Do people read her advice because they like to complain about it in The Fray? I'm not saying I always agree with her. I think she's off base sometimes, though she's better than Ann Landers' daughter. I'm surprised by the vitriol I see in here, though, and I'm curious about why people who can't stand Prudence continue to read her columns.

for entertainment

I'm guessing you are the new kid on the block. This is their form (or perhaps 'forum') of entertainment. I can already feel all the excitement in the air as Thursday morning brings a whole new set of old issues.

Hang around for a while... and you will learn The Fray's cast of characters. Granted, some are more entertaining than others. In between, you will find some serious conversation.

P.S. Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there.

As DB said, we read it for entertainment.

yep! Entertainment and to know what my fellow Fray posters are talking about.

The details of my life are quite inconsequential... very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen year old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. My childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets. When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds- pretty standard really. At the age of twelve I received my first scribe. At the age of fourteen a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles. There really is nothing like a shorn scrotum... it's breathtaking- I highly suggest you try it.

Because the other advice columnists don't have a place to critique their work!

That's not true, IncogNeato. There are quite a few advice columnists out there with active reader forums.

& her not having a clue responses are a kick to make fun of. It isn't that we can't stand her, we just don't take her seriously.

Prude is so blatantly conservative that her advice seemingly applies only to those that share her values.

I love reading the scathing comments to her (mostly) rotten advice. They're hilarious.

So yeah, entertainment pretty much covers it.

I'm not sure conservative is the right word. "Sheltered" is probably more like it. (And many concervatives come from sheltered environments.) I don't think anyone who considereds himself to be conservative would think you get a pass from seeing mil on Mother's Day just because she didn't want dinner with your mother and grandmother.

From Merriam Webster's def of conservative: tending or disposed to maintain existing views, conditions, or institutions : traditional b: marked by moderation or caution c: marked by or relating to traditional norms of taste, elegance, style, or manners of, relating to, or practicing Conservative Judaism

I wasn't talking about in the political sense. But, I'll agree that sheltered works, too. As in 'living under a rock'.

Read her writing on other parts of Slate. Conservative she's certainly not, it seems to me. "Nannyish" might describe her advice style, though.

She's my straight man.

for OIFVet's random comments!

XD