I’m guilty of reading every day but posting only once in a blue moon. I say “guilty” because I realize that’s not making a contribution. It’s been hard for me to feel motivated to post lately. But I would miss CC if it disappeared. I wouldn’t know what to do if that happened on a day’s notice - yikes.
I read the “say it here” thread religiously. Many years ago, someone said it reminded them of Spoon River Anthology - so true. I enjoy the book and movie threads; also the personal dilemma threads, especially ones about navigating issues with adult children. I also love a good vent.
Right now my top five things I want to talk about are:
Politics
Covid-19
Books
Movies/TV shows
Art
The first two are not really allowed here, the last works best if you can post pictures. A lot of the Book and Movie/TV discussion say what people liked, but not why. (I miss JHS - he wrote the best TV/Movie reviews.) So I am posting less than I have in the past. I wish I had more to contribute to college specific discussions, but my kids are pretty far past college now.
Well I’m back more often–I quit pretty much with the last “improvement” they made i n the site but now it has actually been improved. I did go over to reddit and enjoy the variety of topics and the ability to find interests. The ability to post pix is nice especially if you like photography! And home organization because you can see before and after pix (there is a specific kon marie thread).
Not much to talk about when it comes to weddings, travel, restaurants, entertainment–it’s all been on hold because of covid. Ugh. (@conmomma–I LOVE Nashville but wonder how it’s doing during covid–lots of bars and restaurants)
I like travel, entertainment, home organization, singing, photography. Unfortunately (like singswimsew) my chorus activities are severely curtailed) I like having the parent caring for parent thread–lots of good advice and support there. I always look when someone asks for advice about something. Like the “good buy” thread but haven’t bought much of anything lately.
The travel thread is just a covid reporting system these days.
I do feel like I’ve come to know some of you pretty well over the years–at one point I could tell who wrote what comment without looking at the names! I don’t mind a bit of good debate and get frustrated when a thread is apparently shut down prematurely.
If cooking and favorite dog-type threads were showing up on the Parents forum, I’d agree. But on the Parent Cafe-huh?? The whole point of the Parent Cafe is to talk about just about anything, right? So most of the threads on the Cafe are indeed non-college related.
D2 graduated in May with her JD/MBA. I confess I haven’t visited the Parents Forum (or any other college related forum) since. I strictly come to the Parent Cafe.
I miss a lot of the posters who are gone. Even the ones referred to as “mean girls.”
@mathmom – Politics and art are available on reddit. Forums on reddit run the gamut. Some are tightly moderated with very strict rules and some opened the gates to the zoo and let all the animals out. You choose what to follow.
Politic forums can get crazy but they have so many specific forums that you can find your group be it conservative, liberal, nutso,or somewhere inbetween and just ignore the rest. Sometimes I flip back and forth just for the entertainment value.
The art thread is wonderful on reddit. I’m always impressed by the talent and creativity. And it appears to be well moderated also. It’s fun to read the comments.
I like the photography thread where people ask for comments on their photos–some really good advice is given and always supportive.
@gouf78, I don’t know why I haven’t been sucked into reddit, except that I’ve avoided it because it’s so big I’m afraid I’d go down the rabbit hole and never come up. I use Instagram mostly for my art fix. I have a lot of artist friends who I know IRL who post there so I follow them. But there’s not really any discussion there. When I am retired, maybe I’ll check it out again!
I’d definitely like this site better if we could post pictures and basic politics were allowed. It’s solely folks acting mean that I don’t like. I like hearing the opinions of all as it broadens my world - not the put downs some sometimes add.
I’m not much use on the college boards any longer. My youngest graduated from college in 2018. I just have my middle son in his last year of med school now, then all “school” is done.
And, as of this year I’m not working at school, though have yet to officially retire, so maybe that will happen again in the future. We’re still figuring out our plans for when we grow up (within a year or two if all goes well).
@mathmom, that’s exactly why I’ve stayed off reddit. CC and a couple sports forums are enough. Also reading the newspaper online adds to making it look like I spend way too much time on my computer.
My kids are out of college, so I am not the target audience for CC. I continue to wander into the parent cafe nearly every day for @coralbrook’s rehabs, inside medicine, weddings, and whatever else piques my interest. Like many I followed @romanigypsyeyes through Ren’s birth and check if she has posted new pics every so often. The only things I read in the parent’s forum are the stupid reasons and college RIP threads.
@mathmom - Reddit is so forum specific that it really isn’t that big as an individual. Just join specific forums.
