Tad bit unhappy

All the board history seems gone. Apparently all of Saul’s historical posts were ported over to the new format, but mine are gone as the old board links stopped working for me today.

I was ok with a new board format. I don’t like some things about it…mainly the lack of searchability with the older posts. I did like that you can edit now, and of course the ability to more easily do photos/gifs, etc…

But all my board is, at this point, is a random starting point of Dec 2021, ironically about when the bear market started. The Saul board is useless to me because I can’t post there, and most of what they post is endless echo chamber regurgitation given the limited posters. Any other boards have same issue as mine; history matters. Perspective matters. 2000-2002 matters. 2007-2009 matters.

I dusted off a backup Twitter account, in case things go sideways and I decide to just take my ball and go home:

https://twitter.com/LucidDreamer397

Dreamer

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Yes, it is a real shame. But a phoenix must die to be reborn. I hope to cross paths with you on whatever financial forum decides to do better than this.

I agree, it’s disappointing. I hope you stick around as I find this one of the few boards still worth reading. There were others but it seems few of them survived the migration.

I’m a value & income guy these days so I don’t necessarily track the same equities followed here but I enjoy the insights and analysis. I would miss it.

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I have only 3 boards listed on my side panel. This one, Saul’s, and New Paradigm Investing.

Are you sure that you can’t post on Saul’s. There was a thread there on UPST a few weeks ago. I had forgotten about the “select” and replied to it. Post went through. A day or two later, Bear squashed the thread. Said he had hoped it would die out on its own, it didn’t belong on the board, UPST no longer a hypergrowth stock.

You ought to try it again. Post something about “value matters”, or post some medical device company. Rebukes are good for character. :slight_smile:

Yes, bummer. Think of all the TMF1000 posts (now BackToResearch) on… valuation, now consigned to the dustbin. Data is the new oil, ya know.

KC

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I believe you bring a great balance to the some of the other boards that is beneficial to everyone. I think that is greatly needed going forward. Especially now that posting with alternative narrative isn’t allowed.

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as far as I can tell, I can not.
they wouldn’t want me to post on there now anyway…maybe in 2H of 2023 if/when I turn bullish again. :slight_smile:

got a twitter handle, KC?

Dreamer

Of course they wouldn´t, since your opinions are quite different from theirs and therefore not very welcome. Especially now :wink:

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I noticed a “download” option after clicking my profile, and figured what the hell.

Got a bit excited when I noticed the posts listed went back to 2016 (when this current username was created, I am guessing).

But it turns out that WAFTT posts still only went back to Jan 2022, and the 2016-2021 posts were Saul board posts I had made. Still sort of useful for future reference, so I saved it.

Still stinks that all my board/post history is lost though.

Dreamer

Dreamer,

FWIW… the threads from this board won’t disappear from the surface of the earth as long as I’m around. Same goes for New Paradigm Investing, Nostalgia for Infinity, The Mongoose Chronicles, Abandoned Arctic Outpost, Kua`aina something, It Is What It is, l’union something, BRK, METaR, Mechanical Investing, GG, …, …, and more.

The earliest I’ve found with you in it is from early 2000. There’s some serious Dreamer weirdness going on in the early days though. I’ve located least four Dreamers and a couple of Dreamer suspects. :face_with_monocle:

Raylight

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How are you able to see older WAFTT posts (pre 2022) now? I havent had any luck w searches.

got a twitter handle, KC?

I do, or I did. As I recall they don’t like my password and I can’t set up a new account because I have an old one. Haven’t used it in over 6 years.

KC

Because of a carefully worded passage in my reply to your post about the posts being gone.

I’ve managed to save* quite a lot. Sadly, not nearly enough.
* Disclaimer: Done strictly within MF’s ToS, i.e. hundreds of hours of work.

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I don’t suppose you see, in early posts of WAFTT, the poems of a early 20’s Dreamer?

Just realized I think I left these only on TMF…all other copies long gone. Can almost do them from memory.

Me thinking of this triggered so many other things.

