@claremontmom I understand that the post you referred to is a little over the top but shouldn’t people do a little research before asking a question? I especially think students need to learn this skill as they head into the world. When threads get junked up with questions that can easily be googled, it makes it harder to read the replies and especially hard to see when the OP supplies more relevant information in a subsequent post.
@gettingschooled Perhaps, but my point is as you stated that the remark was “a little over the top”. Hey, even if the poster wanted to make a point of telling the other to google it, it would have been much nicer to simply tell the person that.
I once gave a snarky reply to a poster’s question “Do loans have to be repaid?”.
Often these posters who ask basic questions go on to inquire about freshman research opportunities at a particular college.
Oh my! I think I would have a hard time keeping from a snarky reply to that one! LOL! I think I would have just avoided it altogether.
Actually, IMO, “let me google that for you” would be more helpful than just telling the questioner to google it, since the respondent actually did do the work and googled it for him/her.
I do try not to be snarky in my responses because this is a stressful time for these students. But as mentioned earlier, some of these questions have been asked time and time again. It never fails to amaze me that some of these posters think that they are the very first person who thought of this particular question.
It’s hard to be kindly when replying to queries that can only be answered by a specific college, or by the student’s high school, especially when the OP continues bumping the thread.
This would have been fine if the link had simply been to the google results, but the link was to a sarcastic webpage that simulated a google search and stated “Was that so hard?”
Some threads develop a very positive vibe from the start and it somehow seems to stick. I’m thinking in particular of the “Southern LACs” thread which was very helpful this year.
While the naiveté of a 17 year old should be a moderating factor, I have no regrets about replying to entitled parents bluntly. One thread last year asked “If we buy our son a condo near campus at (out of state public flagship) will he qualify for in state tuition?” My reply was “If you can afford to buy him a condo you can afford to pay OOS tuition.”
One of the best and most helpful threads I’ve come across on CC. .
This has been an interesting thread, and it’s made me reflect on categories of posters that seem to get under my skin more than they should, like kids who “only” get into one Ivy and 5 other top 20 schools, and proceed to complain about not getting into the other HYPSM schools given their stats.
The other general category that I have trouble with is when an OP gets very rude, very quickly. There is one recent thread about why they aren’t more than 3 all-male colleges in the US that’s been noteworthy in how many groups of people (women, feminists, specific religious denominations, HBCUs, communists, UC-Berkeley) the OP insulted within just one thread before the discussion was closed. It was truly epic.
A little kindness and a few thanks from OPs for other posters who share information and insight would go a long way to making the CC experience a little more pleasant for everyone.
That thread got closed, @GnocchiB , but don’t worry, said OP has posted before and will post again.
^^^ yes @NavalTradition , it did get closed (thankfully), but I was waiting for someone with a sharper tongue and better intellect than I to give the OP what he deserves before it closed. I guess I’ll stay tuned for more posts from that one - haters gotta hate, right?
The tone of the OP’s initial post sets the vibe of the thread.
If the initial post is negative and smacks of sense of entitlement, then OP better pull on a helmet & flak jacket. I recall the epic thread by the rich girl who complained about the injustice of not getting FA bcs even rich people are needy, since her ECs were so expensive and her parents had a mortgage on a multi-million dollar house that was moldy. Not surprisingly, everyone piled on her! And the OP’s posts got increasingly self-absorbef & arrogant. The thread was a big downward spiral…
.
If the initial post is humble, then the OP generally gets lots of supportive & constructive feedback.
^ I agree that humility and maturity go a long way, as does an OP’s history of being helpful to other posters. In particular I think of this year’s threads addressed to Stargirl, a particularly gracious teen poster, in the Prep School forum.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-cafe/1749956-lets-all-send-p1.html
Where is that crazy girl’s thread?
@GMTplus7, yes that thread was priceless and the blowback about the “moldy $2,000,000 house” was exceptionally gratifying. You are exactly right that the tone of the OP can set the vibe of the thread.
@paul2751, here is the link - enjoy
“We live in one of the most expensive cities in the country. The most run down, moldy, awful houses cost 2 million MINIMUM.”
“My EC’s like tutor, fitness classes
We may make $350,000 but you will NOT see us munching on foie gras and sashimi grade fish and sporting all lululemon and prada all the time like we would if we lived in some random city in a different part of the country.”
@GnocchiB
some of the OP’s later posts in that thread were deleted, so the even more “entitled” ones are missing
@GMTplus7, I’m sorry to have missed them before they were removed. Is she the one who taught herself English through medical textbooks at age 4, or am I confusing her with another similar poster?
I especially love the geographic entitlement evident in the opening post.
^Just skimmed through that thread and I thought @mom2collegekids post #14 struck an appropriate balance between offering helpful advice and calling OP on some of the generalizations that she was making. Many of the comments were quite good, I thought. That thread was a reminder that we can’t choose our parents. Some of us are really fortunate in that respect, others less so, sadly.