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I see that Princeton Review has finally wised up and decided to apply some control and management to their Wild West message boards. I can't believe the amount of trash that has popped up there over the years. How do you all here at Confidential keep your discussions so civilized? Is that your job, Roger? Are you the top cop? Whatever you're doing, keep it up. This place is a breath of fresh air.

By Roger (Roger) on Sunday, December 02, 2001 - 02:13 pm: Edit

Actually, HP, we have multiple moderators to keep the boards free of spam, abusive posts, and flames. I'm glad that PR is taking this registration step, though it remains to be seen if the abusers will just set up more accounts and keep posting.

In my experience, most people adjust to forum ground rules fairly well. After a couple of edited or deleted posts, they either join in the spirit of things, or pursue their interests elsewhere.

Thanks for the kind words!

By zkt7 on Tuesday, December 11, 2001 - 05:34 am: Edit

funny, how i just recently stumbled upon the PR boards as well as here. after reading for a good 2 hours or so, im addicted and am wondering if there are any other great college discussion oriented boards of high caliber? thanks

By Roger (Roger) on Tuesday, December 11, 2001 - 01:45 pm: Edit

"Great" and "high caliber" are only applicable to the CollegeConfidential board, zkt7. (I think we need a "tongue-in-cheek" smiley!)

You might check out U.S. News for another college discussion forum.

Let us know what you think, and feel free to post any opinions or questions. We know we have lots of non-posting readers, a.k.a. "lurkers" - getting involved in the posting, though, makes it more interesting for everyone!

By zkt7 on Tuesday, December 11, 2001 - 07:51 pm: Edit

awesome, im glad there is constant moderation on this board. not alot of people, and i basically read every post last night...but, i guess i will start chatting it up here. =)

By Dadster on Thursday, December 13, 2001 - 11:06 am: Edit

Welcome to the board, zkt7, and definitely feel free to jump in. I know on some boards people don't post for fear of being ridiculed, but I haven't seen it happen here.

By burningman on Tuesday, December 18, 2001 - 09:40 am: Edit

There's a sort of college admissions discussion at NYTimes College. The discussion is a bit hard to follow, though, since it isn't broken down into categories and threads.

By Dave2K on Wednesday, December 26, 2001 - 05:44 pm: Edit

So what's the consensus on the change at PR? Has it helped the tone of discussion over there? I must admit that I don't get over there often now that this board exists.

By Dadster on Monday, January 21, 2002 - 08:21 am: Edit

Improved, yes. Eliminated harassment, no.

By Eric on Tuesday, February 05, 2002 - 08:40 pm: Edit

It may take some time, but I would guess they could eliminate problem posters there if they make an effort. Sure, posters can keep signing up for new accounts, but some may decide it's not worth the hassle.

By Dadster on Sunday, February 24, 2002 - 03:46 pm: Edit

From what I can tell, there are a few obnoxious ones over there who feel like it's worth the effort. Too bad...

By Dave Berry on Monday, February 25, 2002 - 11:19 am: Edit

I moonlight as guest moderator on TPR's parents board. The registration system has quelled a lot of nonsense both there and on the student board (where it was desperately needed).

I frequently consult with TPR's new "discussion editor" and he and I evaluate the various requests for post and thread removal that come in from the public. He issues private warnings to marginal posters and has enacted some bannings.

However, the most surprising and gratifying result I've seen is the turnaround in some previously malicious posters' behavior. Once the registration system went live, some troublemakers suddenly became reasonably positive contributors, all because they were so attached to their present PR screen-name identity. They didn't want to risk losing their moniker's cache by being banned. What price vanity?!

I guess the bottom line in this situation is that as long as we can be held at least marginally responsible for our actions, we'll sort of toe the line. Of course the PR registration issue may well represent a microcosm of the much larger national issue of government monitoring our personal activities.

I'm afraid that September 11 has put us on the slippery slope of compromised privacy. I'm thinking here about our other discussions on monitoring college students for plagiarism et al. The whole privacy realm is one that I take very seriously. Anyone ever seen the movie The Forbin Project? Hmmm...

