Discussion point: "Results threads"

[Biceps]

Although the results thread was quite painful to look at, it was still quite encouraging.
Prior to looking at that thread I thought getting 90+ is extremely rare and only like 2 - 3 students get that score. Looking at that thread will help me for next semester because then i can set higher standards and work harder to achieve those standards.
Congratulations to everyone that achieved a high score!

That being said, the only thing that really annoys me about that thread is the bragging disguised in humbleness. Everyone can see through it and it is condescending to the other students who achieved a lower score and thought they did well.

[vox nihili]

Prior to looking at that thread I thought getting 90+ is extremely rare and only like 2 - 3 students get that score. Looking at that thread will help me for next semester because then i can set higher standards and work harder to achieve those standards.

That's the thing though, it is extremely rare.

[pi]

+1 to T-Rav, hence all the high expectations point that I made earlier. AN makes 90s seems common when they're really not common.

Just like in VCE AN makes it seems that it's "common" to get into med, biomed, law, engineering, etc. It's not common at all!

That being said, the only thing that really annoys me about that thread is the bragging disguised in humbleness. Everyone can see through it and it is condescending to the other students who achieved a lower score and thought they did well.

Yeah it's present a lot, not with everyone, but with enough people to make it annoying.

[Aaron]

Being someone that doesn't get HD's/A's very often (overall) - I find that the results are quite inspirational and encouraging for me personally to do better and strive for something more. I support the results threads staying.

Although I can see the negative point people make as well. I think the main issue as MJRomeo said is the threads leading up to the results. There is nothing worse than people worrying or saying 'damn i'm not going to get 90+'.. or even come results day when people complain about not achieving their ideal score but still getting a HD/A. That's the issue in my opinion.

I have nothing but praise for those students who achieve consistent high results, and believe they deserve to be congratulated and should be able to post with pride.

[nubs]

The results thread this time last year came as an incredible source of inspiration for me - just being able to see what some people were capable of. I would not have thought it possible if it weren't for such a high amount of 90+s being achieved by so many people.

It made me clean up my act and motivated me to the point where I went from getting an average of 73 one semester to 92 in the next. If it weren't for the results thread that would not have happened.

[Starlight]

I am in support for the results thread (for many of the reasons previously mentioned which aren't in need of being repeated).
However, I think some tweaking should be made to the system. There seems to be more reasons to just post a letter grade (e.g. H1) than the numerical one, as it minimizes:

-The issue of people with minimal contributions to AN that post once in a blue moon just to add their uni results.
-People believing that 95+ scores are common
-People losing confidence if they receive a score of something like H2B (which is still a great score) and then they see a poster on AN upset about their score of 90+
-The omg i'm going to fail posts but then receiving a 90+ score (as Pi previously mentioned though this can go either way, some people may feel as though they are genuinely going to fail or receive a low pass score and are really posting these kinds of posts because they are simply in need of support e.g. a message that gives them some reassurance and that boost they need for exams)

In terms of GPA calculations, afaik a H1 is a H1 regardless of whether you receive 80 or 100. I don't see why it should be any different on AN.

[brenden]

I like El's compromise despite forseeing some obvious and relevant objections. 

[Ballerina]

This thread may unfortunately continue for far longer than the results thread will. I'll take Russ' suggestion to opt out. Which is very easy.

Alondouek always has solid contentions.

[Biceps]

It is definitely a good idea. Enforcing these rules is going to be quite tedious though imo.

[pi]

Sure they may be inspirational to some, but as aforementioned it seems to be doing a fair bit of negative too. You can't simply expect people to opt out of a thread "that they may" get stressed out by, as xenial said it's an unrealistic expectation.

I'm interested to know why you need a "thread" for this as opposed to just commenting on your profile? Those who want to seek the inspiration can take a look, more like an opt-in system. You can also score that ego boost as people can comment too. An additional advantage is that it doesn't clog up the forum for all the users who actually don't care, as some of these threads go on for weeks. Sounds like a win-win to me.

[thushan]

Sure they may be inspirational to some, but as aforementioned it seems to be doing a fair bit of negative too. You can't simply expect people to opt out of a thread "that they may" get stressed out by, as xenial said it's an unrealistic expectation.

I'm interested to know why you need a "thread" for this as opposed to just commenting on your profile? Those who want to seek the inspiration can take a look, more like an opt-in system. You can also score that ego boost as people can comment too. An additional advantage is that it doesn't clog up the forum for all the users who actually don't care, as some of these threads go on for weeks. Sounds like a win-win to me.

Best compromise IMO.

[ninwa]

To those suggesting removal of all results discussion from the forums - how do you propose we actually enforce this? Again, I'm certainly not going to be tracking every single thread and I'm pretty sure all of the mods have better things to do too.

[ninwa]

Also (and I just want to re-emphasise that I'm theoretically totally on your side because the ego-stroking on AN is out of control sometimes), but I really don't want to start a trend whereby we ban anything that can hurt anybody's feelings.

re golden ^ unfortunately respect/no-respect can only be applied to boards wholesale, not individual threads. (Or else I'm just useless at the admin control panel.)

[pi]

To those suggesting removal of all results discussion from the forums - how do you propose we actually enforce this? Again, I'm certainly not going to be tracking every single thread and I'm pretty sure all of the mods have better things to do too.

Well if it's a forum rule that says that "results posting discussion should only take place on forum user's profiles", then I think that should be fine. I'd say obvious exceptions to this would be examples like providing results and whatnot in the context of asking how competitive they might be for a postgrad offer or a transfer as GPA and whatnot become important in order to get help, and I wouldn't have a problem with that. Clearly that's not bragging, that's asking for assistance, which is what AN is all about.

It might be difficult to enforce as it's something of a culture-shift given these threads have been around for more than 7 years, but if you get caught out brag-posting your results in Monash or UoM general chat (highly doubt people will post them anywhere else) then you face the consequences. I don't have a problem with posts like "Very happy with my results this sem, keen on next sem!" and posts like that (users who want more info can click on the user and scroll down to see if they have made them available, and then give them praise as comments on there), I'm just not happy with the fake modesty and compliment fishing that goes on. Going to have to admit it'll be hard to police "compliment fishing" in general chat threads (as opposed to "just being nervous"), but I don't think it's something that needs to be policed as such, because I feel it will naturally die down with the removal of the threads.

I'm not sure what the stance is atm on VCE results, especially given that this is primarily a VCE forum I'm more lenient to them staying (especially as many VTAC questions need results anyway) but haven't thought about it too much.

Could the number grade be taken out of the subject reviews? If it would take too long for the mods to do it, maybe sending out an announcement asking the users to take them out

Probably not necessary, what's done is done. If there was a culture shift to posting grades then that's fine, although I don't see this as that big of an issue.

[auds]

Furthering the "posting results by commenting on own profile" remark, could it be possible to have separate section in the profile, that shows the results of the user. For example, under the 'Show posts' and 'Show stats' option, we could have a 'Show results' option, which people can edit in their account settings, much like a forum signature. Then the user would be able to post as little or as much about their results as they want, and it would make it easier to view the results of other users (if that's what people want to do). It would also allow for the removal of the results threads. Although, I admit that this wouldn't stop people from posting their results in other threads.