Monday's Most Active Threads

The most active thread yesterday was titled, "If you are still masking children indoors for Covid" and posted in the "Health and Medicine" forum. It has been a while since I've discussed a thread about masks so I guess it is time. The original poster says that she lives abroad but sees in pictures of her child's friends that many still wear masks indoors. In the country in which she is in now, almost nobody other than the elderly masks and she is curious why some children are still masking. Masks are one of those topics is which both the pro and anti-maskers have complete confidence in their position and each side thinks the other is completely off their rockers. As such, any thread like this is guaranteed to be a dumpster fire. The pro-mask side's attitude is reflected in the very first response which states, "Because we have common sense". Similarly, a couple of posts later an anti-masker writes, "A very sad thing that parents are making their children still do this." Neither evinces the slightest doubt or leaves any room for nuance. Happily, the same cannot be said about all of those who respond, many of whom make an effort offer detailed explanations. Some point out that the children may have or suspect that they have COVID and don't want to expose others. Other posters point out the many other communicable diseases that children many pass to each other and suggest that masks many help prevent the spread of those as well. An interesting point that was raised is that, in Europe, parents have significantly more paid sick leave and doctors and medicine are free. So, having a sick child or family member is much less of a burden. The pro-masking side is not without its prejudices against anti-maskers, but anti-maskers seem less cautious with their disparagements. As is common, many posts in this thread accuse those who favor masks of being anxious, being insane, or requiring therapy. I can understand those who believe that masks protect them feeling negatively about those they think are threatening their health, but I really struggle to understand why anti-maskers are so concerned about maskers. What harm are they presenting? While teachers in the thread seem to be generally supportive of masking, one teacher comes under fire for telling children, "It's nice to see your face" if a child comes in without a mask. This is portrayed by a pro-masker as evidence of an evil political agenda that should require the teacher to seek a different line of work. Another normal feature of such threads is posters arguing about the benefits or detriments of masks. Again, this seems to be an all or nothing issue where each side is firmly planted in thinking that their belief is right. Ultimately, this thread, like most others on the topic, devolves to nothing more than angry posters being angry. If that is your thing, you are in luck.

The second most active thread was posted in the "Off-Topic" forum. Titled, "This time it’s Louisville, KY with the shooter", the thread is about yesterday's mass shooting at a bank in Louisville, Kentucky that left five dead in addition to the shooter. Threads about mass shootings are common place and it seems like I am always writing about them. This one generated multiple threads. The first followed a frequent and increasingly annoying pattern of saying nothing more than "Thoughts and prayers". I understand that this poster is trying to make a point, but cynicism and trite cliches are really not the appropriate response to the murder of innocent people. Moreover, it is not a substantive way to start a thread. Two threads that took more serious approaches were started independently of each other in separate forums, one in the "Political Discussion" forum and this thread in the "Off-Topic" forum. There is a constant debate about which forum is most appropriate for such topics. Some see them as news events that belong in off-topic while others view them as political topics because they almost always generate political debate. I don't like having multiple threads on the same topic, especially ones that will require frequent attention to remove inappropriate posts. After the Nashville school shooting, I locked a thread in off-topic and directed posters to a thread in the political forum. This time I did the opposite. If I have to decide between two threads, I normally consider which was started first and which has the most posts. Yesterday, the off-topic thread had been started earlier and had more replies. On rare occasions I'll ignore both of those metrics in favor of a more subjective reason for choosing one thread over another. For instance, one might have a more descriptive title making it easier to identify. While this thread ended up being the one left open, it is very political and probably needs to be moved to the political forum. Some posters are under the impression that threads in the off-topic forum get more attention and that posts in the Political forum are "walled off". I don't agree with this as the political forum routinely gets more traffic than the off-topic forum. Other than the details of the shooting, this thread is pretty much like every other thread about shootings. Some posters argue for gun control, others argue for basically anything except gun control. Because this shooting, like the Nashville shooting, was in a red state, there are arguments about whether the lax gun restrictions in such states are to blame. This provoked debate about which states are most dangerous. The most notable aspect of that debate was one poster's insistance that he does not understand the concept of "per capita" and there is nothing anyone can do to enlighten him.

Next was a thread titled, "Why don’t people respect Tufts more?" and posted in the "College and University Discussion" forum. According to the original poster, Tufts University provides one of the best undergraduate educations in the country and people treat it like trash. Personally, I would dispute both aspects of that statement. "Best" is a subjective quality and certainly varies by major in any case. Moreover, in my experience, Tufts is treated as fairly as any other university. The main criticisms mentioned by those responding was its cost and its reputation for attracting rich kids who might not be the strongest students. Others pointed out that it has a strong reputation in some circles, but is almost unknown outside those circles. Some posters suggested that it suffered in comparison to other schools located in its vicinity. A comparison of Tufts to American University started on page 4 and is still going on page 8, with American normally getting the worst of it. At any rate, I am always surprised at how worked up people get about topics like this. DCUM's college forum has really attracted a very particular group of folks. When people talk about "glory days", I generally think they are referring to high school athletics. But, I get the feeling that "glory days" for these posters were their college undergrad days and the highlight of their lives remains the day they received an acceptance letter. Though, admittedly, more than one poster seems more obsessed with not receiving such a letter from their preferred school. Several posters seem unnecessarily upset by the thread and are downright angry, engaging in name-calling and other insults. There is also a lot of discussion of "yield protection" which is sort of a ritual expression routinely chanted by some posters to evoke impressions of wisdom. It's one of those responses that easily substitutes for a real answer. For instance, someone can post a multi-paragraph response full of detailed statistics, links to primary sources, personal anecdotes, and references to authoritative works and the entire post can be rebutted simply by replying "yield protection". The magical powers of the phrase are simply awesome. But, not everyone is impressed by the quality of the forum's participants. One poster claims that "Many people here are dingbats." To that, I have only one thing to say: "Yield protection".

The last thread at which I'll look today was posted in the "Jobs and Careers" forum and titled, "DS does not want to work after college graduation. WWYD?". Let me start by saying that I am not convinced this poster is completely on the up and up. I suspect, but can't prove, this might actually be the son in this story posting. I don't know that would make much of a difference to the thread and I am not sure in any case. But, taking the original post at face value, the poster's son will graduate from college next month and has an offer for a job with a 102K salary. However, the son does not want to start work immediately and, instead, wants spend a year traveling around the world. The son has about $25K savings and has done two summer internships, giving him some prior work experience. Several posters immediately suggest deferring the job offer but the original poster says the offer (as well as others he received) can't be delayed. Otherwise, posters seem divided between those who believe the son should accept the job and those who think it would be a great idea to travel. Some posters argue that life experiences gained through travel might even enhance his employment opportunities. Others point to the uncertain economy and suggest grabbing the job while it is available. Another argument is about how much say in the matter the father even has, or should have. Some posters think this is a good opportunity for the father to let go of the reins.