@CC_Sorin, Telling a high school student their post sounds like they’ve read most of his writings and watched most his You Tube videos and, by the way, they sound like the “type of compelling candidate the best schools admit” is direct marketing.
Being allowed to go on other AMA threads to tell a student who got into an ivy that they found “one of the keys” to elite college admissions isn’t helpful or fair. We talk a lot about “passions” on CC and there are varying viewpoints. But CC has labeled this person an “admissions expert” (clearly defined next to his name every time he posts). If AMA threads are for students to ask questions, not for site members to discuss the finer points of admissions, then comments like those have no place there. If comments like that DO have a place there then so do the counterpoints that regular members might want to make in response.
Allowing direct marketing on your website gives it a distasteful tone. Creating two tiers of members is also distasteful. Experts have always had their own corners. They aren’t traipsing all over the rest of our threads. By naming people experts and allowing them to participate as regular members you’re adding extra weight to their opinions. That weakens the voices of everyone else. Who do you think 17-year-olds are going to listen to? Random people on the internet whose posting history isn’t available for them to see or someone the website has certified as a legitimize source? And why would the rest of us bother to compete with that?