Sticks and stones...

[ElSupremo]

Greetings all :)

Time to blow off a little steam. I've received several emails with snippets of comments made about NFB by folks at TMF. I find it hard to believe that they would even care we exist since they've decided to pay the $30 extortion fee. As much as I would like to go over there and do some serious ass kicking before the free year runs out next month I've got to restrain myself. I'd especially like to visit TMF REHP board. The intergalactic chaos of that visit would be legendary! But I won't do it. I'll not be dragged down to their level. I also refuse to comment on any of the childish statements that have been made by people who have no idea what they are talking about.

I fail to see how anyone over there can have opinions like these if they've never visited here or posted here. Frankly we are better off if they don't. It's certainly not the kind of content that would be accepted at NFB. Their stay here would be a short one.

I put NFB together so we would have a free place on the net to discuss subjects that are important to us without the commercialism and disruption seen at other sites. I can't see how that would cause so much fuss by so many who have no idea what we are about. I choose not to believe that the world has become such a hateful place. From what I've seen so far here and at the MSN board I know there are at least a few hundred good folks out there. If there are many more I hope they can find there way here.

I appreciate the emails and I understand why they were sent. But I don't think they really serve any useful purpose so let's just put an end to it. Let them believe what they want because we could really care less what they think.

Sticks and stones... Well it's true!

[aedelswil2429]

hi es,

i think you have made a perfect place for those who are able to appreciate it.

on the ones who are coming to sneer are simply jealous of the style this board can boast, long lost at TMF, not to mention the brains

thanks for you work and effort

take care and index on


philipp

[ChocoKitty]

ES,

I wouldn't worry about it. I check out both this board and TMF, and I suspect that the comments you've received have less to do with this board overall and more to do with the skirmish involving particular posters on the REHP and FIRE boards. No, the TMF hasn't gotten hateful, and frankly I think that any smugness on either board (of the "our board is better than your board") is simply juvenile. I'll continue checking out both because I think both have different things to offer. But I will admit, some of the nastiness on the REHP board has been a result of months and months (and months...) of issues on that board that have tried everyone's patience, including mine. So some of the comments you've probably received are a result of blowing off steam over there, just as you're doing over here. From my vantage point, the comments about this board have NOTHING to do with this board overall.

Nice work on this board, by the way. Thanks again for all your info on indexing!

[ElSupremo]

Greetings Philipp & ChocoKitty :)

Phillipp:
Thank you for the kind words. After reading ChoocoKitty's post I can see this thing in a different light. You've pretty much expressed my feelings on the subject.

ChocoKitty:
I very much appreciate your reply. Since you are spending time on both boards you have an insight I do not have. A lot of what I've been sent makes considerably more sense now and I thank you. From what I gather I have to wonder why anyone would bother with that board at this time. It sounds like one big flame war. From what I've been told it used to be a great board. I thought the $30 extortion fee was supposed to improve things?

[ataloss]

I would like to thank the people at REHP who alienated some of the best posters there and drove them here

ataloss
only willing to use TMF when it is free

[wanderer]

the re*p is irrelevant.

c'est la vie...

wanderer

[ElSupremo]

Greetings all :)

I would like to thank ataloss for thanking the people at REHP who alienated some of the best posters there and drove them here!

[Bookm]

I would like to thank ataloss for thanking the people at REHP who alienated some of the best posters there and drove them here!

Wait. ES have you been watching Monty Python lately?

We regret to inform you that the people that sacked those that have been sacked have now been sacked

Bookm
-enjoying British humor since 19..

[ataloss]

from what I can tell there was an announcement on rehp about a potential treatment for obesity (based on some African plant/herb ) which lead to a heated discussion of the Atkins diet :xand somehow the nofeeboards got mentioned ! Something about too much on topic posting?

[wanderer]

i assume you were referring to the "cure for obesity" thread?

"For the benefit of any community members here who would like to get an idea of what a board on early retirement that permitted posting on early retirement would look like, here's a link:" - Hocus

Do you all talk about anything besides early retirement? I mean it's interesting and stuff, and I enjoy some of it, but after a while it gets kind of boring. What other kinds of interesting discussions do you get into, other than talking about how bad some people on this board are? - Art

and art's one of the more rational ones there, iirc.

i guess art missed the index board. or some of my RP posts. ironically, one (albeit) minor reason i started looking at the RP for retirement was because of some comments from art a year or so ago. (main reason was chatting at pool with Ramiro, the pool guy, and hearing some OUTRAGEOUS cost of living estimates - most of which appear to be accurate.)

sometimes i worry my FIRE posts are ot. but usually i can make a link (however tenuous). so i guess mea culpa.

wanderer

[WiseNLucky]

I would like to thank ataloss for thanking the people at REHP who alienated some of the best posters there and drove them here!

I'm sorry, but what does the HP in REHP stand for? It must be a dirty word because my friend wanderer is afraid to even type it out, replacing at least one of the letters with "*".

WiseNLucky

[JWR1945]

REHP stands for the Retire Early Home Page.

