All of these recruitment threads...

[PeppyGPhiB]

Admittedly, I like to read threads that take place at a school I'm familiar with or where my organization has a chapter. Many of these threads haven't interested me because I just can't get into them...I don't know if the person writing even has a possibility of becoming my sister, and for all I know they may be attending a school in the south I've never even heard of. I'm not trying to be rude, just being honest, and I suspect many women here probably feel the same way, whether they admit it or not.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB

Admittedly, I like to read threads that take place at a school I'm familiar with or where my organization has a chapter. Many of these threads haven't interested me because I just can't get into them...I don't know if the person writing even has a possibility of becoming my sister, and for all I know they may be attending a school in the south I've never even heard of. I'm not trying to be rude, just being honest, and I suspect many women here probably feel the same way, whether they admit it or not.

You and SWTXBelle and nittanyalum are newer to GC. You'll be surprised to know that there was a time on GC where girls named their schools and even didn't use code names in their rush threads. They even described their outfits in detail at times, so sometimes GC members who were actives at that particular school actually knew who the PNMs were during rush!

What happened was that there were several situations in which things PNMs said in their rush threads actually affected their recruitment negatively in real life. Then there were sometimes threats from GC actives in PNMs threads if something they said about their particular sorority offended them or was rude. So, long story short-- not very many PNMs name their schools or the sororities til after recruitment.

Honestly I think it's for the best that they don't/

[nittanyalum]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

You'll be surprised to know that there was a time on GC where girls named their schools and even didn't use code names in their rush threads. They even described their outfits in detail, so sometimes GC members who were actives at that particular school actually knew who the PNMs were during rush!

That must have turned into trainwreck after trainwreck after trainwreck...

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by nittanyalum

That must have turned into trainwreck after trainwreck after trainwreck...

It honestly wasn't THAT bad at all, until the other things I talked about started happening.

A particular incident I recall was a girl who had made some comments about a sorority early on in recruitment, but ended up preffing and then pledging them. During her NM period, one of her sisters found the thread and wasn't very happy about it. From what I hear she told everyone about it and this girl's NM period wasn't a fun one.

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

It honestly wasn't THAT bad at all, until the other things I talked about started happening.

A particular incident I recall was a girl who had made some comments about a sorority early on in recruitment, but ended up preffing and then pledging them. During her NM period, one of her sisters found the thread and wasn't very happy about it. From what I hear she told everyone about it and this girl's NM period wasn't a fun one.

If it's the one I'm thinking of, she ended up depledging because those girls made her NM period very horrible.

I've always been a strong advocate for PNMs posting their experiences AFTER they're done with recruitment. I'll even admit that I cringe when I see a live rush thread going on. Sure, it's their time in the spotlight, but you really never know who's reading. And even if you try to be discreet as possible, there might be someone who'll figure out what school you're at and who you are. You won't be able to please everybody.

Rush threads are great, but it's certainly not worth risking your chances for a successful rush.

[Leslie Anne]

This is why it's a bad idea:

Originally Posted by fantASTic

I did one Google search and found your school IMMEDIATELY. from what you said about your new position, it was easy to pinpoint you down to one of FIVE women. Looking any more, it would probably be relatively easy to find out who you are.

For some reason it's now become acceptible to not only harass PNMs but stalk them too. Personally, I think this behavior should be a violation of the TOS, but that's not likely to happen. People here have too much fun doing it.

Besides, the point of these threads isn't (or at least wasn't) to entertain us. The original intent was to help PNMs going through the Recruitment process. Finding it entertaining was just a bonus.

[violetpretty]

PNMs will tell us the number of chapters, occasionally, which chapters are on their campus, and the start date/schedule, which is almost always enough to figure out for a school with spring formal recruitment since the pool is already narrowed.

This might be unavoidable for many PNMs since they don't know anything else, but campus-specific language can also give them away. For example, Northwestern is the only place I've seen that calls their rounds "Set 1", "Set 2", and "Informals" (with preference a widely used term for the fourth and final round). Along with campus-specific language, it depends what your campus calls the women who temporarily disaffiliate to help PNMs with recruitment, Rho Chis, Rho Gammas, Gamma Chis, Pi Chis, Sigma Rho Chis, Greek Life Guides, etc.

In summary, PNMs:
1. Please include your username in your title at the very least.
2. If you don't want to say which region of the country your school is in, pick a pseudonym for your school to include in the title based on your code names (i.e. someone with Disney princess code names could name her school Magical Kingdom U).
3. Don't identify yourself. Don't put any identifying information on your profile, don't put your first name in your username, links to your screenname, etc. Don't describe your outfits, any activities you are involved in, etc. So maybe we've figured out you go to Maryland, but that still makes you one person in 500 unless you've identified yourself more specifically.
4. If you want to be honest without jeopardizing your chances, wait until after bid day to write a recruitment thread. You can still feel like you're giving a live update if you write stuff down in a word document each night. That way, if you have a change of heart about a chapter that you trashed in earlier rounds, you can edit your word document.
5. If you have questions during recruitment, your Rho Gamma (or whatever your campus calls them) is your best source of information. She will be able to give you answers specific to your campus and will keep your conversations confidential. If she isn't knowledgeable or strikes you as untrustworthy, you can ask another Rho Gamma, someone on Panhellenic recruitment team, someone on Panhellenic exec, or the Panhellenic advisor. Sure, you an ask questions on Greek Chat, but often times, the question will be something that we'd need to know the campus culture (size, region) to be able to speculate what kind of answer to give you. And when you give those things out publicly, it can out your school. PMing a GCer that you trust works without giving away your info publicly.

[PeppyGPhiB]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

You and SWTXBelle and nittanyalum are newer to GC. You'll be surprised to know that there was a time on GC where girls named their schools and even didn't use code names in their rush threads. They even described their outfits in detail, so sometimes GC members who were actives at that particular school actually knew who the PNMs were during rush!

What happened was that there were several situations in which things PNMs said in their rush threads actually affected their recruitment negatively in real life. Then there were sometimes threats from GC actives in PNMs threads if something they said about their particular sorority offended them or was rude. So, long story short-- not very many PNMs name their schools or the sororities til after recruitment.

Honestly I think it's for the best that they don't/

I actually used to come on GC years ago, but then left and forgot my screenname when I came back so I started a new one. So I remember when GC was REALLY crazy and crass. I also remember when women would describe every bit of their outfits and not hold back on their descriptions of chapters. I'm not suggesting we go back to that.

I'm not saying women should toss all discretion out the window. I was merely suggesting they tell us the school they're at, not describe their appearance/clothing/organizations by name. For those of you very familiar with chapters at PNMs schools, I suspect either you already know the impressions of each organization anyway, or you might appreciate hearing some honest feedback.

Anyway, it was just a suggestion in order to make the recruitment stories more readable and entertaining.