“all those moments will be lost in time…like tears in the rain”
-Bladerunner

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From memory…let’s go:

Ancient Place and Time (wrote when 21…sue me)

In the crescent of the valley
near the city by the bay
clear water here runs freely
down the streams across the way

People gather early
many great tales here are spun
conversation is a pleasure
inspired visions of the tongue

Neighbors never quarrel
no needless blood is spilled
jealousy strangely absent
of love and humor hearts are filled

Money is unavailable
labor your sole currency
shiny fast cars are unneeded
no paved roads cut thru these trees

In the distance loom great mountains
a Rembrandt painting yet undone
protector of great cities
and of people of the sun

Law and order of new species
men of character lead here
crime is countered with prevention
only wisdom perseveres

Families here are loving
no neglect of little ones
daughters sing like angels
ever fearless roam the sons

Evening sun now setting
soft music melodies begin
guitar horn or piano
drowning sweetly you give in

by the fire dancing
a previous beauty framed in light
your desires burning brightly
submerged in passion is the night

Thus is the legend of the valley
people of an ancient place and time
despair not - you may still join them
if you change your state of mind

Dreamer

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I do. I’ve read several great poems you’ve written a long time ago. :)

Incidentally, Blade Runner is one of my all-time favorite films. Referenced that scene in The new interface sucks thread. Found it fitting, in a way.

I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe…
Users on fire off the shoulder of Unread…
I watched Old School Fools glitter in the dark near the Everything Gate.
All these posts will be lost in time, like tears in rain.

This was before TMF crossed a red line and took away all that ever where. Now it’s like, well, what you just wrote.


Really impressive recall! Here’s the early 20’s Dreamer version:

Poem: "An Ancient Place and Time (2000-06-13)"

An Ancient Place and Time


In the cresent of the valley
Near the city by the bay
Clear water here runs freely
Down the streams across the way

The people gather early
Many great tales here are spun
Conversation is a pleasure
Inspired visions of the tongue

Neighbors never quarrel
No needless blood is spilled
Jealously strangely absent
Of love and humor hearts are filled

Money is unavailable
Labor your sole currency
Shiny, fast cars are unneeded
No paved roads cut through these trees

In the distance loom great mountains
A Rembrandt painting yet undone
Protector of great cities
And of people of the Sun

Law and order of new species
Men of character lead here
Crime is countered with prevention
Only Wisdom perserveres

Families here are loving
No neglect of little ones
The daughters sing like angels
Ever fearless roam the sons

Evening sun now setting
Soft music melodies begin
Guitar, horn or piano
Drowning sweetly you give in

Near the fire dancing
A precious beauty framed in light
Your desires burning brightly
Submerged in passion is the night

Thus is the legend of the valley
People of an ancient place and time
Despair not, you may still join them
If you change your state of mind


Raylight

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have you tied off with manlobbi? Just thinking your data trove combined with his attempt to recreate the format/look of the old board, would be a pretty cool thing.

Dreamer

Slow day today. So time to recollect and salvage another lost poem post from the cobwebs of my synapses:

Also done around age 21/22, end of college years in the mid-90s (I posted it to TMF years later). If you were so inclined during that time period, you would have run into a lot of “new age” philosophy, and familiar tropes echo across time and authors, whether they consciously borrowed ideas from those before them or they simply stumbled across universal truths themselves. Whether Plato discussing Socrates or more modern philosophers (back then at least) like Vernon Howard or Alan Watts.

Vernon Howard was a big influence at the time…had (and still do have) a book called “The Power of Psycho-Pictography” that I found very useful. Many years later I would find some of his videos online…I can only guess these are from the 70s or maybe 80s.

Then there were books of that time like “Celestine Prophecy” or “Ishmael” and I read a bit of Descartes then too, I believe. Loved bookstores. Still do, but feel guilty because I am fairly exclusive to audiobooks the past 8-9 years now.

