This Weekend's Most Active Threads

Today I'll look at the most active threads over the weekend. The thread with the highest number of replies and the highest number of views was titled, "Power Outage Montogomery County" and posted in the "Off-Topic" forum. The thread was prompted by a widespread power outage in Montgomery County that was caused by a small airplane crashing into a tower carrying high voltage electrical transmission lines. The plane was suspended from the tower with a pilot and passenger onboard. I guess it says something about our users that so many used the precious remaining battery life of their phones and tablets to post on DCUM. The initial posts in the thread focused on the geographic range of the power outage and its cause. The thread followed developments as they occurred, relaying announcements by officials that power needed to be cut to the lines supported by the tower in order to allow a rescue and that cranes would need to be brought in. There was considerable anger in the thread towards the pilot who some felt shouldn't be flying in such weather and some concern about the airport's location in the midst of a heavily-developed area. As posters realized that power would not be restored for most of the night, attention turned to the status of schools and, when it was announced that public schools would be closed today, that decision took over the discussion. The decision had both supporters and detractors with rather strong feelings on both sides. Many argued that schools that didn't lose power should be allowed to reopen while others pointed out that school staff in areas without electricity would be impacted even if their schools weren't (leaving teachers with non-functioning hairdryers). The school closures prompted at least two additional threads and so much energy was devoted to arguing about the decision over night that the topic itself probably caused an electrical surge as posters busily typed their DCUM posts.

Second in both number of replies and number of views was a thread titled, "Blindsided by in-laws inviting random cousin to Thanksgiving gathering?" and posted in the "Family Relationships" forum. The original poster explains that her immediate family and parents normally gather at her in-laws' home to celebrate Thanksgiving. This year she was surprised that a cousin of her husband's also attended. More than a decade ago, the original poster's husband had legal problems and, as a result, the cousin does not like him. Moreover, according to the original poster, the cousin previously leveled unfounded accusations against her husband. The original poster took it upon herself to ask her in-laws to give her a heads-up if the cousin is invited to future events but did not receive much assurance in response. For his part, her husband thinks she went too far and that he sees such gatherings as a chance to build a relationship with the cousin. Most responses sided with the husband until the original poster clarified that her husband's legal problems were due to his taking "upskirt" photos of women, one of whom was only 17 years old at the time (the original poster says he was not aware of the girl's age). The cousin accused her husband of grooming his sister based on letters that the original poster's husband had written to her. The original poster insists that her husband's past is behind him, but these revelations prompted many posters to both attack her for marrying a sexual predator and warn that he should be considered a threat to any young family members. Posters picked apart the original poster's messages as if they were the Zapruder film, arguing over whether she had "confronted" her in-laws or merely made a request. All kinds of accusations of trolling and sock puppeting were cast about (for the record, I did not seen indications of either). Given that the original poster's husband was comfortable with his cousin being invited, I don't think it matters whether the original poster was right or wrong to address the issue with his parents. Regardless, it was unnecessary. My one surprise from the thread is that the original poster's in-laws didn't share her apprehension that inviting the cousin could lead to an uncomfortable situation for their son.

Third in both number of replies and number of views was a thread in the "College and University Discussion" forum. Titled, "Anyone truly not care where their kid goes to college? Come on in!", the poster says she is letting her daughter take the lead in choosing a college and that neither of them care about college rankings. The original poster just wants her child to be happy and asks if others feel the same. I only read a few posts in this 13 page thread, but there are clearly posters who share the original poster's view and those who have considerable concern about college choices. It seems that the various positions are closely related to how much posters believe high-ranking colleges contribute to post-college opportunities. Posters of the opinion that a high-ranking college will lead to better and higher-paying jobs take more of an interest in their children's college choice. Those who see a more limited value in such regard or prioritize happiness over salary levels, demonstrate less concern. Some posters appear to consider pursuing anything other than the most challenging college opportunity to be a sign of laziness. Others are hooked on status with one saying that you will be asked where you attended college for the rest of your life, suggesting that those who attend high-ranking schools will have more pride in their answers. Posters who share the original poster's view are happy to have their children choose less stressful options. Overall, however, I think this forum self-selects for those who desperately want their children to attend the highest-ranking school possible and, therefore, take a very strong interest in the decision. Parents who don't care about their kids' college choices are not obsessing over threads in our college forum.

The final thread at which I'll look today was titled, "Which musicians do you think are true prodigies?" and posted in the "Entertainment and Pop Culture" forum. This thread was fourth in number of replies and sixth in number of views. The original poster goes on to ask, "Who is a genius?" With such limited information, responders are left a little confused. Some posters argue that "prodigy" refers to someone with outstanding ability when young and object to those whose talents were revealed later in life. Almost everyone seems to focus on musicians who are popular in the responder's favorite musical genre with one poster only listing rappers. Most suggestions are for contemporary musicians with figures such as Mozart and Beethoven getting very few mentions. Obviously, no list of this type would be complete without Taylor Swift being on it, but surprisingly she doesn't get proposed until page 5. The Swifties must still be fighting to get concert tickets and too busy to post. There were a couple of suggestions for musicians of whom I've never heard and even after Googling them, I am not convinced they are prodigies rather than simply being very talented. One poster complained that nobody suggested "MJ" which was confusing because Michael Jackson and Mick Jagger had been proposed. Though I suppose the poster could have been referring to Mick Jones, of whom there are two that could have been, but were not, suggested. But, that's probably a bit of deep cut for the youngsters out there.