Anonymous wrote:Hi-

Why is the word sky$craper blocked?

Were there vicious urban development battles on DCUM in the distant past?

Please unblock it if possible. I like to talk about architecture and travel.

Thanks.

Skyscraper was not blocked. What was blocked was "KYS" which some idiot posters have been using for "kill yourself" as a response to posts they don't like. But, that inadvertently blocked skyscraper. I've removed it so now users won't be blocked for telling each other to kill themselves.

What makes you think that is a troll?

Anonymous wrote:This thread was locked. Clearly there was a crazy troll there, but some of the posts seemed legitimate.

In terms of general policy. What is allowed and not allowed to say in DCUM? What is the threshold for accepting a negative comment? I saw several threads that label as a troll only the negative comments.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1265183.page

It is a sad reality that there are grown adults who devote a significant amount of their day posting negative comments about schools. As I said when I locked the above thread, their issues are really better suited for a therapist's office than DCUM. The problem is that these posters ruin a large number of threads. Thanks to them, there is a lot of collateral damage affecting posters whose intentions are less problematic.

Generally I am not a fan of negative comments about people, especially those who are identified by name or easily identified by context. I am especially not a fan when the same person has been criticized for the same thing hundreds of times before. Again, as I said in the other thread, it's time to move on. Several popular DC area private schools have dedicated trolls who are heavily invested in bashing them. A lot of the moderating decisions that we make are based on our history with these trolls. Moreover, there are simple logistical constraints on what we can do. There are a lot of posts each day on this website and there is a limited number of hours in a day. Sometimes, we don't have the luxury of carefully selecting only the most inappropriate of posts and have to be a bit more heavy handed. That's just the way it is and if you expect more you will be disappointed.

If you have questions about why a thread was removed, the proper forum for such a post is "Website Feedback".

The reason almost all Maret threads end up getting removed these days is that nobody seems to want to discuss Maret. Instead, every thread turns into a discussion of Whittle. There are a few posters who have obsessions that probably are better addressed in a therapist's office rather than a discussion forum. Some of these posters have literally devoted years to posting the same thing over and over again. It's time to move on.

i don't think the poster is a troll but you never know.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems like Social Security hasn’t really evolved with how much life and work have changed. The system was created in a time when most households had one income earner and people didn’t live long after retiring. Now, we have dual-income families, people living decades into retirement, and more complex financial lives — but the structure of Social Security hasn’t really kept pace.

In my mom’s case, she worked her entire life, continued paying in even after my dad passed, and didn’t fully understand how survivor benefits worked. She assumed, like many people probably do, that she’d get both her and my dad’s benefits. But she ended up only getting the higher of the two, which came as a surprise.

And I’m clearly not alone in that confusion. A recent survey found that 42% of adults don’t know how much they’ll get from Social Security, and 51% don’t understand how much of their income it will replace. That’s a pretty big gap in understanding for a program most of us pay into our entire working lives.

This isn’t to knock the system entirely — it has helped many people. But maybe it’s time to start quietly exploring some options that better reflect today’s realities. A little more flexibility or clarity might go a long way.

LOL this is the least authentic "I'm a real person, promise!" post so far - tell me more about these recent surveys you have at your fingertips while you post completely credulous "but surely it's supposed to be a family savings plan that you don't tap until you're 80 years old, right?" hypotheticals.

Totally get the skepticism . But this is my experience and perhaps i am an anomly or maybe i am not? My mom worked her whole life, kept paying in, and was caught off guard when found out she’d only get one benefit, not both hers and my dad’s.

I looked it up just to see if others were confused too turns out 42% of adults don’t know how much they’ll get from Social Security, and 51% don’t know how much of their income it will replace. That’s from a 2023 Nationwide Retirement Institute survey:
https://news.nationwide.com/082223-adults-believe-social-security-benefits-will-dry-up

So yeah, it’s not just me.

Yes this thread doesn't seem legit. First the OP seems like a completely clueless person who has never researched social security, no political agenda just genuine shock at the unfairness of her personal situation but then comes back later with a different tone and researched facts (if that's OP's style my bet is she would have known how SS works to begin with).

And i don't know if others noticed but there are other weird comments in this thread "oh my goodness i didnt know either, but now that i know i am not neutral on SS anymore. i am against it". Won't lose time going back to that post for the exact wording but i flagged it to Jeff. I think we are seeing an organized thread against SS.

This belongs to the political forum and shouldn't be hidden under false pretense and fake personal situations. Take your masks off and go advance Musk's agenda in the political forum if you dare.

OP here this is completely my situation I am helping my mom navigate Social Security and I had thought she would get both my dad's and her benefit.

OP is back pedaling here, trying to sound clueless again and not like an operative, so that the thread won't be moved to the political forum where she would be eviscerated.

Please stop the disruption of this thread with allegations about the OP. I have addressed this issue in Website Feedback. If you believe the OP is not legitimate, please skip the thread. This is essentially a version of "troll calling" that is one of my pet peeves. Please don't do it.

That is when he plans to implement new tariffs. The tariffs were initially going to be very broad, but today there is reporting that they have been considerably narrowed.

The original poster shows no indication of being a bot. Rather, the poster seems like a somewhat naive, somewhat uninformed, and somewhat right-wing, person who doesn't understand Social Security and doesn't want to learn anything about it.

I've been removing posts that have been reported. Feel free to report any additional posts that you believe are inappropriate.

That thread doesn't fit perfectly into the political forum but it won't fit any forum perfectly. Therefore, it is fine where it is.

Anonymous wrote:Sorry — why was the comment asking the person who called themselves “an insider” what they meant by that deleted?

On the current page, three other people are calling someone else an insider, and those are not deleted. Whereas this other person called *themselves* an insider, and I reposted that and asked about it, and that was deleted. Why isn’t it okay to ask them what they meant?

They said: “You’re an insider, but sure, keep lying. Fwiw, I am as well.”

I am sorry for the bother.

The poster who called herself an insider asked for her post to be deleted. I then deleted the posts that quoted it.

Also, I am almost at the end of my patience with that thread and about to send all of you off to Reddit. The constant bickering and constant reports is driving me crazy.

I think both threads were started by a longtime troll and, therefore, I have removed them.