Wednesday's Most Active Threads

Just a reminder that I skip threads that have already been included in earlier blog posts. Yesterday, for example, the top two most active threads were the thread about the Speaker of the House vote that I described yesterday and the weight loss drugs thread from earlier this week. I won't discuss them again. The thread that followed those two sort of fell into a loophole. It was on a topic about which I recently wrote, but is a new thread. So, technically, It can be included today. Titled, "Governor Glenn Youngkin Calls for Attorney General Jason Miyares to Investigate the Leadership of Th" and posted in the "Advanced Academic Programs (AAP)" forum. The title has a typo — the school concerned is the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology or TJ — and, as I wrote last week, there is a controversy surrounding the school's notification of awards given to some TJ students. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin has now asked Virginia's Attorney General Jason Miyares to investigate the allegations. This seems like a blatant misuse of power to me and part of a worrisome trend that Youngkin and Miyares have shown toward investigating schools. Not everyone shares my opinion, of course, and a range of views are presented in the thread. But, like almost all TJ threads, this one eventually became little more than a rehashing of the oft-repeated arguments about the school's admission policy. Since that debate has been well-covered in other threads, I locked this one.

Second was a thread posted in the "Relationship Discussion (non-explicit)" forum titled, "Talk me off a ledge- other side of the world and just discovered cheating". The original poster describes being away on an international vacation with her family, including her husband, two young children, and her parents and having discovered that her husband has been involved in a three-year long affair. The original poster's husband has admitted to the affair and the poster is not sure what to do. It appears that other than a single time three years ago, the affair has exclusively involved texting. Therefore, some of those responding are more restrained in their reactions than they might have been otherwise. Still, the expected advice to get a divorce, or at least prepare for one, arrived soon enough. While the original poster is mostly concerned with finding someone in whom she can confide and surviving the remaining two days of their vacation, she firmly states that she has chosen to get a divorce. A number of those responding have been in the original poster's shoes (though I don't think they were also on vacation at the time) and she gets plenty of advice and support.

Third was a thread titled, "Meeting invite for 8am meeting sent at 9pm the night before" and posted in the "Jobs and Careers" forum. The original poster complains that she missed a meeting scheduled for 8:00 am because an email scheduling the meeting was not sent until 9 pm the night before and she hadn't checked her email. This seems like a pretty minor issue to me but it managed to generate 8 pages of replies. Many of those posting attempted provide advice about how to avoid a recurrence. Others simply offered support to the original poster. I haven't read all of the thread but it appears much of it is devoted to debates between those who observe strict work-life balances and those who are basically involved with their jobs around the clock. The second group doesn't have much sympathy for the original poster. Kind of in between those two groups are posters who are very focused on procedures and formalities and don't believe either was adequately observed in this situation. Part of the explanation for the length of the thread is that the original posters doesn't appear to want to let it drop — neither the thread nor with her employer. She repeatedly posts about discussions with her boss and is expecting some sort of admission that the meeting was handled poorly.

The final thread at which I'll look was posted in the "College and University Discussion" forum and titled, "Why is this board obsessed with prestige?". The original poster asserts that smart kids will do well at whatever school they attend so the prestige of the college or university does not matter. Responses range from the facile such as "insecurity" or "lawyer parents" to detailed refutations of the original poster's claim. I only skimmed through the thread but it appears that the discussion is fairly wide-ranging and that there are some thoughtful responses. I thought it was interesting how "prestige" is clearly in the eye of the beholder. For instance, in some responses, the University of Maryland (UMD) is used as the counter example to "prestigious" schools. Yet, for many UMD is aspirational and considered a prestigious school. The thread also devolves a bit into a related discussion of majors. Many of those posting in this forum are obsessed with "real majors" which are apparently those that lead to high-paying jobs. There is some debate about whether prestigious universities are better for "real" majors or whether a desire to attend a prestigious school is cover for not pursuing a "real" major.