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arrete
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Post by arrete »

I briefly mentioned in another post that FIREes may get a goodly amount of their association with other FIREes through the internet. This is in a large part because FIREes are so rare. I have yet to meet one in my own area. Combine with that the fact that they are often introverted, and the internet message boards become a valuable means of companionable communication.

The most vibrant boards have a variety of postings, anywhere from costs in retirement life to lively discussions about favorite movies. A board that is forced into one mode or one topic is going to have trouble growing. A single topic just can't be that interesting to the majority of members after a while. The boards that grow bring in fresh information and encourage discussion. For instance, I am still waiting for the shoe to drop at the Index Forum, but so far, I haven't been ostracized for having most of my assets at Fido :wink:(I also have a sizable IRA at Vanguard ). I believe we can have an interesting yet cordial discussion about our prospective financial services companies.

A vibrant community is a meeting of equals. Strident and repetitious posting is not necessarily valuable or conducive to harmonious interaction. If the community wishes to attract more people, it should think about how the members present themselves to the world. Catching flies with honey and all that. Abiding by ES's stated guidelines would be a good start.
http://www.nofeeboards.com/index.php?p=rules

arrete
Last edited by arrete on Fri Mar 11, 2005 6:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
hocus2004
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Post by hocus2004 »

That's a wonderful post, Arrete. You put forward an argument that very much needs to be heard and you made your case carefully and effectively. Thanks very much for putting that forward.
Mike
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Post by Mike »

For instance, I am still waiting for the shoe to drop at the Index Forum, but so far, I haven't been ostracized for have most of my assets at Fido


If they haven't thrown out a momentum investor like myself, you are probably safe with your much milder divergence from the group norm. :)
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ElSupremo
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Post by ElSupremo »

Greetings arrete :)

That's another wonderful post arrete. :D Ah what a wonderful place the world could be. 8)

BTW, your quite safe on the index funds board. :wink: I have a 401k with FIDO myself. But it sure wasn't my choice! :lol:
"The best things in life are FREE!"

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Bookm
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Post by Bookm »

arrete said:
The most vibrant boards have a variety of postings, anywhere from costs in retirement life to lively discussions about favorite movies. A board that is forced into one mode or one topic is going to have trouble growing. A single topic just can't be that interesting to the majority of members after a while. The boards that grow bring in fresh information and encourage discussion. For instance, I am still waiting for the shoe to drop at the Index Forum, but so far, I haven't been ostracized for have most of my assets at Fido

Ironically, along time ago (in message baord years that is) while at TMF we reached 6000 posts on that IF board. Someone put up a post proclaiming that achievement. Someone else posted that after that many posts about IF's, there wasn't that much more to write about. IIRC, I stopped posting at TMF in Feb 2002, and at that time we were closing in on 30,000 posts. After a few thousand more at the MSN boards before we came to NFB in November 2002, and several thousand more at NFB, I'd say we found quite a bit to talk about for a board forced into just one topic.

But We certainly had help with the increased popularity of ETF's, the mutual fund scandal being publicized, the creation of numerous additional index funds tracking just about any corner of the market you can imagine. We've even discovered a few trolls who either thought they could type some criteria into a free fund screener and select (without their own real money invested, naturally) funds that had performed well in the past, to the ones that were too smart to use index funds, to mutual fund market-timers.

We've also talked about all types of mutual funds, whether managed or passive, authors, journalists, researchers and board members. And as long as someone doesn't degrade one of us, insult us or is just a plain old di**head, we've had a history of talking about it all in an adult manner.

So even though we may be thought of as a bit pigeon-holed, we've continued to flap our gums about something. Well, kept our fingers tappin' is more like it. :D

Bookm
Wall Street investment products suck because it's all about them and their revenue today. It's not about us and our income tomorrow. - Scott Burns
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arrete
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Post by arrete »

So even though we may be thought of as a bit pigeon-holed
I hope you realize that I didn't mean the Index Forum when I said stuck on one topic. In fact, I think the Index Forum discusses a variety of things - I was using it as the example of a healthy forum. At least I was trying to.

arrete :oops:
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Bookm
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Post by Bookm »

Hello arrete:
I hope you realize that I didn't mean the Index Forum when I said stuck on one topic. In fact, I think the Index Forum discusses a variety of things - I was using it as the example of a healthy forum. At least I was trying to.

Oh, forgive me for misunderstanding you. :oops:Chalk another one up to this type of medium, and my inability to follow along. Thanks for clarifying that for me.

Bookm
Wall Street investment products suck because it's all about them and their revenue today. It's not about us and our income tomorrow. - Scott Burns
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karma
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Post by karma »

I think the FIRE forum has the potential to be healthy if certain jihads were kept off it. If there are going to be fusses, leave them at the Town Center (though I think the recent personal attacks are beyond the pale). Perhaps we could all learn to get along. :)

Anyway, having looked at recent thread-starters, I challenge the community to start new threads that have nothing to do with the "jihad" or personal attacks.

On the FIRE board, I started one on foreign investing - obscure, I know. There also have been several on real estate investing.

Last one back with a new thread is a rotten egg.

karma
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