The Most Active Thread over the Last Three Days

Because I didn't post over the weekend, today I'll look at the most active threads over the past three days. In the Relationship forum, regardless of the question, the answer is always "divorce". Increasingly in the College forum, no matter the question, the answer is "test optional". That was the case with the most active thread over the past three days which was titled, "Why is it so much harder to get into a top school now?" and, of course, posted in the "College and University Discussion" forum. The original poster believes that selective colleges are harder to get into these days and that there is a larger pool of qualified candidates and wants to know why. While some of the first to respond mention the availability of student loans which enable more students to pursue such colleges and the presence of international students who are full pay and, as such, financially attractive to schools, much of the discussion focuses on test optional admissions. The argument goes that due to grade inflation everyone has a high grade point average and standardized tests scores are no longer available to distinguish the top students. These means that there is a large pool of applicants with similar qualifications. Some posters go further and suggest that colleges and universities also focus on minority applicants who are less qualified, making things even more difficult for non-minority candidates. However other posters throw cold water on this suggestion by providing statistics showing that the minority acceptance rate has been stabile for some time. I just skimmed the 22 page thread and it looks like arguments about the validity of various tests dominates discussion and leads to several off-topic tangents. This thread again illustrates what I am officially dubbing "The DCUM Paradox". Families move to highly-educated, affluent areas where they target the best schools in hope that this creates a direct line to the top universities. However, come college application time, they find that they are competing with students from the same school in the same highly-educated, affluent area who all want to attend the same group of top universities. Because the top universities are not going to accept the entire senior class of the best high school in this highly-educated, affluent area, what was supposed to be a direct line is is anything but that. The family would have been better off choosing an economically depressed area with rundown schools and having the student become the high school valedictorian. Or, at least this is the impression one gets from reading threads like this. Frankly, I have no idea if the DCUM Paradox is grounded in reality or not. But repeated anecdotes in threads of this sort certainly support the idea.

The next most active thread was posted in the "Real Estate" forum and titled, "I was so close and now I’m shut out". This is another thread in what has become a classic DCUM genre of posters lamenting that while they were almost able to afford a house in the past, increased prices have now put it completely out of their reach. The original poster of this thread says that increased interest rates have combined with higher prices to lock her out of the upper middle class for the rest of her life. For the most part, this thread follows a familiar pattern. Posters respond to tell the poster to lower her expectations for the type of house she desires, to broaden the area she is searching, and to argue that there are houses in her price range and offer to provide links to examples. One added twist in this thread is an argument about what constitutes "upper middle class", especially in this area. Some posters urge the original poster to come to terms with being "regular" middle class like them. A number of posters agree that the original poster is describing things accurately and there have been enough of these threads to suggest that this is absolutely the reality for a number of folks. Much of the thread is devoted to debating what might be called the "intrinsic" value of houses versus the "market" value. For instance, one poster might argue that based on various factors, a house is not worth the price for which it is selling or has sold. Another poster will counter that a house is worth whatever someone will pay for it and currently people are paying these prices. It is also very common in threads like this one, and indeed in this one, to argue that the posters who complain that they can't afford the homes they desire are tone deaf. Here the argument goes, "you are complaining that you can't afford a $1.7 million home while the world is full of people who can only dream of the $1.3 million house that you say you can afford?" These posters argue for recalibrating expectations. On the other hand, many posters sympathize with the original poster and believe that her complaints are justified.

Third was a thread titled, "DD's friend said her food stinks" and posted in the "Elementary School-Aged Kids" forum. The original poster says that her daughter was brought to tears when her friend told her that the food she had brought to lunch was stinky. The original poster says that the family is Indian, but that she tries not to pack food that has strong smells. On the day in question, the lunch was steamed broccoli and seasoned rice. Those responding quickly identified the broccoli as the culprit, explaining that broccoli that has spent hours in a plastic container does smell bad. One of the disappointing aspects of DCUM that I wish I could change is the presence of a number of anti-Indian posters. These racist morons come out of the woodwork whenever they see an opportunity to denigrate Indians. This is never more true than when Indian food is involved. Therefore, it was no surprise to find such posters in this thread. Ultimately, I locked the thread in order to not have to repeatedly remove their posts. I have worked with Indians, have Indian friends, have been to many Indians' homes, and frequently go to Indian restaurants. I can honestly say that the smell of their food has never been an issue for me. I'll take the strongest smelling Indian food you can find over a full-blooded American's fish in the microwave any day of the week. So, I cannot relate to the critics of Indian food at all. Nevertheless, we have had entire threads devoted to the smell of curry. What is disappointing about this thread is that it didn't even involve curry, but the mere mention of "Indian" was enough to provoke the curry-haters and send them on a rampage. To be sure, other ethnic foods came under fire as well. Some of the posters in this thread must have pretty bland diets. Other posters commiserated with the original poster and offered encouragement. To her credit, the original poster seems to have pretty thick skin and brushed off the trolls effortlessly. While plenty of posts in this thread were reported, I don't think the original poster was responsible for any of the reports. She promised to stop sending broccoli and to let her daughter eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a few days with the expectation that her daughter would soon be requesting Indian food again.

The final thread at which I'll look today was posted in the "Off-Topic" forum and titled, "S. Carolina double murder". Started back in June 2021, the original poster linked to a Washington Post article about the murder of Paul Murdaugh and his mother Maggie. The thread, which is currently at 49 pages, gained new life over the weekend due to the conviction of Alex Murdaugh for the murder of his wife and son. He has been sentenced to life in prison without parole. The story of these murders, as well as three other related deaths, has become the subject of Netflix and HBO Max series and fodder for countless tabloid stories. It is interesting to see how this thread developed as the story unfolded. At least one poster, who fingered Alex Murdaugh as the culprit in the fifth message of the thread, probably should open a detective agency. At that time, most were blaming the murders on revenge for the death of Paul's girlfriend in a boating accident in which Paul was driving under the influence. As many posters pointed out at the time, and the TV series have since proven, this had all the makings of a good murder mystery. I am not sure if anyone has time to read a nearly 50-page thread. I certainly don't, but if you do this would be an interesting look at DCUM crime sleuthing. Much of the thread consists of posters' reactions to the TV series, so you may want to watch those first if you haven't already.