Tuesday's Most Active Threads

The most active thread yesterday was a thread in the "Political Discussion" forum about the latest indictment of former President Donald Trump. Since I've already discussed that thread, I'll go on to the next most active thread which was titled, "Etiquette re landscapers taking their lunch break on my front lawn" and posted in the "Lawn and Garden" forum. I believe that this is the first appearance of a thread from this forum in the most active list. The original poster explains that she has landscapers come weekly to mow her lawn. She is very happy with both the cost and performance of the service. However, often the crew members take lunch just before or after working on her lawn. They lounge around on the ground under a cherry tree in her front yard. They don't leave any trash or cause problems of any kind. Nevertheless, this bothers the original poster. However, she is concerned that complaining will cause problems of some sort and wants to know what others think about the situation. DCUM posters rarely are unanimous in their responses, but in this thread they are very close. Overwhelmingly, posters are appalled that the original poster is upset by this behavior. I don't think more than 2 posters sided with the original poster. The rest considered the original poster to be, at best, unfamiliar with American customs (the original poster described being an immigrant) or, at worst, being a horrible monster. Just about everyone said they would have no problem with the landscapers eating lunch in their yards in this manner. Several said that they routinely offer drinks in similar situations and some even invite workers to sit on their porches or other more comfortable seating. Given the near universal reaction, one would have thought that the original poster would quickly accept that she was wrong. But, no. Instead, the original poster rejected any post that wasn't supportive of her — at one point clearly saying that only the supportive posts were "decent". This attitude further enraged those responding who doubled down on their opinion that the original poster is a terrible person. Any attempt by the original poster to defend herself or offer additional clarification only seemed to make things worse. At the rate things are going, there is a fairly good chance that the original poster will enter the pantheon of DCUM folklore legends  beside Pinecone Mom and Lightly Fried Tuna Lady.

The next thread that I'll discuss was posted in the "Off-Topic" forum and titled, "Delta airlines serves man 11 drinks; sexual assault of mom and teen daughter follows." I started writing the previous entry early this morning and then stopped to do something else for about an hour and a half. During that time, this thread surpassed the previous one in number of responses and, hence, could be considered the more active of the two at this point. The original poster linked to an article on People.com that described a flight from JFK Airport to Athens, Greece during which a passenger became very intoxicated and began verbally and sexually harassing a mother and her teen daughter. The pair has filed a $2 million lawsuit against Delta Airlines alleging gross negligence due to refusals by Delta flight attendants to do anything about the man's behavior. Most of the responses are from posters condemning the airline and hoping that the mother and her daughter win every penny they are seeking. There is some dispute about whether law enforcement should have been involved, but this is apparently complicated due to the fight landing in a foreign country. Posters offer several ideas for how Delta personel could have handled things more appropriately. There is a brief disput about whether the girl's father was also on the flight (there is no indication that he was). At least one poster wants to hear Delta's version of events before forming an opinion but Delta has refused to comment on the incident. A few posters questioned whether the story told in the lawsuit made sense. For instance, they wondered why the mother would simply sit and let this behavior towards her daughter occur. The daughter was between the man and her mother and posters questioned why, at a minimum, the mother didn't switch places with her daughter. Other posters claimed that they would have reacted forcefully or even violently in response to the behavior described. There is also some discussion about the likelihood of an airline serving a single passenger 11 drinks. Some posters say that on recent flights a one drink limit has been observed but others say that on flights on which they have been, unlimited drinks were available.

The next most active thread was titled, "College Football--Big Ten Expansion" and posted in the "College and University Discussion" forum. There has been a rash of college-sports related topics in the college forum lately, provoking some consternation and suggestions that such threads are more appropriate for the sports forums. I have generally gone along with the original poster's preferences and not been inclined to move the threads. But, there are getting to be so many that I may rethink this. This thread was stared back on July 2 in response to an announcement that UCLA and USC have decided to leave the Pac-12 conference and join the Big Ten Conference. I am a University of Illinois alumn and grew up watching Big Ten sports. I am still not used to the fact that the University of Maryland is in the Big Ten, let alone UCLA and USC. Also, someone may went to reconsider the conference's name now that it consists of considerably more than 10 schools. The two California schools' membership will not be effective for another year, but already the conference has 14 schools, plus two affiliates. The thread really ignited yesterday and I am not completely sure why. But, it added 8 new pages which is why it is in the most active list. It looks like much of the discussion involves what additional schools might join the conference and the motivations for their joining. Several specific universities are mentioned and the pros and cons of their joining the Big Ten are discussed. In several cases, there is disagreement over whether the schools are "Big Ten worthy". There is also considerable discusion of specific teams and what the change in conferences will mean for them.

There is a tie for the final entry of this blog post so I will discuss both threads. The first was posted in the "Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)" forum and titled, "Explain ridiculously early 2023/24 start date?". This is an 11 page thread initiated by the original poster's query about why FCPS is starting this coming school year so early. School calendars are amazingly controversial in FCPS. Apparently the school system has lots of days off during the school year and either they have to start early or end very late. One poster claims that if school didn't start until after Labor Day, the school year would run until the Fourth of July. I haven't read beyond the first few posts of this thread, but I know from past threads that there will be a ton of complaints about the various days off, the dates that schools are closed, and just about every other aspect of the calendar. The thread with which this one was tied was posted in the "Soccer" forum and titled, "Women’s World Cup". The thread was started over two weeks ago but gained renewed interest yesterday. Posters seem disappointed by the performance of the US Women's National Team despite the team having two wins and no losses and advancing to the next round. There is criticism of the team in general and the play of specific players. Posters are pessimistic of the team's chances against upcoming opponent Sweden and one poster expressed doubt that the team would win another game in this tournament. There is also quite a bit of off-topic discussion dealing with women's soccer in general.