Indulge me. (Some thoughts about forums)

G'day,


I guess the usual thing to do when starting a new blog is to give potential readers some sort of idea of what they might expect to read here as the blog develops over time. I will do that. However, firstly I hope you will grant me a small personal indulgence so that I can explain how I got here and to air a personal frustration.




I have been using the Internet since it's very early days. I have also been buying and selling shares on the ASX for almost 30 years. The share market, along with the application of logic, the beauty of the the English language expression and the engagement in intelligent discourse have become my undying passions. For a dozen or more years I have realised those passions by being a very active participant in a handfull of Internet forums dedicated to the share market. Perhaps you have even read some of my posts in those forums.


My forum of choice for the last seven plus years has been a single forum that I joined within weeks of it being launched. In that time I have conributed over 2700 posts, received much positive feedback from other members and, I hope, have done my very best to be a worthwhile contributor to the forum. I have been a very strong supporter of that forum. I have valued greatly the interraction with other members of the forum - both those that agree and those that disagree with my opinions. I believe that my posts have been logical, based in fact, courteous and at least sometimes useful. My interest in the share market is all encompassing, my posts have ranged from posts on specific stocks, through trading and investing methods to the mechanics of the market, an understanding of financial issues, and the psychology of market participants. I put a lot of work into my posts. From other posters I have learned much.


An unavoidable truth is that, being open discussions, all Internet forums tend to suffer the same ills. There will always be those who hold diametrically opposing opinions. When that leads to intelligent, adult, logical and respectful conversation there is much knowledge and enjoyment to be gained by the participants and observers. Unfortunately there will always be those who disagree with an opinion but lack the ability to express their opposing opinion in an acceptable manner. This is, of course, aggravated by the fact that posters on Internet forums are largely anonymous and therefore often do not obey the normal social mores. Those of us who have been posting in forums for a long period soon learn to ignore, brush off or laugh off such posts. 


Furthermore, stock market discussion forums are a special case - most of the posters have "real world money" invested in the stock market. That fact alone brings with it another dynamic. The attitude of a poster can be enormously impacted by how their particular investment/trading choices are performing. That attitude will flow through to both the style and content of their posts. Again, experienced posters will make allowances for that and adjust the tone and content of their posts accordingly. They will usually also be more tolerant of posts and responses made by those who are hurting in "the real world" through their stock market endeavours.


This unusual direct relationship between the forum and real world endeavours gives rise to another form of poster. That is, those that think that they can financially benefit themselves at the expense of others by posting incorrect information, overly positive or negative sentiment or by destroying the message of those who attempt to bring some reality to the discussion.


Throw in the usual mix of plain old ratbags and the Internet forum can be a wild and woolly place. If I was going to offer any advice to new participants in a stock market forum it would be the same as that that should be given to any new participant in the stock market itself - be very carefull and take a lot of time before doing anything at all. In the case of a stock market forum, spend a lot of time reading posts by various posters to try to establish which of those can offer some value and which should be taken with a large grain of salt.


Now we approach the crux of the matter.


The accepted approach for a forum operator to deal with the dynamics of the forum is by a process of moderation. generally this means that a single person or a small group is given the power to remove posts and admonish (or punish by removal of rights) those who are identified as stepping outside a set of rules. This seems an obvious approach and is almost universally accepted.


Unfortunately, moderators themselves are human. They make mistakes, they can have their own agenda, they can let personal feelings impact their actions and they can be unduly influenced by a vocal group. I freely accept that being a moderator is a difficult task - one that I would not take on. However, having taken on that role it behoves the moderator to act in a manner that best benefits the forum community - certainly not exclusively their own interests or the interests of a small subset of the community. The actions of the moderator will ultimately determine the value of and thereby the success of the forum. The moderator should be able to judge the actions of posters as a big picture and pitch their decisions accordingly. Commonsense dictates that a minor, inadvertant technical breach of forum rules should not receive a penalty totally disproportionate with the "crime". For example, it may be appropriate to delete such a post to prevent the potential of a growth of bad behaviour by other posters who read the post. However it is totally inapropriate to specifically punish that poster by removing their posting rights. Moreover, when moderators make a mistake (as they will inevitably do) they should be adult enough to accept that they have done so and, if possible, correct their mistake.


Ok, the astute reader will obviously recognize that the scenario outlined above roughly describes my recent dealings with a forum moderator. Whilst I don't think there is much value in "arguing the point" here I will give a broad outline of my "transgression". 


As mentioned above, my comments and opinions expressed in my forum posts are not always positive in regard to specific stocks. Personally, I believe that by following and understanding some stocks that I have doubts about, my stock picking skills are improved. However, as for posts on stocks that I favour, my posts on these stocks are always logical, based in fact and courteous. Of course, as implied above, there will always be those who disagree with my opinions or conclusions. I have no problem with that and, indeed, welcome the discussions that ensue. Other posters refute such arguments with silly insults or one line ramps. Such posts provide no value to me (and, I suspect, to anyone else) and I generally ignore them. Recently, such an incident ocurred where I provided a well thought out post and was replied to with a personal insult. I am long past worrying about the opinions of such posters and as said before generally ignore such rubbish. In this case (and being a Saturday where, generally, some allowance is often made for threads drifting "off topic"), I replied with a harmless joke, actually a totally self-deprecating joke. This was simply my way of laughing it off. 


The moderator decided that replying to an insult is a technical breach of forum rules (and technically I would have to accept that it is). The moderator removed my post. I can accept that - it matters to me neither one way or the other. Unfortunately, the moderator then stepped over the line and suspended my ability to post on the forum. In my opinion that was a mistake - particularly in light of some of the other posts that have been made in the very same thread. Even this, in time, I might have accepted (with a sigh at the incapacity of some individuals to compose rational thoughts). 


I contacted the forum administrator privately to discuss this specific issue. Unfortunately, he refused to accept that a mistake had been made and repeatedly avoided discussing the substantive issue. The final straw was his threat that if I continued to attempt to discuss the matter with him, he would punish me further with an additional suspension. Anybody has the right to walk away from a discussion but I find it repulsive to terminate a discussion with a threat. I see this as being akin to somebody ending a philosphical discussion with threat "One more word from you and I will punch you in the head". This approach is something that (unfortunately) you might expect to experience in a schoolyard but certainly not in a rational discussion between adults. I cannot accept that behaviour.


As a final note, I should mention that other posters have experienced similar responses and have made their own decisions about their future. I find it sad that the number of quality posters on the forum is becoming less and the posters of dross are becoming more. However, as I have said to the administrator, it is his forum to run as he wishes. Hopefully, one day, this forum will again become a place where people with an adult attitude can exchange ideas, thoughts and opinions. 


Anyway, I have that off my chest now. I have not created this blog as a venue for forum bashing - I have much better things to do with my time. 


This blog entry has gone on far too long so I will subsequently make a blog entry that will give you some idea of what I will be doing with this blog. It will certainly be something that I can be proud of and perhaps even of interest to you.


Until then. "Try to be as good a person as your dog thinks you are."