We are normally referring to the Retire Early Home Page discussion board at the Speaker's Corner section of The Motley Fool (TMF).

There is also a website www.retireearlyhomepage.com. It was the original site. It contains a wealth of relevant information and it is definitely worth visiting. It was the original site. It was founded by John Greeney who is also know as intercst. The term intercst refers to a computer program that John Greeney put together when he was gainfully employed. The program shared cost information among several existing programs. Using no more than 8 letters was required in those days: so that the letters intercst were used instead of intercost.

The Motley Fool's Retire Early Home Page discussion board was also founded by John Greeney. He is the Speaker at Speaker's Corner. He is also the "board general." He wrote the Retire Early Safe Withdrawal Rate Study, which is excellent as a stand alone study. What has happened, however, is that intercst has restricted any discussion that would build upon his study along lines that he does not favor. He is, for example, adamantly against Real Estate investments in any form. That traces back to when he was convinced to sell some DELL stock to buy REITS in order to diversify. That decision cost him more than a million dollars as an opportunity cost (i.e., to keep holding on to his DELL stock as it soared upwards).

The Motley Fool's posting rules demand a high level of civility. However, the Motley Fool has failed to enforce its own policy when it regards its board generals. As a result intercst has encouraged improper actions at certain times, especially when his Retire Early Safe Withdrawal Rate Study's conclusions are challenged. Often, it is the applicability of certain recommendations in light of new information that causes intercst to set off an attack mode. The actual process is very subtle. If it only happened two or three times, there wouldn't be any problem. But it happens again and again and again. After you see it happen six or seven times, you begin to understand. It sets forth an unpleasant tone that discourages on topic discussions.

Such behavior is unusual and unexpected...at least, in my experience. It is sad, as well, because intercst could enjoy a much more prominent status if he simply allowed discussions to continue. He would receive overwhelming praise if he encouraged them.

Have fun.

John R.

[Bookm]

Greetings WisenLucky:

I'm sorry, but what does the HP in REHP stand for? It must be a dirty word because my friend wanderer is afraid to even type it out, replacing at least one of the letters with "*".

Perhaps wanderer created a new meaning, but I only know "HP" to mean "Home Page". Heck, I'm dense at times, maybe I missed something.

On another subject related to ES's original post, I was F'n PO'ed when I read what galeno and gwm wrote denigrating us here. But I'm not going to respond to them now, resisting the urge, as ES has, although obviously for other reasons than his.

Maybe it's just me, but I put that message board in among my favorites a while back, and it stayed there for about 6 months. I just felt the time it took to wade through the crap outweighed the benefits I took away from occasionally uncovering a post worth reading that actually had something to do with the BOARD TOPIC!! which seems to be forgotten with annoying frequency. I have 28 more days left on my membership there, and my 5 years there ain't worth a thing to them? I'll go where I'm appreciated, right here. Whiners, busybodies and misfits indeed. ...misguided statements and incorrect assumptions are "right at home" and go unchallenged on YKW's board Better than being a bunch of egotistical, hot-air spewing circle-jerking buffoons.

Bookm
-sorry if I offended any NFBers.

[raddr]

Hi Bookm,

I was F'n PO'ed when I read what galeno and gwm wrote denigrading us here

Isn't galeno the same genius that forked over a wad of money to two Costa Rican dudes named "The Brothers" who promised risk-free income of 30% per year and then - surprise - ran off with the money? Anyone dumb enough to do that should have their comments about this board or any other financial topics dismissed immediately.

BTW, during a recent visit to the REHP I noticed where he blasted hocus for claiming, correctly of course, that the REHP study doesn't have enough data to be statistically valid for determining a confident SWR. From what I recall galeno said that the study was valid because it had more than 30 data points (there is no such threshold for confidence intervals) and that the datapoints were independent (already proven wrong by myself and numerous others). IIRC the post got a number of recs which only proves that there are a bunch of people over there just as clueless as galeno is about statistics.

[raddr]

Here's the link to galeno's absolutely clueless statistics post:

http://boards.fool.com/Message.asp?mid=18348035

[JWR1945]

From raddr

Isn't galeno the same genius that forked over a wad of money to two Costa Rican dudes named "The Brothers" who promised risk-free income of 30% per year and then - surprise - ran off with the money? Anyone dumb enough to do that should have their comments about this board or any other financial topics dismissed immediately.

I take exception to this. If I understand it correctly, "The Brothers" was not a ponzi scheme (where new investors pay for the high return seen by older investors)...which would have ended within a couple of years...although it sounded like one. "The Brothers" did not run off with the money. They ran away from the law. "The Brothers" operated a money laundering scheme...which can last a long time. I suspect that you can do very well by investing in organized crime as long as you are able to maintain an innocent victim status. At more than 30% per year, it does not take long to double your investment.

Have fun.

John R.

[raddr]

Hi John,

Money laundering, Ponzi scheme, whatever. IMHO anyone who falls for a 30% per year "risk free" investment has no business lecturing anyone else about the NFB, finance, etc.