DCUM Weblog

On Monday, four threads stood out above the others in number of replies. In addition, the same threads led in the number of views received, though in a slightly different order. Unfortunately, I haven't read any of the four threads and, as such, can't say anything about them.

The leader by some margin in number of replies was a thread titled, "What is a normal amount/frequency of drinking?" in the "Off-Topic" forum. Again, not having read it I can't comment on its contents. However, it managed to get 12 pages of replies in a single day. Hopefully it is interesting because I would hate to see all that writing be for nothing.

The thread with the second most number of replies is titled, "when did you tell your kids that they were conceived by IVF?". This thread was posted in the "Tweens and Teens" forum and managed 11 pages of replies during its first 24 hours. I am skeptical that there are that many parents who have had to have such a conversation so my guess is that the thread attracted a lot of posters who should probably have skipped it.

Today I'll take a look at the most active threads over the weekend. There were four threads that stood out above the rest in the number of replies they received. The topics addressed a range of subjects including stereotypes, Halloween, Lizzo, and friendship.

Posted in the "Off-Topic" forum, a thread titled, "Have you ever been stereotyped?" led in the number of replies. I briefly glanced at this thread and had to remove a couple of inappropriate posts that were reported, but otherwise don't know that much about it. As best as I can tell, just about everyone believes that they have been stereotyped in one way or another.

This time of the year always brings out a lot of Halloween-related threads and one such thread titled, "Halloween is already The Thing. We don’t need ‘Boo baskets,’ trunk or treat, other dumb stuff" was second in the number of replies received this weekend. I haven't read this thread — which was posted in the "Off-Topic" forum — at all and, therefore, can't comment on it. But, based on other Halloween-inspired threads that I have read, I am amazed that this is such a controversial holiday. In my opinion, people are seriously overthinking this.

Today I'll look back at the threads with the most engagement during the entire last week. As can be expected, several of the top threads were also daily leaders and, therefore, covered in earlier posts in this series. The two leaders in numbers of replies were the thread about the "bike lobby" and the thread about Taylor Swift. I won't go into them again but you can read earlier posts below if you are interested. The thread with the third highest number of replies during the week was titled, "What annoys you about your neighborhood?" in the "Real Estate" forum. I haven't read the thread, but it managed 15 pages of replies during the week. My lack of interest was apparently not representative of DCUM's users however because the thread led in the number of views for the week.

Not surprisingly, two Hurricane Ian threads were among the threads with the most engagement during the week. One, titled, "do you feel bad for wealthy people that buy/build houses in places like Sanibel and lose them" was posted in the "Off-Topic" forum. The second was titled, "Are We Talking about Hurricane Ian?" is in the new "Environment, Weather, and Green Living" forum. There were a number of other threads related to Ian that didn't make the top in views or replies, but the hurricane was probably the most active topic overall this week.

A couple of days ago I noted that the most active threads of the previous day both involved bicycles. One thread argued that the "bike lobby" was too powerful and a second thread applauded the increased number of cargo bikes being used around town. Another thread discussing changes to Connecticut Avenue — which involves the installation of bike lanes — has been running for several days with considerable engagement. That thread opposed the changes and, in reaction, a poster started a new thread yesterday titled, "With all this negativity about bikes and pedestrians" in which the poster asks how to support changes such as those proposed for Connnecticut Avenue. Posted in the "Metropolitan DC Local Politics", the thread largely duplicates the discussion of the other threads and involves many of the same posters. Nevertheless, the thread led in the number of replies yesterday.

Yesterday two threads stood out of the pack in terms of number of replies. The first of these titled, "Taylor Swift is awful (and her music isn't even very good)" was posted in the "Entertainment and Pop Culture" forum. This thread also led in the number of views. Anyone with even a passing familiarity with "Swifties" knew where this thread was going. Even the original poster of the thread -- who based the post on a Daily Beast article -- expected the inevitable backlash. And, came it did. The thread racked up 9 pages of replies in less than a day. A quick look over the thread suggests that the discussion didn't turn as vitriolic as one might have expected, but rather was humorous at times and serious at times. Much of the thread seems to involve a comparison of Swift to Beyonce.