By Northstarmom (Northstarmom) on Sunday, December 01, 2002 - 02:51 pm: Edit

I think these boards are terrific. The moderators are wonderul. I just wish the boards were publicized more so that they got more posts.

I, too, am glad that Princeton Review finally is cracking down. I never understood why they tolerated so many extremely racist posts as well as the posting of the most disgusting porn imaginable. It also seemed that the operators were too cheap to hire moderators to check the boards more frerquently.

By Roger (Roger) on Sunday, December 01, 2002 - 04:55 pm: Edit

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Northstarmom. I'd hasten to add that the quality of visitors is at least as important as the moderation, and we appreciate those posters who are so generous with their time and knowledge!

And remember, too, if you spot a "bad" post that hasn't been caught by our moderators yet, please take a second and drop a note to moderators@collegeconfidentital.com - that will help keep the boards clean and positive. Thanks!

By Hilsdad on Monday, December 02, 2002 - 10:55 am: Edit

Question to moderators re board management...
What does it mean when I see "bump" in a post?
Thanks.

By Dave Berry on Monday, December 02, 2002 - 11:25 am: Edit

It's an acronym for "Bring Up My Post," I believe, or something close to that.

By Dadster on Monday, December 02, 2002 - 08:23 pm: Edit

Hilsdad, people do that to move their discussion to the top of the list. Kind of annoying.

By anonj on Tuesday, December 03, 2002 - 07:27 am: Edit

Dadster, sometimes people (me!) do it to give their post another shot or two at getting a response. On this board a post can easily make it all the way to the bottom without another post. That almost never happens on TPR's boards, which is why I concentrate my limited time over there. There is always someone there who will "talk back".

This board seems to have moderators with a good amount of knowledge, but as is sometimes the case here, if there is no response or dialogue it is useless.

By Anon on Tuesday, December 03, 2002 - 01:17 pm: Edit

Well, you have to look at quantity in terms of quality. Just because there is an overabundance of people willing to "talk back" doesn't mean they're saying anything of value. I find the idea of people loitering on a message board all day and jumping all over each new message to be kind of creepy.

By boysmom on Tuesday, December 03, 2002 - 05:46 pm: Edit

It depends. If I want reasonable discussion, I come here. But with so few posts, I can visit every few days and miss nothing. When I need an answer (to just about any topic) I post there because I get more answers and quickly. If you overlook the few obnoxiouse people, I find it very useful. And I have to check at least twice a day, or I get hopelessly behind.

By anon on Tuesday, December 03, 2002 - 08:37 pm: Edit

General Suggestion: No matter how urgently you need an answer, all information should be verified independently. Even when citations are given, they don't always support what the poster purports.

By anonj on Tuesday, December 03, 2002 - 08:53 pm: Edit

My point is that some response is better than no response. It is a little frustrating here to keep checking...and checking...and checking, and watch your post move further and further down with no response.

Just my two cents, and it is my only complaint about this board, but it feels like a biggie.

By Dadster on Tuesday, December 03, 2002 - 09:10 pm: Edit

Good point, anon - I'm amazed at how many posters ask very specific questions like, "What's Cornell's cutoff date for...?" or "Will the Duke admissions office allow...?" These boards are great sources of information, but why not go direct to the source with that kind of question instead of trusting some random poster with your educational future?

By Richard from FL on Tuesday, December 03, 2002 - 09:28 pm: Edit

Because, chances are, someone on PR has already asked your same question before.

By Puzzled on Wednesday, December 04, 2002 - 05:20 am: Edit

anonj, do you really think that "some response is better than no response"?

By anonj on Wednesday, December 04, 2002 - 05:51 am: Edit

Sure. Let's say I want information about a certain college. I know that if I post that question in EITHER location I am merely soliciting opinions, so I know upfront I am not getting hard, cold facts but subjective takes from sources around the country. That's the point of both of these boards, and at least on the PR board I actually GET those *solicited* opinions. Otherwise why bother even asking?

