<p>MattSingsALot,</p>
<p>I’m glad you clarified that you are posting your own opinion. It is important to distinguish opinions from facts. Some readers are contacting me that rather than state that a certain school is number one, as just an example, it would be helpful to just let readers know why YOU liked the school and chose it over your other options. Tell it from a personal perspective of what you were looking for, what you found out and from who at the school, and why you made the choices you made. Your personal experiences and input are valued. It is more helpful to hear expressions of opinions when they come across more as opinions than hardcore information about a school, and then of course back up how those opinions were formed. It may appear as a subtle difference as we know posts are statements by an individual poster but we want to make sure that it is clear what is opinion, what is hearsay, what is factual and where that information came from, as we have readers who take statements as facts when not realizing they may be someone’s personal take on a program. I know you mean to share what you know or your opinions but be aware of how you state them and discern between facts and opinions IN the posts. If you can back up the opinions with where you obtained the information, all the better. Thanks for your contributions and your efforts to want to share what you have learned with others. </p>
<p>For readers, please remember that just because someone posts something, that doesn’t mean it is fact. Research schools for yourselves and attempt to talk to several faculty and current students to find out many takes on a school. Look at who is posting and where their perspectives are derived from. Are they a parent? A current student? An applicant? A professional in the field? And so on. </p>
<p>Some posts on CC contain facts and information, some are opinions, some are personal experiences and some are even hearsay.</p>
<p>Thanks again, Matt, for posting that your post on the CCM forum is your opinion because the original post came off as factual. Some of it WAS indeed factual and some was opinion, as you later clarified.</p>