Are most posters this Forum actual adults? And a follow up question...

[Anonymous]

Adult parent here. I too am often shocked at how strong some people's opinions are, whether it's a specific college, kind of college, or geographical location for a college.

Anyhow, there is often good advice here. It's usually delivered with nuance and often empathy. The black-and-white, judgmental posts are usually the ones to ignore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, OP, I recommend you get out now and don't look back. This is the bad place. Even the useful and well-intentioned posts required wading chest-deep through misinformation and muck.

Here are the things I got out of here that were valuable:

1. I was introduced to Jeff Selingo -- his book The Price You Pay for College is worth the money.

2. ?

OP here. Thank you.

Fortunately, my kid is past the college application process (though I have a second one). I found this forum through the Reddit page that was populated by mostly high school students and it was a pretty good place to start from as long as there was an awareness that these kids are mostly on the same boat of being clueless too. I ironically thought that this forum would have more real life experiences with it being populated by adults but found that the reddit pages were actually kinder and more decent.

It's very unfortunate because a lot of parents do come here from a place of not knowing and vulnerability and it's super weird to see the responses to legitimate questions be so rude and unhelpful that I did wonder if the responses were from actual adults or just teens trying to be... edgy?

[Anonymous]

At least we haven't had as many obsessive ranking threads lately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Started visiting the site to learn about a couple of schools DC was interested in. I felt that I was getting some good information until I compared what I was seeing here with other sources. Turns out that ~95 percent of the info here was false! There were a lot of people pretending to be someone and something they aren't in order to lend their views credibility (which you can't do as easily on forums with rules, like College Confidential). They were just spreading lies to damage these particular schools. But what was really demoralizing was that the people genuinely trying to help also posted stuff that used to be true but no longer was. Honestly, I like the Fiske guide, College Confidential, and Reddit plus schools' press releases better than this place simply for gathering facts. There are no facts here, just twelfth-dimensional disinformation campaigns sustained over months and even years by wounded egos.

Moderators at College Confidential are a very mixed bag and can exert a lot of influence. Censoring personal attacks is one thing (which isn’t consistently applied), but censoring courteous, fact-based posts is another and happens more than one might guess. In some ways there’s even more of a mob effect there than here, as it’s easier and more common to silence the less popular view. That might be an issue when, for example, certain big schools are being compared to certain smaller ones.

[Anonymous]

This forum seems to have gained a few trolls and definitely gained a right wing political lobbyist or two in the past few years. I had read about the political push to infiltrate listservs, interest and neighborhood groups, but it was a bit surreal to see it unfold. Also, either a kid troll or marketer or just rabid fan of neu and someone (probably a kid) who likes to rile said marketer. Definitely a bunch of HS and college kids either lurking or getting their kicks by trolling. Also, a few people who like to pronounce judgment on others' parenting for any question asked. And the competitive ranking/testing/private results obsessors.

And, the rest are parents sharing info and ideas with good days and bad days and opinions (political both ways, parenting, financial, etc). Wish it were more of this last group, but we are still out here. You just have to wade through the other stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, OP, I recommend you get out now and don't look back. This is the bad place. Even the useful and well-intentioned posts required wading chest-deep through misinformation and muck.

Here are the things I got out of here that were valuable:

1. I was introduced to Jeff Selingo -- his book The Price You Pay for College is worth the money.

2. ?

OP here. Thank you.

Fortunately, my kid is past the college application process (though I have a second one). I found this forum through the Reddit page that was populated by mostly high school students and it was a pretty good place to start from as long as there was an awareness that these kids are mostly on the same boat of being clueless too. I ironically thought that this forum would have more real life experiences with it being populated by adults but found that the reddit pages were actually kinder and more decent.

It's very unfortunate because a lot of parents do come here from a place of not knowing and vulnerability and it's super weird to see the responses to legitimate questions be so rude and unhelpful that I did wonder if the responses were from actual adults or just teens trying to be... edgy?

I see what you did here OP, 👏... I think you now realize it's a bunch of clueless day-drinking lonely housewives that didn't get into a sorority or were shunned by "frat boy bro culture", are ranking obsessed lunatics that can't envision their kids at anything less than a top twenty and split hairs over 8 vs. 15 and 15 vs. 40 with no experience or context.

This board is a cesspool of anonymous freaks that can express their pathological weird obsessions (bragging about their kids accomplishments, denigrating schools for certain personal unknown reasons, arguing because they cant in real life) in a place no one can call them on it and shun them for the weird, classless, obtuse freaks they are. Welcome to the Anonymous THUNDERDOME!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Started visiting the site to learn about a couple of schools DC was interested in. I felt that I was getting some good information until I compared what I was seeing here with other sources. Turns out that ~95 percent of the info here was false! There were a lot of people pretending to be someone and something they aren't in order to lend their views credibility (which you can't do as easily on forums with rules, like College Confidential). They were just spreading lies to damage these particular schools. But what was really demoralizing was that the people genuinely trying to help also posted stuff that used to be true but no longer was. Honestly, I like the Fiske guide, College Confidential, and Reddit plus schools' press releases better than this place simply for gathering facts. There are no facts here, just twelfth-dimensional disinformation campaigns sustained over months and even years by wounded egos.

