Many of you may not know me. I have been relatively absent from the board for quite a while. I was one of the early members, grew with the board, and ultimately stopped posting because of how the board changed. I am still an active investor with many of the people who you see post here. I count many of them as friends. They are just more generous with their time than I am.
When Saul’s first was created it was a place where we exchanged ideas, learned together, tried to pick apart companies together and most people contributed in some way or another. We became a victim of our own success though as more people poured into the boards. The tenor of the posts changed from an exchange of ideas to, “tell me what stock to buy”. From, “lets learn together”, to “let me mirror your trades”. The shift was gradual. Many people probably never knew this place anyway besides how it is now.
I see posts like this, https://discussion.fool.com/not-sure-what-this-board-is-becoming… and they are so emblematic of what I see as the problem of this board. Let us be clear. These people posting their ideas don’t owe you anything. They are here trying to discuss companies and become better investors. They aren’t here to calm your every anxiety because company X’s price is down 5 percent today or 50 percent since the beginning of the year. This entitlement that somebody on the internet owes you something because they happened to post frequently is quite frankly baffling. About the only thing that I agree with in that post is, “Ok, even as I type this I feel like I’m wasting my time even now, as this will most likely not last 15 minutes on the board.
Take a step back. This isn’t a paid service, this isn’t investment advice, nobody owes you anything. Everyone is absolutely welcome in the community if they want to be a positive productive member. Heck you are absolutely welcome to listen in as people try to figure out this complicated thing called investing. The people that still post here are much more generous than I as they still allow people into their thought process. But frankly, I don’t know how many will continue to do that when they get blamed for stuff that is outside of their control.
-e
225 Likes
Ethan,
Can you point out in my post where I blamed anyone for losses, for the market dropping, for any bad or perceived bad calls? Where anyone owes me anything.
Again, my point is being missed, so I’m not going to continue to try and explain it. Sauls board has been a launching pad for many to branch out and attempt to find their own path. That’s a good thing, spreading Sauls knowledge to help others. Those that take that path should know that it’s not always easy and at times it will feel like your neck is too exposed, but you have to stay the course when you invite people in to read your analysis. You can’t just step away when things aren’t going well. I think Muji has done a very good job and a prime example of showing leadership skills with what he’s created.
Anyway, this isn’t going to make sense to everyone. Maybe I’m just not explaining it well. I’ll,go back to silence and hope that the board finds its footing again.
Best of luck to everyone. I think the low is in, as news events that would have crushed the market just a month ago seem to now be met with some selling, but buyers coming in every time. That’s a good sign.
TMB
37 Likes
TMB, are you saying that a few posters here shared their opinions, and then gained their own following. They turned that in to their own email newsletter, blog, Twitter account, YouTube page, etc. and now they went silent. They reaped the rewards of success and now are not providing insight during the trying times…that’s what I gathered from your posts. We get what you’re saying, and while they’re not obliged, I’m sure their followers would appreciate updates. I know a lot of members here appreciate Saul’s posts during this dry spell as you can see by the number of recommendations his monthly and mid-month summaries are still gathering. We can stop this thread but just wanted you to know that we did understand your point, I think. 
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I see this board as an opportunity to listen to genius investors for free. They aren’t pushing us to invest their way. I am listening in on a party line into a neighborhood of geniuses. No more, no less.
The targeted type of investment class (super-growth) got over-popular at the same time the market got overheated. So of course a ton of people jumped in late, and a few months later, the class crashed.
My strategy was to allocate a portion of my pile to growth and the rest to something else. Thus where I am hurting, it’s a bruise, not a break. I feel for those who went “all in” at the top, but do not assign any responsibility to our posters here. They had world-class discussions and world-class results and I got to watch for free. I will continue to watch for free as long as the geniuses continue to talk where I can see them.
Best to all,
Ibuildthings
84 Likes
It seems to me some folks come here expecting to always win, and never lose. They may not accept that there is risk and uncertainty in investing. I’ll just say that investing in stocks is a laborious, error prone, and difficult journey, especially if you expect consistency.
Some of the best traders in the world consider it a success to win on 51% of their trades, while losing on only 49%. In fact, some famous traders are quite profitable even when 80% of trades are losers because in their disciplined investing style the winnings from 20% of their trades far outweigh the 80% losers.
Losing trades, drawdowns, and days/weeks/months where red fills your screen are part of the journey. You either learn from it, and adjust your risk profile/style, or you may need to find someplace else to park your money.
29 Likes