all 14 comments

[–]chimpfunkzFuck my Finals, I want 25c Beer 19 points20 points ago

I disagree;

On a whole, when someone posts a question like "I am debating between X and Y school" or the kind of questions where they are looking for a specific answer or a narrow question, there is always good discussion and good replies, sometimes even by professors/advisers.

On the other hand, when I see a super generic question, like the one you mentioned, are a little annoying. There wasn't a specific question, or really a question at all. He asked what was possibly the most generic question of all. And I'll be honest, that does make me a little angry; It just shows either a lack of effort into the college hunt (really, you should have a good idea or at least some idea about UIUC) or just blatant laziness.

the fail rate is very high for people who don't know how to use google or other search functions

This is the "attack" you mentioned, unless it got edited. To me, that isn't really an attack, but more of a "why didn't you use the search feature or read the sidebar."

And as for the "Incoming Freshman" page, Sure, some of the information is 2-3 years old, but some of the information doesn't change year to year. This is only a year old. And here is another. The information from those threads aren't changing radically year to year. Amazingly, some things about UIUC, such as the social scenes and whatnot. It isn't that the campus doesn't change, it's that most of the changes are very gradual, and not noticable after 1 or 2 years. I've had friends who graduated 5 years ago tell me things that still apply, things don't change drastically year to year.

tl;dr when people ask super generic questions, people don't like it because of the mentioned "freshman" page. Actual questions are answer very well.

[–]uuuc[S] 14 points15 points ago

Disclaimer: I am not supporting posts like I am choosing between these X schools, prove your worth!, which I've seen in the past.

[–]TaikongXiongmaoAlum, Linguistics 2 points3 points ago

I'd be more than happy to take new suggestions for the Incoming Freshman post. I want to point out that when that post was made, we were getting posts like that one yesterday almost every other day, and it was getting ridiculous. February is when acceptances roll out if I remember correctly.

I'm all for people asking questions, I just think you should put in some research first so you can ask specific questions. I'll gladly answer "What's it like to live in an LLC?" but not so much "What do you think about UIUC?" That question has been asked and answered before, and I know we like to think that new students mean changing attitudes, but information from a year ago? 3 years ago? Still pretty relevant. A lot of those people still go here.

Everyone is free to answer questions if they want. I'd recommend everyone help edit our wiki. It could really use more information, especially in the dorm section :)

[–]GezzySingerAlumna, Music 2 points3 points ago

Maybe we could make a sticky post or something for incoming freshman questions. It can link old threads and sidebar stuff, but also give them opportunity to ask specific questions and keep it all in one place. Would that be a way to make everyone happy? Just an idea.

[–]NegatedVoidIn California where it is warm! :P 0 points1 point ago

I'm more than happy to stick a post during the correct time of year, and I'd be super appreciative of anyone willing to work on a wiki page or the content for a post.

[–]alwaysrevelvant 0 points1 point ago

That would be awesome around now or in march. I was admitted to UIUC recently and have a multitude of questions but have been slightly afraid to ask them.

[–][deleted] ago


    [–]riboflavinstems 0 points1 point ago

    [–]Lemonpad 5 points6 points ago

    Just wanted to say thank you to you and the others who gave me really good advice on choosing between CompE and CS. As an incoming freshman, I was pleasantly surprised by the number of helpful responses!

    [–]AssassinAragornCobaaaaaaaaalt 1 point2 points ago

    I got a lot of information about UIUC through asking on this sub when I was still an incoming freshman, and although I asked some commonly asked questions, I still got answers, and people were super friendly and helped me out tons with the questions I had. It was really helpful, and I appreciated it tons. I agree with you.

    [–]curiosityshop. 4 points5 points ago

    I'd also like to see everyone support incoming freshman when they post here. They are excited about their future at UI and want a personal perspective. I've got no problem providing that when I can (it's kinda sweet to see how excited they are), and I hope that others will, too. Sometimes I think that whatever actual question the incoming freshmen post, what they really want in part is to connect with people on campus, to feel like they are included, welcomed, and almost already here with the rest of us. These posts may be as much emotionally driven as information driven. At least, I can imagine that I might do that if I were there age looking forward to such a big change, challenge, adventure.

    For subreddit participants who don't want to talk to incoming freshman, it doesn't take much to just skim the post title and skip reading the post. Maybe the moderators can add a tag or something to make that easier.

    One thing I also know from personal experience: For years after graduation, Illini are going to come across other Illini all over town, the state, the country, and the world. We are literally everywhere. I hope we will all continue to have a feeling of connection and support for one another. That begins here and now, with how we treat each other online and how we welcome new members (incoming freshman) to our community.

    [–]myhandsarebananasillini 0 points1 point ago

    Also even for the biggest college subreddit, /r/uiuc isn't super active. It's not like there are a bunch of super interesting posts getting pushed down because of people's questions.

    [–]dirty_mikeandtheboys 0 points1 point ago

    This is a great college

    [–]worthbeads 0 points1 point ago

    Why does anyone care?