (even though I’m still technically a student as I finish up my phd) and yet here I am because this place does feel like a family to me. I left for a while after the last god-awful upgrade but came back when I was having trouble conceiving because this was the place where I knew other parents who had struggled - and where people knew me so I didn’t have to establish myself.
The COVID threads are helpful because it allows people to share their experiences from all over the country (and world) in a way that is different from more anonymous forums. I trust what people on here say more than I trust people’s observations on other sites. The other day, someone tagged me in the personal observation thread letting me know that there was a restaurant near me that was selling baskets of just fruits and veggies (because I’m having a very hard time finding them here) and the post was deleted. I don’t know who it was or what the store was because I didn’t save them, assuming I could go back and look. I’ll find it via google probably but that was incredibly helpful. Or, way back months ago, @HImom helped me find a place that was selling hand sanitizer after everything was sold out. Just examples of how the COVID thread was helping people in ways that went beyond news. (Though @doschicos posts were so helpful in summarizing the literally hundreds of stories coming out every day.)
I am usually very grateful for the moderators and all that they do. I remember the days of the CC Political Cafe where basically it was a lightly to no moderation zone. I remember things getting nasty sometimes but mostly it was self-policed. I’m not sure why we can’t go back to that for the COVID stuff and that would be my desired outcome here. Have a separate sub-group within the Cafe for those of us who want to talk about it.
Sometimes, yes, we’re going to go down the rabbit hole of back and forth debates. But once people tire of it, they just move on even if one or two people are still bickering back and forth. I personally make liberal use of the ignore button because there’s a handful of posters who are just rude to me and others whose opinion I don’t value so I ignore and move on. I encourage others to do the same rather than reporting every slight. Thanks to the ignore button, I don’t remember the last time I actually reported something unless it was spam.
Finally, anything COVID related is going to be inherently political. There is absolutely no way to make it completely apolitical. I think that’s something that we, as usually reasonable adults, can accept and either decide to participate/engage or not.
Personally, I’m only here for the COVID and my kiddo thread. And now that kiddo is here, there’s not as much to post on there. If the COVID threads all get shut down, I think I’ll probably become much less active again because those are the only draws for me.
That was a lot but these are thoughts I’ve had for a while, but haven’t had a place to get them out 
Agree about looking at people that report things at the drop of a hat. I’m guessing it’s a very small percentage of users but they probably take up too much of the time of moderators and are probably more disruptive than they need to be. Live and let live unless something seems totally offensive or crazy that cannot stand .
I do have kids currently in college and came here when they were still in HS, but really this is the only place I was coming to for Covid . I miss the @doschicos information so badly . I felt like despite the back and forth sometimes, that I got such good information there that I have not found anywhere else. I am a moderator of a college parent group and I understand the thanklessness that comes with it and the damn if you do and damn if you dont part. Maybe the idea of a subtopic of Covid for now would work. in a year or so, then it would not be as relevant. These are the only boards I follow. (and I do follow college related stuff as well)
oh and I still am following where HKim is going to end up
I think it’s hurtful to imply:
- Someone whose kids have already finished selecting college are only "wasting free time" to be here
- Longtime posters who no doubt generate views, recommendations of the site to others, and ad revenue - are somehow not very important in the "new and improved" CC
- You don't really care about feedback but were couching a presentation as a request for feedback
…
And by the way, as for your comment that it’s “not so easy for everyone” to ignore what they don’t want to read, well that’s really their problem as long as there aren’t extreme community standards being violated (IMO).
Please add me to the long, long list of people who miss the other CV thread, who believe that the value of this community lies in its access to experienced, willing advice-givers, and who almost left after the recent site downgrade. (I have been on CC for about ten years.)
I think the people posting in Parents Cafe are working for this site for free, or many of them by giving college students and their parents advice in the other parts of this forum. I would suggest that allowing popular threads to stay open with reasonable moderation (shouldn’t be insulting people, etc), is a good way to continue to attract these volunteer workers.