By P on Wednesday, December 04, 2002 - 09:53 am: Edit

Be sure to distinguish opinion from fact. I know that sounds obvious but subtle nuances can be confusing. I remember once reading opinions on a campus when it came out that some of the raves were from people who had never even visited and instead based their compliments on what the viewbook said! No joke.

I see your point wrt opinions but it's very easy to shade opinions with inaccurate or misleading "facts".

By anonj on Wednesday, December 04, 2002 - 10:17 am: Edit

Very true, P. If people want pure facts I suggest they *never* ask a question on any forums such as these.

My point is not whether or not people can rely on information they get on any of these boards as fact, but rather that the usefulness of these boards can be defined by the level of activity on them. I only occasionally check in here, even though in many ways I find this board to be superior and more highly monitored. The few times I have initiated a post here I get very few responses, and I often have to keep trying to bump my posts. I see a lot of other posts here that get hardly any responses, as well. Not worth it when the PR board gives you the same information so much more easily, much as I wish it were different.

By P on Wednesday, December 04, 2002 - 03:15 pm: Edit

Fair enough. ;-)

By boysmom on Wednesday, December 04, 2002 - 06:52 pm: Edit

Usually the questions are not facts found easily on a college website. Or things dealing with college, but just barely. Like: what's the best airline for college blank, which dorm do you like there, what happens if your deposit is late, how many people find the exam kits helpful, did anybody get the student directory, has anybody heard a decision from a specific college, what's the difference between Physics B and C. All these are questions I have read that get answered very quickly and since enough people post, usually pretty accurately. Of course I don't take any important information learned from an annonymous poster as fact, but I have certainly had many questions answered very quickly and accurately.

I also find their system easier to use, since if I ask a question, the answer is directly beneath. If for example, I want to refer to the third post in this string, I can't. I can only add to the bottom. Also, the most recent posts are at the top, and not divided by subjects, so it's easier to see what I want to read. With this one, I have to check all the diffeent breakdowns and takes much more time to get much less information.

I do agree that the posters on this site are much more polite and the discussions are civilized,but again, if I really need an answer, I will go to that one. Just my opinion.

By anon on Wednesday, December 04, 2002 - 08:38 pm: Edit

>>has anybody heard a decision from a specific college<<

Hang around long enough and you will see that that is precisely the sort of question that is vulnerable to fraud.

A website is not the only place for direct information, as Dadster suggested. You can call the admissions office if you're really stumped. Campus newspapers make an excellent resource and many have special editions that deal with the types of questions you're asking theoretically. Another good resource for student input are personal webpages where students are available for email contact.

By Dadster on Wednesday, December 04, 2002 - 09:50 pm: Edit

Richard, I agree that someone might know the answer - I just think it's bad practice to rely on anonymous posters for that kind of info. You don't want to find out a few weeks later that the poster was thinking of Columbia's cutoff date rather than Cornell's...

By Anonymous on Thursday, December 05, 2002 - 02:15 pm: Edit

I always had the impression that they seemed to be centered more on venting (down with rankings, SATs, ED, prestige) than being a vehicle of information.

By chrisd on Thursday, December 05, 2002 - 04:39 pm: Edit

There is lots of venting on the PR board. . . .but there is so much posting, that I often find interesting info. This board may have better "quality" postings, but the "quantity" is discouraging. I've posted queries, specifically on individual schools, and over a six month period, there have been zero responses.

By anonymous on Thursday, December 05, 2002 - 06:59 pm: Edit

Separating the wheat from the chaff can be grueling!

By Roger (Roger) on Thursday, December 05, 2002 - 07:07 pm: Edit

Hi, Chrisd... We agree that our volume has room to grow - the good news is that it has been growing very rapidly, and we are seeing both more replies and better quality replies to posts. Just keep coming, and encouraging others, and we'll get there sooner!

