How the board works

[PaulWBryant]

A bit of history:

2014-2019: Saul’s board was wonderful. Many of us brought new companies to the board and had great discussions. On a personal note, I came along at the end of 2015, and I learned a ton from Saul and others, and over the next several years I was able to pass it on to newer and less experienced members here.

2020-2021: The masses found Saul’s board. It suddenly had more spam than Reddit. Conversations got out of control. Many days we had 100+ posts, 90% one-liners and/or off topic. TMF responded when Saul asked that a post be deleted, but at some point he was resigned to only deleting the most egregious posts. We asst board mgrs just responded on-board begging people to stay on topic.

Late 2022 to present: We were thrilled when TMF decided to roll out the new boards, because they gave us the ability to limit access. Saul and I came up with a list, and only 100ish people were allowed to post. Others could apply – you can still do this today under the ANNOUNCEMENTS section at the far right near the bottom where it says “Request Ability to Post.” Saul was given access to approve people and to remove posts, and eventually I was too (but not the other asst board mgrs).

What’s happened since?

The limiting of posters came with a cost – the board has had less and less traffic over the last few years, and many old members have moved on. I’ve been the only moderator since Saul abdicated, and @wpr101 has been one of the only people bringing new companies to the board and keeping it alive.

With not many new posters, and then this year when I got no responses from @CMFMints and others at TMF, I thought it was time to move on.

Where are we now?

I’m willing to continue to act as the moderator here. We don’t really need anyone else at this point, as there’s not much going on. We now have 289 people who can post on this board, and many are inactive. We don’t get many new requests to post.

But, as WPR pointed out, many people have had trouble figuring out the approval process. So maybe @cobi is right - maybe we should scrap that, and let anyone who wants to post.@CMFMints is that an option? Is TMF willing to make that change?

I guess if we do make that change, I might need another moderator. Thanks to those who have volunteered. We’ll see how this goes.

Bear

[othalan]

Bear, thank you for taking the lead in opening this topic. A few thoughts:

Personally, I always thought restricting posting was a bad idea. I understand the extreme challenges that led to the decision but it made the board an exclusive location for experts to discuss companies and firmly moved away from the learning environment of the early years.

You mention you can still “Request Ability to Post”. However, it is worth noting that there is no way to view that link on a mobile device, no hint that it exists. The entire right side “Announcements” section is visible only from a desktop computer. I am not certain what tools are available to board admins, but that information would be far more useful in a pinned post.

In addition to this, I would guess this board in its current format must seem a bit intimidating to the novice with all the posts coming from experts. The Rules of the Board state that this board is primarily a place for “discussion and analyzing of individual high-growth companies”. How is the novice supposed to join in such a discussion?

Thinking on the above, I suggest deciding no what we want this board to look like moving forward before deciding if the board should be opened for anyone to post. Is this a learning environment or a place for experts? How open are we to discussing Saul’s investing style with people who have a different perspective on investing?

My own take on those decisions: I would love to see the board return to an open learning environment similar to the 2014-2019 era yet that would require people with the dedication and patience to sharing their expertise. If that ideal does not happen, I suggest doing whatever it takes to ensure this board remains active. Depending on what moderation tools are available on the TMF forums, that may require a bit of experimentation with different rules and posting restrictions to find a reasonable balance. I will remain a part of this community no matter what happens though my posts will be rare as I frequently prefer to ignore anything on the internet.

To comment briefly on TMF vs Reddit: I dislike both equally and accept both as necessary evils. Reddit has better threading capabilities for long discussions while TMF forums have superior editing for long format posts. Either is a reasonable choice. TMF forums have the benefit of both the history on this board and the direct relevance to the wider community.

[othalan]

As a side note, I am happy to be a moderator if there is a need to spread out the work load of board moderation. However, my availability would be highly sporadic.

[JPutter]

Have you considered Discord?

A few years ago, IOFund (Beth Kindig) used to have a Forum for members. An analyst would make a post and members could comment on the content. Much of the member comments were exceptional! The problem surfaced when it was “much” and not “all”. The analyst would have to explain a pedestrian concept or (even worse) defend a call that didn’t work out just right. A few of the exceptional members went to Beth and Knox and they agreed a Discord could be created, as long as credentials could be verified/validated.

Shortly after that, a Discord was created for members of WealthUmbrella, a partner site to Beth/Knox.

With the number of people that have offered to assist, it may be a worth a look?

[CMFMints]

@PaulWBryant

- maybe we should scrap that, and let anyone who wants to post.@CMFMints is that an option? Is TMF willing to make that change?

We have no issues making that change. But you might need another moderator if things get out of hand. That said, moderating on this forum is pretty easy.

Jen

[prust04]

My theory is that this board has partially slowed down because we’re in pretty much the most insane macro, geo-political, meme-driven market of all time.

Back when the board was really pumping, 2021, company news would produce understandable reactions in the stock price. I’m guessing people felt very encouraged when they discovered a bit of news or insight. That’s no longer the case, and I know it makes me hesitate to post. I remember when 2022 SaaS crash hit. The board went utterly silent. I think it’s because people are reticent to post when they think it could be misleading against the environment.

That’s my 2 cents. Way too early to throw the baby out with the bathwater. It’s daunting to post right now, but I’m going to try to share more even though I know my entire portfolio could dump 10% on a tweet at any moment.

[Graydrake]

i am relatively new (< 3 yrs), my skill set requires me to manage Saul’s universe of tickers with a database and as a result have had more posts deleted than accepted. I am more of a lurker here now drinking in the value of all the dedicated participants. The power of Saul’s site was/is
heavily his process, but if this was its only value, it would have ended 15 or more years ago. Saul’s Investing Discussion drew interest because of reported results, but Saul gathered in permanent members because of his ethical selfless character and dictatorial dedication to assuring time efficiency and reliable data by getting rid of off topic dilution. This led to near 200 investors using a common stategy and spending countless hours exposing and sharing hidden value and risk on just 30 or 40 companies. The intensity of focus has delivered unimaginable returns to anyone that got in line. If this forum is to be a round for 10 more years, a Saul type guy needs to emerge with similar dedicated leadership skills. Saul built the ship and charted a course to the destination, but is there someone to take over the wheel.?