When we logged in this morning to the Parent forum, users found that the beloved Class of 20xx threads had been moved to a new subforum - Class of 20xx Community
I’m using the term beloved because if you sort the current threads in the parents forum by replies (by clicking on the word reply at the top of the replies column) you will find that only one other thread has more than 5000 replies. In contrast, 6 of the Class of XXXX threads are in excess of 5000 replies. So there is obviously considerable interest.
I’m not complaining about the change - I understand the motivation. Where I do think that an error has been made is in the changing of the names to create uniformity. Many of these class of threads had very specific, unique names which were meaningful to the participants while all still contained the year in question.
Furthermore, with the change to the names to create uniformity, they all blur together when you go to the subforum. No longer can you quickly scan looking for the unique name.
I’d like to request that the names be returned to their previous form.
I agree with scualum. Our particular thread (2014) included “and beyond” which holds a special meaning to its members
Will also add that if I am looking for a particular post or word, “Beyond” can be a useful sorting tool in that process.
+1 for “beyond” as I have a kid sailing on that ship.
I am a regular on the 2014 thread and am unhappy with the renaming.
Firstly, The “and beyond” aspect of the college class of 2014 was something that was carefully considered at the time the thread was created. The evidence of this falls within the discussion to be found in the high school 2010 thread. Given that many of the students discussed in this thread will, in fact, be “beyond” it turns out to have been quite prophetic.
Secondly, The College Class of 2014 thread was also a deliberate breaking point from the High School Class of 2013. We carefully decided that this point in time, as we move from the parents of high school children to the parents of College adults was an appropriate time for the thread to start anew with a new name. Bringing HS class of 2010 back into the name is completely inappropriate.
Please return things to how they were.
Allow me to present the reasons behind the decision to rename the threads. First of all, here are the original names:
Before
Parents of the College Class of 2013
Parents of the HS Class of 2013/College Class of 2017
Parents of the HS class of 2015/College class of 2019
Parents of the College Class of 2014 and Beyond
The awesome Parents of the College Class of 2015 and beyond!
Parents of the College Class of 2016
Parents of the High school class of 2016
Parents of the High school class of 2017
Parents of the Class of 2017
And what we have now, without mentioning the original 2010 thread.
Parents of the High School Class of 2009/College Class of 2013
Parents of the High School Class of 2010/College Class of 2014
Parents of the High School Class of 2011/College Class of 2015
Parents of the High School Class of 2012/College Class of 2016
Parents of the High School Class of 2013/College Class of 2017
Parents of the High School Class of 2014/College Class of 2018
Parents of the High School Class of 2015/College Class of 2019
Parents of the High School Class of 2016/College Class of 2020
Parents of the High School Class of 2017/College Class of 2021
We believe that the updated names are helpful to quickly locate the threads by scanning for the year in an identical position. Please note that when making changes, we are not only looking at today’s members but also at the generations to come. Future members might not be aware of the thought process of a certain to carefully select the “beyond” term.
We also believe that not many people like to see the “furniture rearranged” and that the immediate reaction tends to be one of disenchantment. The changes to the present forum in 2005 created a lot of disappointment. After a few weeks, most members could not believe how bad the old “classic” forum looked. For a reference, click on the banner below.
We do understand that the changes will not please everyone. We’d like to request everyone’s patience and give it a try. We are more than willing to listen to your comments on this issue in the future.
I’ll just chime in to add that I also find it much easier to find my threads when the names are NOT uniform.
Couldn’t disagree more on the ability to scan a bunch of lines, all nearly identical to find the one that you want… Which fish do you remember in this photo?
[One</a> Fish Swimming In Opposite Direction To School Royalty-free Image | Getty Images | 153391673](<a href=“http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/one-fish-swimming-in-opposite-direction-to-school-royalty-free-image/153391673]One”>One Fish Swimming In Opposite Direction To School High-Res Stock Photo - Getty Images)
Seriously, I think if you go to the sub forum and scan down, including the original 2010 thread, what does the eye see? The original thread pops out. Exactly the point I am trying to make…
And, btw, it is extremely unlikely that the threads will be in numerical order as shown above. Far more likely they look like this:
Parents of the High School Class of 2011/College Class of 2015
Parents of the High School Class of 2016/College Class of 2020
Parents of the High School Class of 2009/College Class of 2013
Parents of the High School Class of 2014/College Class of 2018
Parents of the HS class of 2010 - Original
Parents of the High School Class of 2012/College Class of 2016
Parents of the High School Class of 2010/College Class of 2014
Parents of the High School Class of 2015/College Class of 2019
Parents of the High School Class of 2013/College Class of 2017
Parents of the High School Class of 2017/College Class of 2021
Part of the appeal of CC is sharing the experiences our kids go through. The posters on the College Class of 2014 have shared a lot, on CC and off CC. Many of our kids are “Beyond” the 2014 date and many of our friendships go beyond our CC relationship. “Beyond” was picked for a reason and I think it holds special meaning for the 2014 posters, current and past. I can understand the reason for the new forum, but I don’t think renaming all the threads was necessary. The new thread titles look rather boring and lack personality. Posters didn’t seem to have any difficulty finding their year threads on the busier parents forum, I think we can handle it on the smaller 20XX forum.