You can join JUST the art forum and never look at anything else if you like. You’ll have a list of “joined forums” on your profile and then you click on it (say art) to see posts No need to look or see anything else. It can be like candy though–search for whatever interests you–ghost stories, history, mystery. Just type it in and check it out.
I haven’t been on in a while. Every time I come back though it seems like the interface gets worse. What the heck is this bot and why doesn’t it go away when I tell it to?
My life revolves around 4 things right now: the baby, COVID, politics, and my dissertation. Two of these things I can’t talk about here, one no one cares about, and the other I do try to get back and update once a month or so. (I slacked this month because my university is on strike and everything is a mess related to COVID.)
I think the folks who post on CC are much more interesting and insightful than most who post on reddit (how’s that for a broad generalization). Truthfully, it’s why I read CC and not reddit. My kids are beyond the college search, so I stick to the Parent Cafe. I like political discussion, so it’s disappointing that politics is verboten on CC. IIRC there was a politics thread in the Parent Cafe a number of years ago and that CC closed it, but don’t remember why. I’m also a foodie and enjoy the cooking/recipe threads and also the fitness thread. I have received lots of great advice/info/guidance from the folks on that thread.
I mainly come to see if there is anything I may know something about (pre-vet, vet school, aerospace, state schools, agriculture, midwest or TX schools). There are times I will just quit posting on a thread when the response to what I have posted is snarky because the school I mention isn’t one of the well-loved schools, is too easy to get into, etc. Sigh.
I like to read about the college visits, dog and cat threads, book threads, grandparent thread (fist grandchild just turned 6 months) and anytime someone mentions quilting or scrapbooking). At some point I hope to be looking at the wedding thread.
Reddit has not been that helpful to me. Seems like the topics I’m most interested in have immature discussions or just aren’t very active.
I love reddit but you really have to know where and how to interact with it. There are some incredibly toxic subreddits (I’m looking at you, r/StarWars) but there are also some really helpful subs. If you venture into politics on there, the trick is to sort posts as “new” instead of hot or top. You have to get in quick if you want to interact with people.
If you need a pick-me-up, I highly recommend r/aww
@creekland my dissertation is broadly on the history of youth institutionalization, through a history of eugenics lens, in Michigan. I trace the institutionalization of young people from the mid-19th century through present. Right now, my chapters are: the founding of children’s residential institutions (as a way to “save” poor children), then as a way to seclude the “abnormal” children (“feebleminded” away from “normals”), and then as a place to house “delinquent” and “problem children.” My last chapter is on the afterlives of these institutions - mainly, how they became “haunted” attractions and what that says about our views of institutionalized young people today. (I do have a personal site that I need motivation to update if anyone ever wanted to follow my/my lab’s work.)
My kids have been out of college for several years now, but I still enjoy coming to the cafe to see what is here. I like to read about cooking, fashion, pets, movies, TV and remodeling. I did like coming here for Covid updates until that all got shutdown. I don’t have many ideas for things we can talk about, but I do try and contribute.
I’ve spent most of my CC life on the prep school forums even though it’s now been a decade since our son started that journey. I made a lot of friends there, but those sub forums are nowhere near as active as they used to be. They’ve been tapering off slowly over the past few years, losing steam with each interface change. I don’t post much there anymore as the repetition is just too tiring. I blame a lot of that on this interface’s horrible search function, though. It’s much harder to determine if your question has been answered before or search the archives for the trove of institutional wisdom and valuable information that has been shared in so much detail by those who’ve gone before.
Then, when our son chose a service academy for college, I felt robbed of the normal college parent experience and left CC for serviceacademyforums.com but quickly returned when I realized that crowd is definitely not my herd. But where to reinsert? After wandering a bit, I finally found a new home here in the cafe. For years, I’ve had the same bookmarks:
-Say it here…
-How much do You think YOU need to retire…
-The Bragging Thread (would like to be able to post more there)
-Miscellaneous Ramblings (long-running great thread on the prep forum)
-Sinner’s Alley (which I was hoping would be like Misc. Ramblings but isn’t)
So, I generally come to the cafe now to scan for updates on cooking/baking, decorating, inside medicine, movies/books/binge TV, and any new thread that piques my interest. I generally don’t scan beyond page one. I also keep an eye on the service academy sub forums in case I can answer any questions there as that area of this board does not get a lot of traction for obvious reasons.
There are many posters I miss, too, but most left the boarding school threads shortly after their students graduated, you know, like I should have. I guess others have real lives.
@romanigypsyeyes I’d actually be very interested in hearing about your dissertation, though I realize, like most dissertations it probably goes a little too much into the weeds for the average reader. What little you’ve posted about your work sounds really interesting to me.
