Tuesday's Most Active Threads

The most active thread yesterday was titled, "Southwest Airlines in a nationwide meltdown" and posted in the "Travel Discussion" forum. As the title makes clear, the thread is about the mass cancellations that affected Southwest Airlines over the past days. The thread is full of horror stories by posters who have had flights cancelled by the airline. One poster told of having their children bumped from a flight while the parents retained their seats (which they eventually gave up). A couple of posters tried to excuse the airline by blaming the weather, but as other posters were quick to point out, cancellations by other airlines were nowhere close to the level of Southwest. One poster attempted to blame the passengers themselves for choosing to travel during a busy time for airlines, again ignoring the fact that other airlines were not suffering similar difficulties. In fact, the thread appears to have attracted an inordinate number of obtuse posters who were unable or unwilling to grasp the full extent of the problems affecting Southwest, which may take a week or more to resolve. These posters essentially trolled those suffering from flight cancellations by suggesting they had some sort of superpowers that would have saved them from from similar problems. Some posters, losing hope that Southwest would come through for them, discussed alternative means of travel. In addition, there was a general discussion of why so many travellers prefer Southwest.

The second most active thread was also related to the Southwest cancelations. This one posted in the "Family Relationships" forum was titled, "Grandparents told DS to 'just stop' regarding calls and texts to help rebook flights". The original poster tells a long and convoluted story involving grandparents, cancelled flights, and her 8 year old son. The upshot is the grandparents told the original poster's son to stop contacting them about rebooked flights and the child was devastated. I only read the first page of responses and most of them sided with the grandparents, believing the child to have been out of line. I personally have a hard time believing the child acted exactly as described as many of his alleged actions seem pretty advanced for an 8 year old. For instance, how many 8 year olds are watching real time flight price changes on their tablet and updating their grandparents about those changes? At any rate, this is not the type of thread for which I have much patience. But if this is your sort of thing, go for it.

The third most active thread was titled, "in conversation with friends or strangers, my wife frequently mentions she went to Harvard" and posted in the "Relationship Discussion (non-explicit)" forum. The original poster says that his wife attended a Harvard master's program that has almost no admissions standards beyond being able to pay the tuition. While the degree has not helped her professionally, she continually mentions to people that she attended Harvard. The original poster wants to know how much this would bother others. Those who responded tended to agree with the original poster that the habit is in poor taste, but most find it fairly harmless and something to just ignore. Some posters suggested talking to her about it in private. Quite a few posters seem to know people who acted in the same manner as the original poster's wife. A couple posters criticized the original poster for his negative opinions about his wife.

The final thread at which I'll look today was posted in the "Real Estate" forum and titled, "Fairfax County under 600k". The original poster is considering moving to Fairfax and asks for recommendations for neighborhood in good school districts in which a 3 or 4 bedroom house can be purchased for under 600K. The original poster is mostly met with derision by the initial responders who think this is an impossible goal. However, other posters point to options such as townhomes or specific areas. The thread deteriorated pretty quickly into a discussion about school quality. Some posters are convinced that Fairfax County Public Schools have collapsed in absolute failure and should not be considered under any circumstances while others still hold the school system in high regard. Threads such as this often provoke weird rivalries and this time the fights are among proponents and detractors of certain schools. Arguments about school boundaries are intermixed with Zillow links to houses that might suit the original poster, giving the impression that there are two different discussions going on in parallel.