Hello all,
Just posting my observation to see if others are noticing same thing. Since Saul has been having some issues that pull him away from boards, I have been seeing many many more run on threads that change subject multiple times, then turn into one on one (polite) arguments over which nuance is exactly correct and which ones are not. These are nitty gritty details that have never been part of the Saul investment ideas - ie currency fluctations in south american countries and who can translate those the most accurately.
That is NOT Sauldom to me.
There are many other examples that I see. There are some that the words belief and story actually literally show up on the responses. That is way out of Saul’s investing guidelines. I have also stopped following the MELI thread because it is WAY to speculative now as people discuss what words mean to each other. I love MELI, I have it in my retirement accounts, so I do not own it in my personally managed account, but I love hearing solid reviews, not following a thread it is the very spirit of Fooldom that Saul was trying to avoid here.
I probably sound harsh, but I want to call it out. I was sure that Saul had set up moderators that had to ability to manage threads like he did. Has that changed, or are people just waiting to see if Saul comes back to us full time? I would love for this slice of investing world to stay on track, stay focused, and avoid turning into just another board full of junk text.
If I had a wish, it would be for the regulars, people here long before me as a relatively newbie, to self moderate and be an example. The easy way is to just not reply to a thread. If you have said your bit, and there are no glaring issues, then do not respond. Let the thread go?
Thank you for the lectern, I will now get off my high-horse.
If you own MELI, the geographies in which they operate and what’s happening in those locations SHOULD be something you look at and is not a “gritty detail” that you should ignore. 71% growth is very different from 20% and would impact the investment thesis of every investor on this board. So I would argue a discussion on which number better reflects reality is very much part of the Saul investment ideas.
I agree, and I will take the bait.
I think we need to prevent threads from going off topic and too verbose. At the same time, while exploring new business in new geographies, it might be beneficial to understand the overall economic, political, and cultural environments. I would say MELI is already quite well understood. But NU, for example, going heavy into Brazilian and South American credit industries, which retain no resemblance with the US credit industry, we all need help contextualizing, no?
I think that’s a pretty good point. I usually try to let things go – even if someone disagrees with me – unless I think following up is crucial. Also, I apologize for my recent one-liner posts. That’s one way threads can get long and off-topic. Here are some reminders that I posted years ago, but Saul and I decided now is a good time for a refresher!
Please keep these in mind. Let’s remember that our goal is understanding on the whole how the companies are doing, so maybe we can all check ourselves when we start to feel we are beginning to meander through minutiae. There’s a balance here – we don’t want to ignore important issues, but thorough posts instead of one-liners will go a long way to help. Also, I’ll try to close threads that get too long, like Saul did with MELI.
