I find the education threads weirdly fascinating, but I am surprised at how much personal information is shared about the posters children. Grades, health issues, friendship issues, university destinations, which specific hall of residence they are in etc. Some of the posters and their children are easily identifiable, I often wonder if the kids in question know how much info is being shared about them on an open forum.
This is very true, I know a few people on he higher ed. board have worked out who I am, which doesn’t worry me. However, there was one thread last year which would have totally allowed me to work out the identity of a vulnerable student, if they had been in my department. I showed it to DD, who works in another part of the university and she instantly knew exactly who it was. Not really a problem but there was some not very fair criticism of DD’s part of the organisation, which not everyone might have laughed off.
To get back to beginners rules - if you have worked in a U.K. university for nearly 30 years just accept that any parent of a student understands UCAS and everything else about universities better than you. If you do venture any advice be prepared to be told you are a liar for suggesting that not all universities do everything the same way. Similarly, don’t try to explain that things have changed since people in their 40’s were students, again you’re lying.