Anyway, a healthy and impressionable early 20’s body/mind decided to write this:

The Enlightenment

Where are you now my defining moment
I search yet do not see
Adrift on wood, I am far from shore
The unknown is ailing me

Regretting the past, a future uncertain
Unease envelopes my mind
Looking for answers, more questions are found
Voices confused all I find

Life invites death, denying death I lose life
For me no religion will save
Existence has no meaning, and god no validity
In still darkness, I’ll fade away

Dim grows the lights, stars stare down in silence
I wait for someone to tell
Of hope in this world, of faith not in vain
A release from my personal hell

An old man just acquainted, his essence found in words
Awareness the moment is clear
Self, mine, forgotten, intuition leads the way
Courage is the absence of fear

Shedding false pretenses, foolish habits I unlearn
For wisdom, do not what others say
Earnest self-reflection, understanding, no regrets
Life in the present, live for today

Burdens now lifted, true paths are chosen
Freedom, sweet, like a lucid dream
Down an endless street I walk, destiny holds my hand
In my ear a whisper of eternity

No events can scar me, relentless my humor stays
True lessons learned never fade
In my soul, a glimpse of heaven
In love and life’s cycle, I am saved

Dreamer

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I am not an artist, but I do think inspiration is a real yet intangible thing. That is why we can read the works of others and derive our own meaning from them, and take more out of those words than even the author intended or understood themselves.

But one thing always bugged me about The Enlightenment poem, and it is the line “Courage is the absence of fear” which I attribute to a naive and inexperienced person writing it. Because most of us know the real courage comes from doing things even though we are scared as hell. I was tempted to edit it, but left it alone. Maybe it should have been something like “Courage grows as you face your fear” or whatever.

Another thing from this poem is that I always liked these lines:
“Burdens now lifted, true paths are chosen
Freedom, sweet, like a lucid dream
Down an endless street I walk, destiny holds my hand
In my ear a whisper of eternity”

I was actually getting into learning about lucid dreams at the time, and thus where my original username (or one of them) was born as LucidDreamer.

The first half of that poem is the lost person, and the second half is the awakened, and obviously much more upbeat. Pretty sure I took inspiration from Robert Plant’s “Ship of Fools”

“Who claims that no man is an island?
While I land up in jeopardy
More distant from you by degrees
I walk this shore in isolation
And at my feet eternity draws ever sweeter plans for me”

In early TMF (for me anyway) of 2000-2001, there were a lot of doppels, just to be able to use funny usernames, like GeorgeWBush and AlGore during the huge 2000 election fiasco, as an example. I had read a book called “The Island of the Day Before” which I wrote about in the early posts of WAFTT and one of my doppels was the lead “robertodelagriva” and his imaginary arch-nemesis “Ferrante” and I wanted to give the doppels a home board, and I created “The Ship of Fools” board. That was a nod to the Robert Plant song and that book. I later created “Planet of Doppels” board for all the lonely doppels to gather before TMF started killing them all off (which they eventually did).

All this crap ties together. And it is probably (understandably) useless crap to the vast majority of readers outside of myself. Still sucks to have lost all that history though. I guess most of human civilization had to write stuff down or lose it forever. I should have done diaries, I guess. Digital/cloud/web storage created a new repository for memories.

I was a fool to entrust it to the Fool.

Dreamer

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I probably only wrote 3 decent poems (my opinion only…ha) and already reposted two. The third is too long for me to do from memory.

If you can find “Reasons” and repost, I would be grateful.

thanks and enjoy the weekend all!
Dreamer

3 Likes
Poem: "The Enlightenment" (2000-06-13)

The Enlightenment

Where are you now
My defining moment
I search, yet do not see
Adrift on wood
I am far from shore
The unknown is ailing me

Regretting the Past
A future uncertain
Unease envelopes my mind
Looking towards answers
More questions are found
Voices confused, all I find

Life invites death
Denying death, I lose life
For me, no religion will save
Existence has no meaning
And God no validity
In still darkness, I’ll fade away

Dim grow the lights
Stars stare down in silence
I wait for someone to tell
Of hope in this world
Of faith not in vain
A release from my personal hell

An old man just acquainted
His essence found in words
Awareness the moment is clear
Self, mine, forgotten
Intuition will lead the way
Courage is the absence of fear

Shedding false pretenses
Foolish habits I unlearn
For Wisdom, do not what others say
In earnest self-reflection
Understanding, no regrets
Life in the present, live for today

Burdens now lifted
True paths are chosen
Freedom sweet, like a lucid dream
Down an endless street I walk
Destiny holds my hand
In my ear a whisper of eternity

No events may scar me
Relentless, my humor stays
True lessons learned never fade
In my soul a glimpse of Heaven
All things come from One
In Love and Life’s cycle, I am saved

Dreamer50K

Poem: "Reasons" (2000-06-13)

Reasons

The father tensed then heard the wailing
Make no mistake his son did cry
Overjoyed he held up his newborn
Tears of love poured from his eyes
His baby’s gaze was of a question
The cries, they seemed to ask him “why?”

