Tuesday's Most Active Threads

Yesterday's leader in both number of replies and number of views is a real doozy. The original poster even wrote about making this list, so mission accomplished I guess. Titled, "Dr. X may not really have a doctorate?", the thread is posted in the "Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)" forum. I am not sure where to begin with this thread. To the original poster, I apologize in advance. I am sure you are a very nice person, but there is no way to summarize this thread in which you don't come off looking a bit crazy. As succinct as I can be, the original poster is bothered by the fact that a teacher at a school that her children previously attended asks to be called by the honorific "Dr." However, the original poster has researched the teacher's credentials — not only searching the state's Department of Education's licensing database, but calling the Department to confirm that the database is up-to-date — and found no evidence that the teacher has earned a doctorate. The poster feels that she should report her findings to someone but is not sure what action is most appropriate.

Most of the replies to the original poster are critical of her for giving this issue so much attention. The original poster is far from being dissuaded and repeatedly responds to the criticism with posts defending and further explaining her concern. The original poster even goes so far as to post the text of an email she has just sent to the teacher pointing out that the database does not list a doctorate. To be sure, there are those who agree that asking to be called "Dr." when is is not justified is wrong and some posters support addressing the situation. But, overwhelmingly, the thread consists of posters amazed at what they see as the insanity of the thread and predicting that the thread will be legendary for its craziness. There are repeated suggestions that the original poster is a stalker. The thread shows no sign of dying down so if you are an aficionado of train wrecks, this thread is for you.

A thread titled, "Parents in DD friend group drink a ton, I think I need to fade out" and posted in the "Tweens and Teens" forum was second in number of views and third in number of replies yesterday. The original poster, who is suffering from a severe hangover as she writes, explains that her teen daughter has had a group of friends that she has had since elementary school. The original poster and her husband are friends with the other teens' parents. Those parents enjoy parties at which they drink heavily and the original poster is not comfortable with this amount of drinking, though she apparently participated in it on Halloween. The original poster feels she might have to distance herself from the other parents due to her disinterest in heavy drinking. Moreover, the original poster doesn't want her daughter exposed to adults who are drinking heavily. The post concludes by asking how the original poster can disentangle from the group while still remaining friends. I've only skimmed this thread but I see several posters shared their experiences of being in similar situations. Others offer practical advice for dealing with the circumstances. A couple of posters who enjoy drinking express resentment for what they see as judgemental posts, but for the most part this thread is civil and substantive.

After the two threads above, there is little consistency between threads with high numbers of replies and those with high numbers of views. So, choosing the most active threads is fairly subjective. One thread that was high in both metrics was posted in the "General Parenting Discussion" forum and titled, "Teach your kids manners and while you're at it, have some yourselves!". I'll warn in advance that I may end up deleting this thread because it is somewhat of a dumpster fire and goes off the rails by the third post. The original poster is upset that many trick or treaters did not bother to say, "trick or treat" or thank the original poster. This was true even of those accompanied by their parents. My personal experience has been just the opposite and annually I am impressed with the politeness of our neighborhood children. As such, I agree with the original poster that such behavior should be expected. While some posters shared that they had similar experiences and others commiserated with the original poster, many posters criticized the original poster on various grounds. Many posters offered explanations for the children's behavior. Thanks to the second responder who blamed the behavior on the Republican Party, many posts engaged in political debate. In addition, arguments about children with special needs featured in many of the replies. The thread is just frustrating all around.

The last thread at which I'll look today was titled, "Candidate misses interview because they were walking their dog" and posted in the "Jobs and Careers" forum. The original poster describes waiting 15 minutes on a Zoom meeting for a scheduled interview with a job candidate. The original poster eventually gave up on the meeting but later received a voice mail from the candidate apologizing and explaining that they had been out walking the dog and lost track of time and asking to reschedule the interview. The original poster is not inclined to reschedule, but asks how others would respond. Many of the responses are critical of the candidate and suggest not rescheduling an interview. A few posters credit the candidate with honestly while others believe the candidate would have been better being dishonest and coming up with a better excuse. Several replies suggested that the original poster emphasize the importance of punctuality when responding while others criticized that approach since it is not the job of the original poster to lecture the candidate. A few posters questioned the original poster's own qualifications given the need to crowdsource a response. Personally, unless a second interview is a significant hardship for the original poster, I'd arrange a second interview. It would suck to miss out on an otherwise qualified candidate due to a single mishap about which the individual was honest.