re: Sidewalkers

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And those that went to the University yet do those things? What do we call them? They are no better.

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fricked is what I call them.

Why?

Because at every alumni event, or at every job interview with a fellow alum, they have to live with what they did. Part of the reason you go to a large public university is for that network, and you flush it down the drain if you become a pariah.

That is the whole crux of the issue:

With a real alum, the network of alums is the social pressure to behave. With a sidewalker there is no social mechanism to keep them in line, and no way for alums to reign these people in when they have hurt the brand other than calling them out for being sidewalkers. I am sure many Bama alums WISH they had a better way to cull the herd.

That is why the term sidewalkers needs to keep a negative connotation, so it is at least ONE form of social control exists for the worst in the lot. As you can you know personally, people get offended when you challenge their claim to something they are emotionally invested in.

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And that is great....but it is also confrorming to YOUR definition. You start a thread on this board asking for a definition of a sidewalker, and many, if not most, will say a sidewalke is anybody that does not attend the University they support.

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Agreed. I was not changing the definition, I was just saying as a practical considerate no one is going to call you a sidewalker (with its bad connotation) unless you do something to deserve it.

And again, you have a tie to the university which makes things different. The really dangerous sidewalkers only have an allegiance to the program, which means that they don't have a motivating factor to make them respect the university and its alums.