OT: How about starting a new board?

Investment Analysis Clubs Saul’s Investing Discussions
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I used to post a lot on various TMF boards, but have not done much posting in the last year or more, although I still follow several of them.

I am a lurker on this board, but enjoy it immensely. It is generally my go-to board at the Fool for info when something big happens with stocks I know are, or will likely be, discussed here.

I also come here, of course, for the lively discussions full of valuable insight and information on investing and the general company-specific stocks.

I have recently printed all three sections of the Knowledgebase so that I can study it more easily.

As others have, I have noted an increase in the more casual, conversational, and/or off-topic posts on this board.

I thought I would throw out a possible solution for your consideration.

It occurs to me that these OT discussions are a normal and foreseeable extension of the friendships and comeraderie that flow from the kind of daily interactions we see here. We tend to start thinking of each other as friends, or at least friendly acquaintances, and so we quite normally gravitate toward sharing more of ourselves, our thoughts, fears, and goals… As well as friendly advice on various life topics.

It also occurs to me that merely posting these off-topic discussions elsewhere in the realm may seem more like flinging them to the wind and hoping that the audience being sought will somehow find them amongst the plethora of (albeit mostly great, but still numerous) other Fool boards out there.

So… to feed that inclination for off-topic discussions but still have discussions with “Saul’s Board friends” that have developed, what about starting a new board for Saul adherents to discuss all the stuff OTHER than direct information on Saul-type growth stocks?

It could be called Saul’s Collective or some such.

Then this board could be reserved for its original purpose, and the desire for OT discussions could also take place on a board dedicated to that, where the OT posts would be aggregated and easy to find for “Saul’s friends” who wish to do so.

I also recognize that some here would not wish to partake of that board, preferring to concentrate on growth-stock commentary only, and that would be okay, too.

Thoughts?

Best regards,
Kathie

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I’m all for it. If for no other reason at least it would help divert the non-investment discussions to some other venue.

I used to read every post on this board, but I can no longer keep up. It’s frustrating to encounter so many off-topic threads, or worse, a thread that starts off of interest and then gets sidetracked into who knows where.

I admit, I’ve been guilty in the past of sometimes getting off topic. When I first joined and wasn’t fully aware of the rules, I even ventured a political opinion. I still have opinions, but not here. Not even when a political situation seems relevant to an investment discussion. Saul has noted more than once, political discussions are not for this board. It seems no matter how germane a political issue might be, as soon as it gets tossed out there the investment discussion is lost and arguments ensue. If we’re going to argue on this board, at least let it be over investment analysis or the management of one of the companies under discussion.

So, yes Kathie, I agree - someone ought to do this. But who? Saul has his hands full moderating this board. At this point I’d venture it’s probably somewhat more of a burden than he ever expected. Won’t be me. As it is I haven’t the time to read and do the stuff I should be doing.

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I used to read every post on this board, but I can no longer keep up. It’s frustrating to encounter so many off-topic threads, or worse, a thread that starts off of interest and then gets sidetracked into who knows where…

So, yes Kathie, I agree - someone ought to do this. But who? - brittlerock

Thanks for the input. I had thrown out the suggestion initially to gauge the level of appeal and see if it piqued anyone’s interest for a “Saul and friends off-topic” discussion board. I would be willing to start the new board and moderate it. Generally speaking, we would moderate each other; but on the off chance that a discussion was getting out of hand, I would try to rein it in – even if I’m the one who needs the reining. :o)

Hopefully, this would allow for more Saul-like specific-growth-investment-centric discussions on THIS board, and it could once again be the mecca for Saul investing discussions it is meant to be.

In my opinion, there would likely only need to be two rules:

  1. No name-calling or other nastiness – one can be passionate without becoming disagreeable.

  2. If political discussions ensue, they need to be relevant to investing as well as respectful endeavors to actually try to hear and understand a differing point of view – even if in the end, all that occurs is an agreement to disagree.

The discussions could be free-ranging on any subject, as long as they adhered to the two rules. If any discussion degenerated into something that did not hold to #1 and #2, and it could not be re-directed to a discussion that did, then we could ask for that thread to end.

NOTE: If the above sounds good to you, then please rec this post. If there’s enough interest for it as outlined above, I will start the new board.

Best regards,
Kathie

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