Moderators at College Confidential are a very mixed bag and can exert a lot of influence. Censoring personal attacks is one thing (which isn’t consistently applied), but censoring courteous, fact-based posts is another and happens more than one might guess. In some ways there’s even more of a mob effect there than here, as it’s easier and more common to silence the less popular view. That might be an issue when, for example, certain big schools are being compared to certain smaller ones.

Yup. I got squelched and warned by SkiEurope. That guy is a piece of work and really doesn't deal well when he is wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This forum seems to have gained a few trolls and definitely gained a right wing political lobbyist or two in the past few years. I had read about the political push to infiltrate listservs, interest and neighborhood groups, but it was a bit surreal to see it unfold. Also, either a kid troll or marketer or just rabid fan of neu and someone (probably a kid) who likes to rile said marketer. Definitely a bunch of HS and college kids either lurking or getting their kicks by trolling. Also, a few people who like to pronounce judgment on others' parenting for any question asked. And the competitive ranking/testing/private results obsessors.

And, the rest are parents sharing info and ideas with good days and bad days and opinions (political both ways, parenting, financial, etc). Wish it were more of this last group, but we are still out here. You just have to wade through the other stuff.

I think more likely a person with a delusional or character disorder rather than a marketer. And there are people who tease him or her.

[Anonymous]

My kid got rejected by a number of schools even from a few that we thought good matches or even safeties. No hard feelings against them and moving

Some of these people are truly crazy.

[Anonymous]

OP I'm a 55 yr old adult with two high schoolers in public school.

I find that only about 1/60 of the information shared here is useful. There's a lot of opinion and conjecture, and a lot of bias. There's also trolls who I doubt have children of any age, they wade around from thread to thread attempting to challenge people and insult them.

Its really distracting at times, and never useful, though I'm sure for the troll themself it is the highlight of their day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This forum seems to have gained a few trolls and definitely gained a right wing political lobbyist or two in the past few years. I had read about the political push to infiltrate listservs, interest and neighborhood groups, but it was a bit surreal to see it unfold.Also, either a kid troll or marketer or just rabid fan of neu and someone (probably a kid) who likes to rile said marketer. Definitely a bunch of HS and college kids either lurking or getting their kicks by trolling. Also, a few people who like to pronounce judgment on others' parenting for any question asked. And the competitive ranking/testing/private results obsessors.

And, the rest are parents sharing info and ideas with good days and bad days and opinions (political both ways, parenting, financial, etc). Wish it were more of this last group, but we are still out here. You just have to wade through the other stuff.

+1 on all this and especially the bold. RW talking points, both obvious and subtle, are all over this site, on every sub-forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I found this forum to be super helpful when my oldest was applying to colleges. He just finished his first year. There are some trolls, but I think the majority of the posters provide honest feedback and insight.

+1. When my oldest was applying to colleges a few years ago, I gleaned a lot of helpful information here. I would attend college-focused sessions at his school and find that I already knew a lot of the information they were sharing, from what I'd learned here.

You just have to skip a lot of the nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I found this forum to be super helpful when my oldest was applying to colleges. He just finished his first year. There are some trolls, but I think the majority of the posters provide honest feedback and insight.

+1. When my oldest was applying to colleges a few years ago, I gleaned a lot of helpful information here. I would attend college-focused sessions at his school and find that I already knew a lot of the information they were sharing, from what I'd learned here.

You just have to skip a lot of the nonsense.

+1 I learned a lot here, and received some good advice, even though lately there seem to be more posters with agendas of various sorts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This forum seems to have gained a few trolls and definitely gained a right wing political lobbyist or two in the past few years. I had read about the political push to infiltrate listservs, interest and neighborhood groups, but it was a bit surreal to see it unfold.Also, either a kid troll or marketer or just rabid fan of neu and someone (probably a kid) who likes to rile said marketer. Definitely a bunch of HS and college kids either lurking or getting their kicks by trolling. Also, a few people who like to pronounce judgment on others' parenting for any question asked. And the competitive ranking/testing/private results obsessors.

And, the rest are parents sharing info and ideas with good days and bad days and opinions (political both ways, parenting, financial, etc). Wish it were more of this last group, but we are still out here. You just have to wade through the other stuff.

+1 on all this and especially the bold. RW talking points, both obvious and subtle, are all over this site, on every sub-forum.

Been on DCUM for 15+ years, and it has always been like this. Aholes are aholes and always have been. And while I don’t doubt a kid trolls now and then, the vast majority of the aholes are adults using anonymity to be their absolute worst selves. I stay because it’s possible to pick through the stupid/mean and occasionally find something useful or even kind. But I agree with others that it’s probably best not to bother with this place if you’re not already sucked in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This forum seems to have gained a few trolls and definitely gained a right wing political lobbyist or two in the past few years. I had read about the political push to infiltrate listservs, interest and neighborhood groups, but it was a bit surreal to see it unfold. Also, either a kid troll or marketer or just rabid fan of neu and someone (probably a kid) who likes to rile said marketer. Definitely a bunch of HS and college kids either lurking or getting their kicks by trolling. Also, a few people who like to pronounce judgment on others' parenting for any question asked. And the competitive ranking/testing/private results obsessors.

And, the rest are parents sharing info and ideas with good days and bad days and opinions (political both ways, parenting, financial, etc). Wish it were more of this last group, but we are still out here. You just have to wade through the other stuff.

You've got to be kidding me right? This place is a bastion of lefties whining about Southern schools, DeSantis and Dobbs.