Wednesday's Most Active Topics

Yesterday's most active thread in both numbers of views and numbers of replies was an election-related topic in the "Political Discussion" forum titled, "Democrats Rejoice!" The original poster credited the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision which overturned Roe v. Wade with stopping the predicted red wave of Republican wins. Furthermore, the original poster says that the Democratic performance boosts President Joe Biden's fortunes and calls on Democrats to rally behind his reelection efforts. Democrats are perennial pessimists who should probably replace their donkey mascot with a half-empty glass. There is no group more obsessed with the black lining of a silver cloud than today's Democrats, many of whom were determined to interpret the unexpectedly strong election performance of Democratic candidates as bad news. This trend is apparent in this thread which was filled with replies critical of Democrats. In addition, there is considerable attention given to the age of Biden and other Democratic leaders with many posters wanting younger candidates. There is a saying that, "You can't argue with success" but whoever came up with that expression was clearly unfamiliar with members of the Democratic Party, let alone the posters in this thread. By the end of the thread, it had degenerated to a debate over the qualifications of Hillary Clinton and an indictment of white men. The original poster should have known that asking Democrats to rejoice was a fool's errand. It's not in their DNA.

Second in both numbers of replies and numbers of views yesterday was a thread titled, "Husband is insisting I return to work - what would you ask for in return?" in the "Relationship Discussion (non-explicit)" forum. The original poster explains that she has not worked since their children were born but now her husband wants her to find employment outside the home. The original poster requests advice about what she should ask from her husband in return, such as hiring a house cleaner, expecting him to cook dinner a couple of times a week, buy groceries, etc. This thread touches on several issues that are recurrent in the relationship forum such as the split of household chores between working couples, the importance of financial independence to women, and women who "do it all". From what I can tell by looking at posts here and there throughout the thread (sorry, I'm not reading all nine pages), the thread spends a lot of time focused on the husband's assumed perception of the duties of a stay at home mom. Some posters expect that he doesn't think his wife does anything but sit on the couch eating bonbons and has no understanding of everything involved with household chores. Furthermore, they predict that he will be unwilling to undertake any of those tasks and will fail at the ones he attempts. While posters seem fairly united in believing that situation will be the reality, they are divided about whether it is something the original poster should address and resolve or something that she should just suck up and accept as her destiny as apparently many of the responders have had to do.

A thread titled, "Neighbor not taking 'no' for an answer - MLM" and posted in the "Off-Topic" forum was fourth yesterday in both number of replies and number of views. Multi-level marketing, or MLM businesses are a frequent topic for discussion that normally generates considerable negative feedback. The original poster says that her neighbor recently began participating in an MLM and is harassing the original poster to make purchases or join in MLM-related activities, something the original poster refuses to do. The original poster would like to cut off all communications with the neighbor, but her husband prefers that she find a way to maintain good relations. The original poster is, therefore, asking for ideas about how to make her neighbor accept "no" as an answer while still maintaining a good relationship. Those who responded seem to have plenty of advice about how to say "no" — be direct and succinct, don't bother with opinions about MLMs — but less helpful about how to maintain neighborhood peace. Several posters shared their experiences in similar situations.

Third in number of views and sixth in number of replies yesterday was a thread titled, "Men who steal women’s fertility" and posted in the "Relationship Discussion (non-explicit)". I imagine that many of the views were simply from posters clicking on the thread to get an explanation for the title. How does one steal another's fertility? It turns out that the "Jennifer Anniston story" has reminded the original poster of how often men stay married to a women but don't have children, only to divorce and marry another women with whom they have children. This leaves the first wife childless and too old to have children naturally. The original poster considers this to be "criminal" though she is not specific about which law has been broken. I am both unfamiliar with the "Jennifer Anniston story" or many cases of this behavior. Like many of those who responded, I was confused about why the man is considered solely to blame. Certainly women have agency and are not mere victims in this situation? However, some replies described relationships in which a women was deceived or coerced and placed in this situation against her will. Many agreed that Jennifer Aniston is not a good example of this phenomenon and does not herself claim to be a victim of such a thing. The thread also got sidetracked by discussions of women's fertility, freezing eggs, and in vitro fertilization (IVF). Some posters turned the discussion on its head by stating that true theft of fertility is forcing women to carry unwanted babies.