Monday's Most Active Threads

I'm going to be a bit briefer today because I am running behind and, frankly, none of the most active threads are particularly interesting to me and I am not very enthusiastic about writing about them. The most active thread, by a significant measure, was titled, "Charlotte Sena - Missing NY 9YO" and posted in the "Off-Topic" forum. This thread is, as the title says, about nine-year-old Charlotte Sena who went missing while riding her bicycle in a state park in upstate New York. When I first noticed this thread, my immediate reaction — even before seeing a picture of the victim — was that this would be another case of "missing white girl syndrome", which is what it turned out to be. I don't begrudge posters from being interested in the fate of young white girls, but I wouldn't expect a case in upstate New York to be the leading topic on our DC-focused forum. From what I understand, the girl was kidnapped and was safely rescued after police were able to trace fingerprints on a ransom note. I think it is worth considering why and how cases such as this attract so much attention while so many other cases are virtually ignored.

The second most active thread was posted in the "College and University Discussion" forum. Titled, "Can someone explain the lure of selective colleges?", the original poster says that as a state college graduate she never considered elite private colleges and her kids haven't shown an interest either. She wonders what motivates others to pursue such schools. Based on the responses I read, which were not very many, the main attraction is the student bodies. The students are considered very intelligent, wealthy, likely to have good future connections, or some combination of these factors. Somehow this thread seems to have degenerated into a dispute about the value of such universities and by the end posters were discussing plumbers and community colleges. Not sure how the thread made this transition, but I'm not interested enough to find out.

The third thread of the day was titled, "Why I have zero sympathy for all of the financial whining Americans do - avg. new car sales price over $46k". This thread has made a bit of an odyssey through the forums. It was first posted in the "Political Discussion" forum, but when a poster reported it to me, I moved it to the "Money and Finances" forum where I thought that it would be more appropriate. But, today, another poster convinced me that it actually belonged in the "Cars and Transportation" forum, so I moved it there. The original poster has gone off on an epic rant about the amount of money Americans spend on cars. He believes this is a case of "keeping up with the Joneses" and makes no financial sense. He considers car expenses to be so unjustifiable that he no longer has sympathy for complaints about other financial difficulties. In a way, this is a variation of the "avocado toast" criticism that was directed at young adults not so long ago. If you didn't spend your money in a manner that I find frivolous, goes the argument, you would be able to afford the things that you complain are beyond your means. Other posters argue that this is simply the price of cars these days and many people can't get by without a car. One poster pointed to something called the "Boots Theory" in which it is thought that spending more on a quality item which lasts longer and has lower maintenance costs is better than repeatedly buying cheaper items that don't last long. All I can say is that whoever came up with this theory never bought a BMW.

The final thread that I'll discuss today was posted in the "Relationship Discussion (non-explicit)" forum. Titled, "DH and I at odds over children", the original poster says that she and her husband had agreed that they wanted children prior to marriage. After getting married, he changed his mind. I believe I have written about a thread previously that was on exactly this same topic. Moreover, I am convinced that this poster is simply a drama-loving troll and that this scenario is unlikely to be true. The poster has started a number of threads in which she discusses her children. She also authored a new thread yesterday titled, "If you stayed married for the kids". Moreover, she seems to alternate between threads about her husband and threads about her boyfriend. Frankly, given her complaints about them, I'd hate to be either one. I guess that I will have to try to do something about this poster who seems to be creating a lot of drama, most of it probably invented.