One fundamentally different approach we are using is to have permanent school topics - this may make the "quick reply" a bit less likely, but also makes it easy to browse a range of discussions about a particular college. Our moderators will also move relevant discussions off the "Admissions" board, for example, to the individual school board to make them easier to access in the future.

Thanks for your interest!

By anonj on Friday, December 06, 2002 - 06:28 am: Edit

Roger, I was just wondering about the individual school board yesterday. Since you added the "chances" thread it seems the individual school board won't get nearly as many hits, but I know there is another angle I'm missing. Can you explain the intended purpose of the categories that overlap somewhat?

By Crossed fingers on Friday, December 06, 2002 - 09:28 am: Edit

That might be an unintentional plus, anonj; requiring people to make a small effort to find individual school threads might mean more liklihood that the posters who do find them are genuinely interested in a school and not there to gratuitously praise or attack a college.

By Calmom (Calmom) on Friday, December 06, 2002 - 07:50 pm: Edit

Anonj -
You can register on this board and choose your "favorite" topics. Then, you can use the "new messages" feature to get a list of recent posts (or posts since you last visited) for your favorites, only. Then, you see only the posts in topics you are interested in.

I used that to totally eliminate the "chances" topic from my view, as I personally am not interested in that stuff.

I don't think the topics actually overlap, because "chances" is pretty much limited to discussing likelihood of admissions, not other issues concerning a particular school.

It really isn't about how many hits a particular topic gets. The individual school topics aren't really meant to be a place for active or heated discussion; rather, that's an area where information can accumulate over time. The advantage is that some information doesn't need to be rehashed or repeated, and it is all on one page when the person needs it.

By Roger (Roger) on Friday, December 06, 2002 - 08:17 pm: Edit

Anonj, I see the "chances" board as serving a different purpose than the individual school fora. "Chances" is more ephemeral and relates to a particular student, while we hope to see some substantive discussion of the specific aspects of a college: academics, student life, etc., in the individual college fora.

I think a couple of good examples have been the Air Force Academy and Columbia University threads. In each case, there has been some good give and take about admissions, day-to-day life, and other aspects of the college. These can prove useful not only to the original posters, but to others researching that particular college.

By anonj on Friday, December 06, 2002 - 09:39 pm: Edit

Gotcha, and thanks for the explanation, Roger. From what you're saying, it seems this board might have a different strength than the PR board in the longevity of the topics and threads. Excellent point.

Calmom, do I know you by another moniker on the PR board?

By Calmom (Calmom) on Saturday, December 07, 2002 - 03:10 am: Edit

anonj - yes, you do

By anonj on Sunday, December 08, 2002 - 09:27 am: Edit

Aaargh! But you're not going to tell me who you are, are you?

By Calmom (Calmom) on Sunday, December 08, 2002 - 11:32 pm: Edit

you know. recently you posted a comment that you felt that we probably had political differences, but you thought we shared some common attitudes regarding raising our high school & college kids. remember?

but there is a lot of personal info about me posted on this board that I don't need to make obvious to certain individuals who post on the other.... which is why I choose to use a different handle here.

By anonj on Monday, December 09, 2002 - 01:51 pm: Edit

Gotcha. Don't blame you either

By Amomynous on Monday, December 09, 2002 - 01:57 pm: Edit

I personally prefer the format here particularly because you don't have to change screens to refer back to earlier messages. An unintended benefit to shorter threads is that they are easier to manage.

By Sar (Sar) on Monday, December 09, 2002 - 10:10 pm: Edit

Lots of abuse over at the Chances board atm... can registration be made mandatory? Maybe mandatory profile info too?

By Roger (Roger) on Monday, December 09, 2002 - 10:27 pm: Edit

Sar, we're definitely looking at registration as our volume has picked up and moderation has become more time consuming. In the meantime, feel free to report any abusive post to moderators@collegeconfidential.com. Thanks.

By Sar (Sar) on Monday, December 09, 2002 - 10:36 pm: Edit

I think I should let the mods pick them up, since they seem to read everything daily, anyway.
I'd probably just flood the moderators inbox. lol