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Monday's Most Active Threads
The topics with the most engagement yesterday included a poster who is a jerk, staying pretty, lions versus sheep, and a troll in the DCPS forum.
The most active thread yesterday was the thread about Carlee Russell who is no longer missing but about whose disappearance very little has been revealed. Since I discussed that thread yesterday, I'll move to the next most active thread which was titled, "Am I the jerk?" and posted in the "Relationship Discussion (non-explicit)" forum. Honestly, I'm not sure what to make of this thread or the original poster. I've received several reports suggesting that the original poster is a troll, but I have not observed any sock puppeting and prior threads from the poster (of which I can find very few) don't raise any red flags. Yet, the original poster is very hard to accept at face value. The thread begins with the original poster complaining that her kids have non-stop activities this summer. I assumed that she would go on to complain about the hassle of chauffeuring them around town, but it turns out that her husband does all of that. The original poster would like the kids to do fewer activities, but this has upset her husband because they enjoy the activities and the original poster is not the one karting them around in any case. The original poster believes that her opinion should matter despite the fact that her husband is doing all the work. Virtually everybody agrees that the original poster is indeed the jerk in this situation. To the extent that the original poster gets any sympathy, it is from posters who think she is suffering from stress caused by her job and taking it out on her family. Then, in what was apparently a surreal attempt to demonstrate her humanity, the original poster revealed that her husband is in recovery from alcoholism. Rather than supporting her husband's attendance of AA meetings, she complains that they are another activity to be juggled. With every response, the original poster loses more of the little sympathy others had for her and convinces even more posters that she is a troll. At some point, there is really no difference between a completely unreasonable poster and a troll and this poster has clearly reached that line. The impression that I get is that the original poster's husband may be less than perfect, but is doing everything within his ability to address his drinking problem and to parent their children. The original poster, on the other hand, is contributing very little other than criticism and complaints that her husband doesn't sufficiently consider her opinions. She appears to have considerable contempt for the man. The most sympathetic reading of this thread suggests that the original poster and her husband have a communications problem that could stand to be addressed. But frankly, I think the original poster is likely dealing with deeper issues. This is a case in which it might be better for all involved if the original poster is a troll.