Ridiculous article
 

http://teenadvice.about.com/od/facts...ingsgreeks.htm

Can you all believe this? This was the second thing that came up when I googled "Greek life info". Do you think there's any way that we can get this to be taken down?

Sounds like the millions of other "What you need to know about being Greek" guides that are out there.

I wouldn't fret about it, though. Hopefully, someone who's interested in Greek life won't take about.com as gospel.

Look on the left hand side column and click on "Forum." The forum is moderated by the host (who wrote the article.) Her name is Jessica Steinhoff. About.com is widely read. It may not be a bad idea to take Steinhoff to task over that highly inflammatory tip sheet.

Another good idea is to notify "Customer Care" of About.com.
http://teenadvice.about.com/gi/pages/pform.htm

Why? It's technically inaccurate in several places, but there is this pesky little Amendment, right at the top of the Bill of Rights, that protects speech.

It is posted on an informational site - so it should at the very least be accurate. I don't think anyone is demanding that legal action be taken -

Does anyone else think item 10 seems totally odd after she lists all these "negatives" about greek life?

Maybe i'm the only one, but although it wasn't all that accurate, I don't think it was all that bad.

There were things that could be done away with, but not everything listed was bad or negative.


FYI: The article wasn't written by Jessica Steinhoff, it was written by Mike Hardcastle.

Nope, you're not the only one. I think there is some useful information on the list, and going back to my comment earlier, those who are truly interested in Greek life will hopefully use the site as A resource rather than THE resource.

That pesky little Amendment simply means that the government can't ask her to take it down.

ummm no.

The article is sooooo negative and then goes on to say:

I agree that Greek life can be a great part of a university experience, I just find it funny that after all those negative bullets, the author then encourages people to join.

Honestly, this is the only thing that really got me mad! The other stuff was just typical "I have no idea what Greek Life is so I am going to rely on stereotypes" crap.

I'm guessing that anyone who listens to anything on about.com or yahoo answers is too stupid to get into college anyway, so it's kind of a moot point.

Well, just in case we do have people actually looking at this article, I contacted customer care. I just received an email asking for the URL because they would like to address the issue of inaccuracies ASAP. The request I sent asked them to either correct the inaccuracies or remove the article.

i agree with epchick and knight_shadow
i also did not see much wrong with the article. GASP! it makes us look less that perfect. come on guys, it could be a lot worse.

I never see these types of articles as talking about "us." :cool:

Kudos to DoubltTDG for contacting customer care. I was just looking for someplace on the webiste to complain myself. Most of the stuff in that article reads like a 7th-grader's report on Iceland. There is so little research that went into this article, it's ridiculous.
"Sororities and Fraternities are part of a long held social system on university campuses known as "the Greek System".
Really? Wow, that IS one of the most crucial things I should know about a fraternity or sorority. I would have been so confused!

On a better note, this article looks pretty benign (and accurate):
http://collegelife.about.com/od/cocu.../GreekLife.htm

Not sure about this one:
http://collegeapps.about.com/od/coll...oing_greek.htm

It's a mixed bag.

I wrote them right after my post, and never got an answer back. I'm glad you did. They still haven't fixed the article. Did you go into specifics as to what was inaccurate? Besides the inaccuracies, it bothers me that it's not an objective article. The "guide" injects her prejudice against GLOs. About.com is "supposed" to provide information, not commentary.

I did not go into specifics and have not heard anything back since that first email. :(

The only reason I was so appalled was that it was the SECOND thing that came up...which means it gets a LOT of hits. For incoming freshmen, it is not unusual to google something you know little about...and this article is very misleading.