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Rewarding Retirement

Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2005 8:09 am
by karma
Many people wonder what they will do with their time if they retire early. Most of us have a nice long list to things to do - most of which we will never get to. Enjoying our retirement is what matters.

People may have different approaches - puttering around the house, volunteer work, golfing or other athletic pursuits, even watching TV/reading etc. All of these activities could be termed acceptable uses of retired time.

It is possible to use retired time in a hurtful way - either to oneself or to others. Illegal drugs and excessive alcohol might be examples of hurting oneself, and often family members and friends.

Then there is inappropriate behavior towards strangers. That's what has been going on at the hocus/JWR forum. I imagine hocus will quickly don the mantle of martyr and think this is all about him. Not exactly. Arrete is the one being attacked by these two. She didn't ask for any of the unfortunate attention, and when she protested and wanted to be left alone, was treated as if she were an imbecile. It is odd that these two wish to spend their reitrement on such unseemly endeavors.

I suggest that hocus and JWR knock off the funny business.

karma - I was happy to see El Supremo finally agree that Arrete's request should be honored.

Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2005 10:31 am
by hocus2004
I'll ask you the same question that I asked ES, Karma. My second book is going to be about investing for early retirement. I will be including a discussion of the REHP study, and I will be explaining why the methodology used in the study is analytically invalid for purposes of determining SWRs.

If intercst were to ask me not to discuss his study in my book, do you think that I should agree to that request even if he is not willing to provide a reason for it?

Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2005 11:53 am
by beachbumz
hocus2004 wrote: I'll ask you the same question that I asked ES, Karma. My second book is going to be about investing for early retirement. I will be including a discussion of the REHP study, and I will be explaining why the methodology used in the study is analytically invalid for purposes of determining SWRs.

If intercst were to ask me not to discuss his study in my book, do you think that I should agree to that request even if he is not willing to provide a reason for it?


I'm not trying to take sides on this issue Hocus, but IMHO, you are comparing apples and sledge hammers on this one. I'm not saying you are right or wrong in your decision, but it appears to me that removing Arrete from your book would have zero material effect on the substance of your book, removing Intercst from your proposed second book obviously would.

Beachbumz

Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2005 1:04 pm
by hocus2004
you are comparing apples and sledge hammers on this one.

My approach to dealing with both situations would be in essence the same. I think you have to apply a balancing test. On one side, you have a responsibility to your readers to provide the best information at your web site as you possibly can. On the other, you don't want to cause any unnecesary harm to any individual when doing so.

You are of course correct that there is a far greater need to use the intercst material than there is to use the Arrete material. Still, if intercst presented a compelling case for me not mentioning his study, I would consider the request. If he were willing to take the study down so that it does not do further harm, perhaps I could agree just to refer to it as "Study X" or something like that and no one would need to know who wrote it. I am not saying that I would agree to that. I am saying that I would be willing to hear him out and take the idea into consideration.

The difference with the Arrete situation is that the case that she needs to make to persuade me is far less. I can replace her story with someone else's story with relative ease and no real loss to my readers.

The problem is that she will not give me even a sliver of a reason to work with. Nothing. Zilch. That raises the possibility in my mind that she may just be playing games. She has engaged in a great deal of disruptive posting in the past and I think it is possible that she is doing this again. It is possible that she is doing this as a way of distracting the board community from the flaws of the REHP study. She may be doing this as her way of defending the conventional methodology from fair criticism.

I can't see into her mind. I can only go by what she presents to me, either by e-mail or through her posts to the boards. If she presents me with some sort of reason for her request, I can evaluate it. If she doesn't, I have nothing to work with at all.

The last thing that I want to do is to encourage more gamesmanship. If there is even a tiny chance that that is what is going on here, I certaintly do not want to be a part of it. She has put me in a position in which I am left with no choice but to not even consider her request, much less grant it. I wish that she would just stop being so coy and let me know her reason.

An e-mail would be fine. She doesn't have to say it on the board if it is something that truly embarrasses her. But I do not think it would be a good policy to give up control of my web site to a poster with a long repuation for disruptive posting who is demanding favors and is obstinately unwilling to offer even the slightest justification for her demands.

Let's turn it around. If I were to make a request of Arrete that she begin shooting straight on the SWR matter and on the intercst matter, do you think that she should be rewuired to honor that request without asking why I am making it?

Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2005 1:49 pm
by ben
Just change her name - Arittuppe would do? I can come up with more if you need!
You are so wrong here Hocus that I see no need to discuss it further.
Cheers!