Set forth below is the text of a post that I recently put to another blog entry at this site:
“We need to overcome you Goons.”
That’s easy. Just delete 100% of the Goon comments (a small increase from your current 90+%.) Since you post nowhere else anymore, the Goons can no longer reach you. Problem solved. Then watch as your fans slowly crawl out from under their beds and start posting honestly here.
If you fail to take this simple step, one has to wonder what your goal for this site is. Or if you even have one.
I delete a lot of Goon comments, X. That much is so.
But I do not see how any good purpose would be served by deleting all of them.
You Goons make a lot of good points.
You have put up a lot of posts pointing out that few investors follow pure Buy-and-Hold strategies and few follow pure Valuation-Informed Indexing strategies. Most follow Strategy C (a non-dogmatic approach to Buy-and-Hold) or Strategy D (a non-dogmatic approach to VII). Those posts helped me understand this aspect of the question better than I did before. I think they were good stuff.
You put up a number of posts arguing that part of the reason why Buy-and-Hold advocates ignore the effect of valuations is because they put a heavy emphasis on keeping their investing advice simple. I believe that there is good deal of truth to those observations. I think those comments were helpful.
Our recent discussions re the Efficient Market Theory were helpful. I obviously do not agree with the Goon position re this one. But there are many, many good and smart people who believe that the market is efficient. I like having that point of view represented here. It is possible that I will change my mind over time. I sure ain’t going to change it if I never hear the other side of the story. Again, I am grateful for your contributions.
There have been lots of other cases in which you Goons have made positive contributions. The ultimate case is Greaney’s SWR study. That study has caused thousands of failed retirements. But it also represents a big advance over what we had in days before the Old School studies were published. Peter Lynch was once saying that the SWR is 7 percent! You don’t hear anyone saying that today. We have advanced in our understanding of retirement planning and you Goons have played a role in that.
I could go on and on.
I don’t like the nasty stuff that you Goons put forward. But the full reality is that we ALL have some goonishness inside us. I was a Buy-and-Holder for a number of years. How can I explain that given my intense opposition to the Buy-and-Hold concept today other than to acknowledge that I possess Goonish tendencies just like everyone else? You Goons have humanity inside you. You are capable of good and you have indeed done good on numerous occasions.
I DO delete a lot of your posts. I will continue to do so. That’s my job as site moderator.
But I do not feel comfortable banning any of you. Not Lindauer. Not Greaney. Not Bogle. Not anyone. The lifetime ban concept has never made sense to me. We learn from talking to people who have different perspectives. There is no group of people who Planet Earth who have more of a different perspective than me on how stock investing works than you Goons. I like you. I consider you friends. I have learned from you. I want to continue learning from you. I must delete some of your posts to avoid turning this site into a corrupt enterprise. But I do not feel comfortable in adopting any outright bans of PERSONS. So I do not expect to go down that dark path.
If you Goons do not want to reach me anymore, you are free not to do so. I cannot force you to post here. But you are welcomed to do so for so long as you are willing to take time out of your days to share your thoughts with us. I will continue to delete the truly ugly and even criminal stuff. But I will also continue to engage you on the stuff that you put forward that has some value. And it is not true that I delete 90 percent of your posts. I think it is probably 50 percent or less. So I see the value proposition as being a good bit stronger than what you are suggesting with your words here.
I would VERY much like to see my fans crawl out from under their beds and start posting regularly here. That would turn everything around. That would be wonderful. It hasn’t happened as of today. So I can’t say that I expect to see it happen anytime real soon. I have hopes that it will happen following the next price crash. But I of course am not able to look into the future. So we will just have to wait and see. I would be grateful if you would keep your fingers crossed.
My aim for the site is to make it the #1 personal finance site on the internet. I have hopes of working with Jack Bogle and all of my other Buy-and-Hold friends to spread their word about Valuation-Informed Indexing all over the internet. I believe that Jack is a giant. I believe that he is a good man. I believe that he is going to flip following the next crash. As you know. If he does, I see things getting better and better and better for each and every last one of us. If he doesn’t, that would be very, very, very bad. I would rather focus on the good that I think we are likely to achieve here than on any possible negative outcomes. Does that not make good sense?
I hope that helps a bit.
I hope that you continue to contribute. I hope that you contribute in a more positive way in the future than you have in the past.
It would not surprise me if you elected not to continue posting here. I certainly would understand such a decision.
If you elect to take your leave of us, please understand that I will always have warm feelings towards you and that I will always wish the best for you regardless of what investing strategies you elect to follow. Thanks for all the fish, man!
Rob
Anonymous says
When you delete posts, you have effectively banned people. There is no difference between what you do and what has been done to you. Every board owner can choose to block whomever they wish.
Rob says
No, that’s not so, Anonymous.
We all ban what we fear.
I ban death threats and other abusive stuff because those sorts of posts drive away good posters and make it impossible to create a learning experience.
You ban posts that explore the implications of the last 34 years of peer-reviewed research because investors who learn what the research says lose interest in your con.
You are engaged in a massive act of financial fraud. I am not.
You are going to prison. I am not.
That’s a big difference.
My take.
Rob
Rob says
Every board owner can choose to block whomever they wish.
Every country can enact whatever laws it wishes.
Including laws making financial fraud a felony.
Rob