Tuesday's Most Active Threads

Yesterday's big event was the US midterm elections and that was reflected on DCUM by election-related threads taking the top two slots in the list of most active threads. In the top position in both numbers of replies and number of views was a thread titled, "2022 election results thread" in the "Political Discussion" forum. This thread wasn't created until after 6 pm and still managed to seize the lead in engagement for the day. The original poster of the thread desperately wanted the thread to be limited to posts about election results without additional commentary or debate. Diligent reporting of non-results specific posts kept the thread on track for a few hours, but eventually the flood gates opened and the thread was flooded by DCUM's crack political analysts. By "crack", I mean both those who are very good and those who are apparently smoking crack. Among the latter was the poster who repeatedly posted about results of Virginia races before the polls were even closed or before votes had been counted. Looking through the thread today, it is interesting to see the early pessimism of liberals turn to cautious optimism and then to outright euphoria.

Second in both number of replies and number of views and also posted in the "Political Discussion" forum was a thread titled, "The red wave rolls through Guam as Republicans pick up their first win". This thread was started around 3:30 in the afternoon just after Republicans had won the non-voting delegate position representing Guam. It reflected Republican expectations of a victorious evening with one of the first replies claiming, "Here it comes! The Red Wave is building....". Another posted that, "Guam is the precursor to what's coming later tonight is the point...", demonstrating that not only were DCUM conservatives united in their predictions, but firmly committed to the use of ellipses. A few self-described "moderate" Democrats weighed in to mimic Republican talking points, pinning the blame for a wave that hadn't materialized — and wouldn't materialize — on popular liberal policies. By the end of the thread it had turned completely to liberal posters mocking the earlier posters. As one poster put it, it wasn't a "red wave" but merely "a transient algal bloom". Many Americans long for the days when we were united across political boundaries. That group can take some solace in memories of the few hours yesterday evening when conservatives and moderate Democrats joined in mutually embracing Guam as the death knell of the political left.

A thread titled, "A plea: please stop sending your sick kids to school" was third in number of replies and fourth in number of views yesterday. The thread was originally posted in the "General Parenting Discussion" forum but I moved it to the "Schools and Education General Discussion" forum for which it is probably more appropriate. The thread, which appears to have been started by a teacher, makes a very strongly-worded appeal to parents to keep kids who are suffering an illness home from school rather than spreading their sickness to staff and other students. I didn't know about this thread until just now and haven't read it. However, I have read countless similar threads. There has always been a group of parents who are determined to send their children to school regardless of their health condition. Sadly, this group may now be even more firmly committed as a result of the pandemic making them suspicious of any health-related precautions which they consider to be unnecessary and possibly counter-productive. Resistance to keeping children home is also closely tied to the inability of many parents to get time off from work. Many parents have simply resigned themselves to the fact that their kids will be sick all winter — this at a time when we are experiencing 70 degree days in November.

Reversing the order of numbers of replies and views of the previous thread was a thread in the "Relationship Discussion (non-explicit)" forum titled, "Boundaries with newish partner- what do you think". The original poster describes being in a relationship with a guy for nearly a year and finding out, after asking him, that he had gone to dinner alone with another woman and possibly visited her apartment. She is wondering if this is proper behavior by the guy. I haven't read this thread but the first few replies include both suggestions saying that he wouldn't have admitted to the dinner if it was something about which to be concerned and responses saying that sort of disclosure is the classic behavior of a cheater. I looked at the last page and it seems that by that point opinion had solidified behind the position that the behavior was suspicious, that the original poster should be concerned, and that the guy was lying. I was struck by the thought that I would be absolutely useless if I had to provide advice in threads such as this. Admittedly, after 26 years of marriage I am out of touch with the dating scene, but since when is a year long relationship "newish"? Beyond that, as far as I can tell, replies in this this thread are supportive and constructive. DCUM's incel contingent was apparently busy celebrating the Republican victory in Guam and didn't notice the thread.