I have been on other message boards and to my knowledge, places where you have to actually log in not using FB or some other type of site but type in a username and password are a bygone day largely. The fact that this place still get so much traffic is amazing. And I hope it continues because it is a rich source of info. I have seen sites that had huge numbers of very active members go kaput after FB took away their traffic and the boards switched to private FB groups. One board that used to have over 60,000 members (no joke!) now has about 10 regulars posting.
I recommend considering the opinions being expressed mostly very politely here by members.
I don’t think you need to identify who is right or wrong. You certainly don’t need to follow every post, and if there’s someone who keeps reporting and whining, you don’t have to react to trivia. I don’t think I’ve reported anyone in the umpteen years I’ve been here, usually people deal with issues on their own.
If you feel like you must, just put out a generic warning out there. “Knock it off. No arguing. I’m gonna give a warning. Stop it now. No politics. Okay, I’ve deleted the last 20 posts, do you want me to keep doing that?” People generally stop bickering. It’s not necessary to follow along or micromanage. Doesn’t matter how long the thread is, every post doesn’t have to be perfect.
^If we delete some posts but not all the “not perfect” posts, then we’re accused of not being fair or showing favoritism to some posters.
I wish every user were required to moderate the site for one week. It would be eye opening for you.
Well, it would definitely be eye opening to see who’s doing the complaining. 
I just looked at my profile. I joined in July 2009. This matches being in my oldest lad’s junior year of high school (given lurking time prior to posting) and gives me over a decade of socializing here. Heck, the email listed with my account I haven’t looked at in months.
Might I add that catching up on this thread now it’s been nice knowing I’m not the only one who feels the way I do. I suppose it’s a big part of the reason I’m still here. There are many I feel are family.
The reports come from a wide group of people. The reports aren’t monopolized by a small group, I can tell you that.
I pinned the thread to the top in the Parents Cafe forums""
There are way too many threads pinned there - old ones that haven’t been posted on in months or years.
Maybe some reports just need to be ignored @MaineLonghorn . Is that possible? Thanks for all you do. I know you have a lot on your plate ( And I know that because of the community that has been built here over the years). All the best to you and your family!
I’ll be honest I rarely see anyone else moderating but @MaineLonghorn anymore. Or she is the only “vocal” moderator - maybe there are other moderators who just edit and delete without a word , don’t know. That is not a knock on Maine - just an observation.
Also I would like to make mention that many don’t just “have time on their hands” to be here - they “make time”. The parent community is FILLED with experts. People in higher education. Attorneys. Researchers. Scientists. Health Care Professionals at the highest degree. Business owners. Creative artists and musicians. Community activists. Parents who have had successful children and parents - sometimes the same ones - who have made mistakes. Parents devoting themselves so very much to the care of their elderly family members.
So many “make time” to be here. For years. What a gift of support and resource.
Thanks, @sevmom. I am so thankful for the CC community. It’s the best source of information and support I’ve found on the internet.
We ignore a lot of reports. ?
The Covid megathread was a clearinghouse of extremely useful information that I definitely cannot get anywhere else (without spending all day looking for it) PLUS I really appreciated the diversity of commentary, even if it didn’t align with my worldview.
I was addicted to the information and it provided comfort and a sense of community at a time of unprecedented stress and isolation. I would come onto CC for the Covid info and then stay to look at the more college-centric threads, sometimes posting where helpful or just reading.
So I was floored when it got shutdown.
Despite having a kid who is still deciding which college to attend and a sophomore in HS, CC lost me, for the most part, after the Covid thread was closed.
I get that moderation is a thankless job but closing the thread seemed arbitrary and extreme given how important a topic it was.
@CCadmin_Jon , thank you for starting this discussion. Regarding the mega threads, I think it may be a matter of taste. For example, I did not find the long Coronavirus threat that was shut down difficult to read, even at its most active. I don’t think the moderators should be making that kind of judgment, as different people may absorb information differently. I agree with others that shutting down that thread was a significant loss - I have not seen anything comparable anywhere else.