Years passed, the toddler was playing
When he heard an anguished scream
His little friend was not moving
A mother sobbed, it was like a dream
But his playmate never returned
From that day on, things changed it seemed

In school the young boy memorized
He learned the required subjects well
Teachers knew amazing things
Preachers taught him heaven and hell
He even learned the Prince of Darkness
Was an angel before he fell

The time passed far too quickly
Questions, questions in his head
Still nothing seemed of importance
Until he was told his mother was dead
It seems she had been dying
Now he was the one dying instead

The young man climbed a nearby hill
He laid back and faced the sky
There the father found him
And console him he did try
But he could not satisfy the question
The question, of course, was “why?”

Seasons changed and it seemed
The boy was now a man
Still he needed to know the reasons
What was the point, what was the plan?
The father smiled and embraced him
Saying “Son, do what you can”



His life went in cycles
He saw great things, he heard great sounds
Yet in everything he followed
A contradiction could be found
He went searching for an answer
He found no Sermon on the Mount


In despair he hit the bottom
He spent time behind an iron door
Somehow the father did not stop loving him
In fact, he loved him more
His boy would not settle for convention
Like an eagle his boy would soar

To the man nothing mattered
No way was right nor wrong
With no clear direction
Hours spent thinking were very long
He started to worry that his life,
Before he solved it, would be gone

You see, the man, he needed reasons
Not material wealth nor fame
He needed a reason to live his life
Or things would always be the same
He thought he heard his mother’s voice
She said “In grief, what may you gain?”

“My son, Life is laying in the sunshine
Feeling the warmth, soaking the rays
Life is a flower, a child’s smile
A cool breeze on a summer’s day
Life is Love in all forms
Love is, and was, in you always”

He turned to his father, “Love is the answer
Now what do I do?”
“Do what is in your heart
Help others and to yourself be true
Accomplish all your dreams
Then dream new dreams and reach them too”

“Son, choose a noble aim
And to its principles never waver
The harder you toil today
The greater a victory you later savor
But no matter how great your achievements
You must do your father this favor”


“Never forget what is important
Never think yourself too wise
The moment you satisfy yourself
You will die a thousand lives
Always love and learn from others
Do not hesitate with ‘whys?’”


“Son, truly you can make a difference
And if you do not, you will face no trial
But if you strive for your full potential
You will keep growing all the while
And when you look back upon your life
You will do so with a smile”

The man became a great man
Only because he had swallowed his pride
He made no excuses, no reasons
He created no faults behind which to hide
His strength was in his character
And he found that strength inside

Years later the man held up his newborn
And tears of joy ran down his eyes
And the child looked around as if to question
And the question of course was “why?”
Amused the man could only say one thing
“Why not?” was his reply.

Dreamer50K

Then there’s “Rain From Heaven”, “Who Cares Anyway?”, “A Romantic Amid the Madness”, “Heaven’s Light: Part 1, the Fall”, “The Devil & The Book of Love”, “When I See You Next”, …


I’m watching this recent development of Manlobbi working on a new board of sorts. Things are moving fast.

Sure, wouldn’t it be great if there was an upload button for anyone who happen to have a copy of a post? On a technical level there no obstable to it. But then there’s legal. And therein lies the rub. Probably not a good idea to host stuff without express permission.

On the other hand, the copyright on anything written on the boards (old or new) belongs to whoever wrote it. There’s no obstacle in sharing that something with the person who actually owns it. Then there’s fair use. And data protection laws - including right to access, depending on jurisdiction. It’s complicated. But I just wish they would respond to any of the countless cries, to begin with.


Edit:

Wow! Hadn’t checked the thread for a while. Things move really fast. I’m impressed! Maybe a good idea. I’m a programmer, after all. Thanks for planting a seed inside my head.

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