Friday's Most Active Threads

The thread with the most replies and the most views yesterday was in the "Travel Discussion" forum. Titled "Separating kids and parents on flight", the thread describes the original poster's concerns about flying with three young children and possibly not being able to get seats next to each other. This was sometimes an issue for us when our boys were younger but, as it turned out, it was never a big deal. The kids had no problem sitting in another part of the plane between two strangers and, in some cases, I think they enjoyed it. While I understand that this calculus might be different for other parents, especially those with girls, I would advise the original poster to not be overly concerned. The first posters to reply, however, took a different approach by castigating the original poster for not booking tickets earlier or not wanting to pay enough to get adjoining seats. I haven't read many posts in this thread, but the ones I did read made me never want to travel with DCUM posters. Very little sympathy was spared for the original poster and some posters suggested that the original poster should not bother to fly at all if adjoining seating could not be arranged — they would neither exchange seats to allow a parent to sit next to her child nor want to sit next to an unaccompanied child. My fervent hope is that all of the nasty responders spend their next several flights seated next to crying babies. Extra points if the baby also throws up on them.

Second in number of replies and third in number of views yesterday was a thread titled, "How old are you, and what have you done that many other people haven’t? (S/O)" and posted in the "Off-Topic" forum. Many of the replies list exotic travel or activities but there are a few really unexpected revelations. The thread gives insight into the background of some of our anonymous users. DCUM posters can frequently be judgmental and that trait is evident when some posters are chastised for the achievements they listed.

A thread titled, "How do I accept the fact that most of my life will suck?" and posted in the "Relationship Discussion (non-explicit)" forum was second in number of views and third in number of replies yesterday. The original poster describes the challenging circumstances of her life which includes an autistic husband who suffers from depression and anxiety and an autistic child. She wants to stay married for the sake of the child, but believes her life will not be enjoyable. This thread is an example of what I think of as "DCUM as therapy". Posters who may not be able to or may not want to discuss their private lives in person use the anonymity of our forums to vent and unload. The original poster finds considerable support and sympathy among those who respond. Some posters reveal that they are struggling in similar circumstances with some comparing themselves to the original poster's husband. Some offer helpful advice with many suggestions for support groups and ideas that might help the original poster improve her outlook on life. This is generally a thread that shows the good side of DCUM.

A thread in the "College and University Discussion" forum titled, "WaPo: Suicidal students are pressured to withdraw from Yale" was fourth in number of views and fifth in number of replies yesterday. The original poster of this thread "gifted" an article in the Washington Post that is about Yale University's practice of advising suicidal students to withdraw from the school. I hadn't heard about the Washington Post's "gift" feature before, but apparently the newspaper allows subscribers to provide limited free access to articles. The original poster thought the article worthy of sharing because she was shocked by Yale's treatment of students with mental health issues. Many of those responding found the article difficult to read due to the environment at Yale that is described. Yale receives considerable criticism in the responses with many posters extremely disappointed in the school. The discussion in the thread expands somewhat to address the mental health of students generally rather than solely those at Yale, but most of the discussion appears to be on-topic and substantive. The gifting of the article was an interesting approach by the original poster that appears to have paid off in a serious discussion.