The second thread was posted in the "College and University Discussion" forum. Titled, "Idaho Universities prohibited from referring or distributing birth control", the thread was only a couple posts behind the Swift thread in number of responses and may have actually led before I deleted a few inappropriate posts. This thread ties together a number of themes that have repeatedly occurred in the Colleges forum -- as well as other forums -- recently. Starting with warning about fallout from Idaho's abortion law which has been interpreted as prohibiting the universities and their health facilities from distributing birth control, the thread soon diverted into discussions of Catholic universities and abortion. There is a vocal group of posters in the College forum who rank access to women's reproductive health services near the top of factors when choosing a college or university. There is an equally vocal and active group who is convinced that priority is completely misplaced. The result when these two groups meet is a thread that leads the forum in replies.

Today we will look at two threads that led in numbers of replies and views. Both are in the "Metropolitan DC Local Politics". The first of the threads, titled "The Bike Lobby is too powerful in DC..." led both metrics. The second, titled "I'm so happy to see all the family cargo bikes in my neighborhood!" was near the top in both categories.

Obviously, these threads are related in that both focus on bicycles. But, more than that, many of the same posters are participating in both threads and posters from the "Lobby" thread explicitly viewed the "cargo bike" thread as astroturfing by the bike lobby. The "cargo bike" thread was initially focused on the benefits of electric cargo bikes and their utility in an urban environment. Eventually, the threads started to overlap and essentially duplicate each other.

Today we will look at yesterday's threads with the most engagement. Leading in both number of replies and number of views was a thread in the "Food, Cooking, and Restaurants" forum titled, "Food hacks to deal with rising food prices/inflation". As usual, I haven't read the thread but I did skim a few pages just to make sure that it hadn't turned into a huge fight about whether stay at home moms are better cooks than work out of the house moms or something along those lines. As best I can tell, the thread avoided such arguments though there does appear to be a brief foray into an accusation of sexism by a poster who is proud to describe her enviable financial situation. Be that as it may, the Food forum has proven to be a good source of cooking ideas and, for the most part, avoids the negativity that is unfortunately common in other forums.

I am going to try to continual this series of posts since I kind of have fun writing them. For Monday, I'll look at the most active threads over the weekend. Looking back at the posts over the past two days, we really see the eclectic nature of the forums.

Leading in the number of replies and second in the number of views was a thread in the "Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)" forum titled, "Our elementary school canceled Halloween". This topic which seems to appear at least once every Fall discusses the cancellation of a Halloween parade by an unnamed elementary school. While I haven't read the entire thread, a brief skim of it shows that such cancellation has both opponents and supporters. However, as often happens in such discussions, several posters seized the opportunity to make larger points. Posters with completely opposite perspectives both claim the action proves their previously held viewpoints.

Today I'm going to look at the most active threads throughout the last week, rather than just those from yesterday. I am probably getting into broken record territory with my repeated mentions of how different my personal interests are from the most active topics on DCUM. But this divergence could not be better illustrated than by the two most active topics from the past week.

The thread with the most replies during the last week was titled "Queen Elizabeth Funeral" in the "Entertainment and Pop Culture". The thread with the second most responses was "Queen of E's funeral fashion" in the "Beauty and Fashion". In terms of views rather than responses, these two topics simply swapped places. No other topic came close be either metric. Of course this interest is somewhat understandable given the tremendous press coverage the death and funeral of Queen Elizabeth II received in the US. But, as I have mentioned before, British Royal Family topics receive an unusual amount of attention on DCUM even in normal times.

In many ways I am unsuited to be the primary administrator of this forum. As is frequently pointed out, while the site is dominated by moms, I am a dad. Beyond that, I often find myself completely out of touch with the topics that are most popular on the website. Let's not get started on the British Royal Family threads that I detest or the Kane Show threads which generated more engagement than any other single topic (I had never even heard of Kane before the threads here and didn't listen to single one of his shows). Just consider yesterday's most active threads.

A thread in the "Family Relationships" forum titled, "My sister-in-law wants to borrow $9600 for emergency" completely clobbered all other threads in terms of views. The thread also led in number of responses. I believe that I removed a couple of posts from this thread that were reported, but I'm not completely sure. I do know that I haven't read the thread and have no interest in reading it. I am dumbfounded that such a topic could be so popular. There have been a rash of these "sister-in-law" related threads and most of them get reported as potential troll threads. It's possible that they are but it seems like such a strange thing to troll about.