You forgot one! I bumped it up to the first page of the parents’ forum for you, figuring the move was inevitable.
I agree with the sentiment that renaming was not necessary.
I actually don’t mind the uniformity, but if they are going to be uniform, perhaps the positions shouldn’t move by latest post, but should remain in chronological order? As it is I scan down to see who created the thread as the easiest way to find “my” thread.
Isn’t it likely there will be many members of a high school class who will not be graduating college in exactly four years? Only 2 of the previous titles made that assumption…and the “beyonds” specifically avoided it. One title does not fit all; another vote for the self-named threads.
College is an individual journey to each kid. By renaming the threads and making the names uniform, CC seems to imply that every journey should also be uniform. One of the things I have learned from our collective experiences in the Class of 2014 and Beyond is that although we may start the journey together, some of our children’s journeys may take them BEYOND the traditional college experience.
I add my voice to the others who respectfully request that “and Beyond” be reinstated to our thread name. Renaming the threads was not only unnecessary, it also detracts from our sense of community.
Adding my support to keeping the thread names as they were. Not only do they have meaning to the group itself it also makes it easier to find.
I like the idea of having the “Class of” threads together but I agree that the individually unique names make it much easier for us to find our threads. Our HS 2011 thread intentionally ended and we started a new College class of 2015 at the point of transition following graduation back in July 2011.
Please reconsider using the original names on the new sub-forum. Thank you.
I agree that the original names should remain. The OP should retain the right to name their thread.
adding my vote for the beyond.
Although I was involved in adding this phrase to the thread title, I am not as caught up on the actual words, but the meaning behind them is very important. We have had kids from this thread graduate this year (in three years) as well as many others who will take longer. This is either from gap years, coop, transfers, and in several cases medical reasons. However the parents continue to stay with this community. I feel that changing the name does not have the same inclusiveness we had when we started the thread. Also, as I’m sure is happening in the 2013 thread, many of these kids are going to grad school, so what should we add to the title to capture that?? “and beyond” was general enough that we all feel welcome.
I also agree with someone that if the threads are going to have these similar names, keep them all in numeric order. I really don’t care who is first in the list, just make them easy to find. If you want this to be as uniform as the college forums, and have one thread to cover both HS and college years, then take away the access to create a new thread and do it yourself.
There are also other HS threads which were precursors to the current college threads which were not moved here. Look at the first note in the 2016 thread to find its predecessor, and I know even the college 2013 thread had one. The reason for many of these restarts was to encourage new members to join when the thread isn’t as intimidating at many pages and posts. You may not think that is important but just wanted to share that reasoning if you were not aware.
So several weeks ago a cc member visits that hasn’t been here in YEARS and complains about all the parent groups dominating the parents forum. On that TPTB make a sub-forum for the parents threads. Your site, your choice (not saying I disagree). What I don’t agree with, and I don’t think is okay is changing the names in the spirit of uniformity. Why is uniformity important? We are all neatly tucked into a single forum, it’s easy to find, we all know the names, and choose those names specifically. The idea that uniformity is important for future cc members…really? You think educated people that are seeking information on these forums can’t scan a list of less then a dozen threads and find the one they’re looking for?! They do it in every other forum on CC. There is no template elsewhere with the exception of college forums in alphabetical order, I’ll give you that.
Perhaps a better approach would have been to start a sticky thread at the top of the new forum asking for opinions regarding a proposed uniform name change for all the threads and allowed for input for the actual members of those threads. I already have an issue scanning for the hs 2014 thread as the tail has been added ‘college 2018’. My son’s finishing his Jr year. I haven’t made the mental leap of thinking he’s the college class of 2018 yet and won’t for some time…hs2014 is what I’m looking for. My gracious friends in college 2014 will see me posting erroneously. Good thing they are a lovely bunch and I enjoy them. Also, Avondad brings up the very good point that the hs2011/college2015 group made a very conscious decision in July of 2011 to roll over and start a new thread. Many people will not join a new thread when it is so long and they feel they can’t catch up. I’m sure the suggestion will be made within the group of hs2014 parents as many of us are from the 11/15 group. The way it appears now, we won’t have that’s ability. It’s not just the name, it’s the ability and autonomy to do things as a group that mean something as opposed to finding ourselves in a cookie cutter.
I also agree with keeping the old names, it was easier to find the thread i was looking for.
Uniformity alone is not a valid reason in my opinion.