Last Week's Most Active Threads

On Sundays I look at the most active threads of the past week. My habit is to skip threads that were already included in one of the daily posts and, this week, all but two of the top ten most active threads were already discussed. As a result, I am limiting today's posts to those two.

One thread that was not previously mentioned was posted in the "Off-Topic" forum and titled, "We took down our Christmas Cards today". For those with a taste for the absurd or who believe that real life has surpassed satire, this thread is for you. The original poster is so disappointed that he has only received five Christmas cards that he decided to remove them from his mantel rather than continue to suffer the humiliation caused by such a small number. Mind you, this thread was posted on December 18th, a date on which many might still be in the process of preparing cards. While I wouldn't exactly say that the original poster's lament generated a wave of sympathy, many of the initial replies were supportive in the sense that they attempted to provide explanations for the disappointing number of cards and encouragement that the original poster might still receive additional cards in coming days. Several posters explained that many people have given up on cards and chosen other ways to communicate holiday greetings. The original poster was not mollified and posted again saying how hurt he was that he no longer mattered to those who didn't send him a card. The original poster also demonstrated somewhat of a vindictive streak towards those who didn't send him cards, prompting replies to become less friendly.

One of the original poster's follow-up posts triggered memories of threads from the past and I am almost positive that this poster has posted similar threads in prior years. I particularly remember his complaints that the busiest people sent him cards while those with lots of free time — particularly old people — had not done so. I wasn't able to immediately find the earlier threads, but I have distinct memories of them. I'm not sure any other participants in the thread remembered earlier posts, but they soon caught on that this poster's interest in Christmas cards goes well beyond the norm. Replies started becoming more bizare by the minute. Demonstrating that the original poster is not the only one suffering from a strange obsession, one poster managed to work Harry and Meghan into her response. Another poster actually wrote a song about the thread.

The original poster then took things to an entirely new level by posting a lengthy response in which he divided Christmas cards into "tiers". Second tier cards are those that are hastily done, don't appear to have been given a lot of thought, and have stick-on labels. First tier cards involve carefully selected photos, personalized notes, and addresses written in calligraphy. The original poster of course only sends first tier cards and stressed that his cards "told a story" and he described the cards in detail. Many posters struggled to believe the original poster was not trolling, while others found inspiration for their fictional writing aspirations. The thread is currently at 17 pages and will probably continue to grow. Perhaps the original poster can take some solace in the fact that while he only received five Christmas cards, his thread contains over 250 posts. Sadly, none of them are addressed with calligraphy.

Going from the bizarre to the even more bizarre, the only other top ten thread that has not already been discussed was titled "Republican Congressman-elect is a total charlatan with an entirely fake résumé" and was posted in the "Political Discussion" forum. This thread is about Republican Congressman-elect George Santos, who managed to flip a seat that had previously been held by a Democrat in New York. Santos has apparently lied about almost every aspect of this biography. Santos claimed to have worked at places that have no record of him being employed there, studied at a university that does not show him to have been enrolled, claims to own large real estate holdings but has repeatedly been sued for non-payment of rent, and is not known by the person living at the address listed on Santos' voter registration. Santos claims to be gay, but was recently been married to a woman, causing at least one gay activist to exclaim that until he saw video evidence that Santos was gay, he would consider him to be straight.

The thread largely consists of posters adding to the trove of details about things Santos has misrepresented, interspersed with laments that none of this had been revealed before the election. It was later revealed that while Santos claimed to have Jewish ancestors who had fled Europe due to anti-Jewish persecution, his family appears to be entirely Catholic. There is even some dispute about whether Santos is an American citizen. It was also revealed that he is wanted on criminal charges in Brazil. While liberals piled on Santos, at least one conservative made valiant efforts to defend him, but wasn't able to come up with much beyond attempting to redirect discussion to alleged lies by Democrats. There is also some discussion about what can be done in response to Santos' lies. It appears that he may be subject to criminal investigation, but otherwise it is in the hands of the House of Representatives. Given that Republicans have a razor thin majority and have shown very little interest in the ethics of their elected officials, it could very well be that nothing happens to him.