Bogleheads Wiki Page: “The Primary Driver Behind Creation of the New Forum Was Acute Disruption at Vanguard Diehards Resulting from Morningstar’s Lax Moderation Policies”

Set forth below is the text of a comment that I recently posted to the discussion thread for another blog entry at this site:

From the Bogleheads wiki page:

“An independent and noncommercial Bogleheads Forum was established on February 19, 2007 by an individual with username Phoenix. The primary driver behind creation of the new forum was acute disruption at Vanguard Diehards resulting from Morningstar’s lax moderation policies.”

Acute disruption. Lax moderation. Wow, that sounds unpleasant. Unfortunately they provide no further details.

The fact that some Buy-and-Holders view it as “acute disruption” to tell people what the last 36 years of peer-reviewed research teach us about how stock investing works tells a tale, Anonymous.

The fact that even more Buy-and-Holders (MOST Buy-and-Holders) tolerate the sort of behavior that we have seen for 16 years now from that first group of Buy-and-Holders also tells an important tale.

Buy-and-Holders find discussion of the last 36 years of peer-reviewed research to be unpleasant because the last 36 years of peer-reviewed research DISCREDITS Buy-and-Hold. The real unpleasantness will arrive when you see your retirement portfolio reduced by 50 percent or more. I am the guy trying to spare you that unpleasantness. If the people who came before me had done the job, nothing that I have said would have come as any sort of shock. It came as a shock because too many people in this field are more concerned with being popular and thereby turning a quick buck than they are with telling people what they need to know to invest effectively for the long term.

I offer zero apologies. I believe that the last 36 years of peer-reviewed research in this field is legitimate research.

My best wishes.

Rob