The Parent Cafe was designed for that. The Parent Forum and every other Forum was designed for college discussion.
If someone wants just the “College” talk, go to any other Forum except this branch. 
That’s because we are in the Parent Cafe, which exists specifically for that purpose-to provide a place to talk about anything BUT college.
Isn’t there also a “high school life” and general “Cafe” that are also designed to allow non-college discussion? I think there at least used to be something like that. There’s also a boarding school forum that probably has non-college discussion from time to time.
I think part of the issue was when the site had it’s big change, it was so much harder to navigate that I defaulted to just using the most recent posts. Now that there are fewer kids posting, it seems like the majority is from the cafe or chance me.
I’m at the end of my rope though. I just posted in the Kai thread that today the blue Kai thing moved right over the post comment button on my phone. It took me to Kai instead of posting and I lost most of my response when I tried to go back.
I also can’t see the notifications properly on my iphone and now they don’t sync with my laptop. So apologies in advance if some tags or PMs me and I don’t respond for a while.
Maybe. I’ve never been on those or looked for them, but they definitely could exist.
I was referring to the seeming domination of the Cafe. Especially at a time when the quality of applicant questions is, imo, declining. No, I haven’t counted or analyzed. But we started with a talk about decline in volume and a dullness.
Personally, I dont think the answer is, “So stick to your other forum choices.” Not when looking at CC as a whole. Maybe I also see it as, “Not at my lunch table.” Eh?
@jym626 – thanks! Appears the “say it here” thread was started 13 years ago and perhaps (from the wording) curbed by a moderator before it even got started. I’d vote for a change. You know on “bag a week” we aim to clean house a bit more than every 10 years or so…cause stuff just … piles up.
I’m really confused. What are you looking for? I thought it was college talk - therefore - my suggestion to go to the multiple areas for college discussions.
A fair number of us are here (Parent Cafe) well after our kids have finished college, merely because we still enjoy the camaraderie. This is a specific place designed for “other” topics. I’m not sure anyone new finds it if they don’t first come for the college discussions, but with Google, it could happen.
But I digress. What are you looking for? College talk on the Cafe? Those of us past College years to leave and go elsewhere? I’m stymied.
I guess I’ve “cheated”. A few times, I have responded to a “say it here” post via personal message. Not sure the the poster appreciated or not, but most of the time I’ve received a nice reply.
@rhododendron I’ve done the same 
(post #138)
^^^ I totally think that is an acceptable thing to do @kjofkw . Several people messaged me after I posted about my dog passing last winter and the messages were very helpful and comforting to me.
@gouf78 - A change?? Nooo! We know what happens when they implement a change around here!! LOL!!
Maybe it’s because I barely slept last night and didn’t have coffee this morning, but I have no idea what it is you are trying to say. Maybe this will make sense to me in the morning if I don’t have another round of insomnia.
FWIW: The Prep School Admissions forum primarily discusses getting into prep schools (many are boarding) and post-matriculation life at those schools. Each year, a thread is started to discuss college apps/issues for each graduating class, but those threads are a small part of that board. Most discussions focus on the various parts of the prep school application process—SSAT, FA, interviews, LORs, ECs, tours, fit/culture, etc. The Prep School Admissions forum has three sub-forums: Chances, Parents, and Cafe to service that community. Many prep posters never migrate beyond those areas of CC. I’m always happy when I see that a familiar prep avatar has “graduated” to the main boards, often to their child’s college or here to the cafe.
And some of those from the Prep School forum become moderators and stay active after graduating college. ?
I love Parent Cafe. I agree it has gotten slow. I don’t post very often on the various threads because I don’t have enough knowledge of cooking, fashion or other interesting topics to feel confident enough to post. But I read them.
I thought the COVID threads were very interesting. I would actually read them to catch up on news topics and I enjoyed learning about the different areas of the country. I would like to see if we could have Covid discussions again, keeping politicians out of it. I think, as we move towards potential vaccines, it is an important discussion.
I’ve never even looked at the Say It Here thread, I’m obviously missing something and need to get in there ?
I feel like we have gone round and round with the admins on this issue. So many of us have articulated what it is that makes us keep coming back to CC. But CC, while admitting how important we are to CC and that they don’t want to change things, DOES change things. I’m still wondering what new and exciting features are going to be revealed. We know that declining pageviews are a concern. And it’s not just parents – it’s also students. More and more longtime posters are leaving. We’ve said what we want and what we miss. And yet there are still no answers.
I think I posted on Say It Here Thread 3x in 19 years. Private PMs were definitely appreciated. I believe I only posted once on the Bragging thread, and it was lovely to see all the Likes.
I’m in awe on how knowledgeable CCers are about food, fashion, travel, books, movies, down-sizing, redoing houses, and especially the wedding thread. I definitely miss the pandemic thread. Another thread I turn to is weather/ fire related. Personal accounts matter more than general news.
The music forum is totally quiet. There was actually a post this week.
I post sometimes but often feel like it’s talking into a void- some people get frequent replies/interactions to their posts and others… don’t. I agree there is less to read on my bookmarks, and the dance forum seems totally dead. My top five interests are:
-Books (junky fun fiction, mostly)
-Movies
-Doctor Who
-Photography (but not so much for discussion boards since I don’t like technical talk, just like to take pictures)(so I’m not counting it against my list of 5 topics- ha!)
-Things that are in my life in big ways; being a dance mom, gymnastics mom, military spouse
-Cooking/baking gluten free
Guilty. I hadn’t been on in weeks before today.
I didn’t read this whole thread but did see the post by @alh and couldn’t agree more. I feel like this site’s heyday was maybe 2010? I still like to check in, but it’s definitely changed.