A hearty and sincere thank you to the Fool staff and decision makers.
A fine community once again, void of the “mirror mirror on the wall” societal boards.
Best wishes for future growth and goal attainment.
1 Like
I miss boards like the Apple computer board - but I have to admit TMF is better for having trashed all the political rancor places. It is just too bad they could not have dealt with the individuals instead of where the individual posted.
Thank you for posting – I really had not considered how TMF has been improved.
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but I have to admit TMF is better for having trashed all the political rancor places.
But TMF if far from better. It has lost its vitality and soul. Most of us ignored those ridiculous boards and their political rancor. The right decisions would have been either to monitor those boards and toss the guilty, or eliminate only those boards with a clear message as to why, and the warning that any board transformed into a replacement for them would also be tossed. And so obvious a solution. If you have a skin cancer on your wrist, the surgeon removes the tumor, and doesn’t amputate the arm at the shoulder.
=sheila
40 Likes
I share your sentiments.
I suspect TMF made an accounting decision. The boards themselves as a rule produced little or no direct income for TMF. A fairly small percentage of posters may have availed themselves to some of the premium services. I would guess they could put those numbers into an equation that would take them in a specific direction. At the same time, they could try to calculate how they could put their limited resources into places that would produce more revenue for the business. If you leave out the emotional part, it may look like a good move in a power point presentation.
Doing that ignores how the boards were the lifeblood of the FOOL for many years. People came to hear what the FOOL had to say and so many of them stayed around to discuss relevant topics. On the various retirement boards, all of the key concepts were discussed in enough detail so that participants could understand the basics as well as the many nuances involved. It was not surprising that once the core things were covered, people felt comfortable talking about so many other subjects (ie: food, pets, vacation spots, sports, exercise programs, cars, movies, houses, repairs, relationships, etc.). How long can you carry on about safe withdrawal rates before saying “Enough, already!”?
I agree that some boards were long time cesspools of vile posters. I avoided those places. My rule of thumb was to grey out those who came from those places to my favorite boards. I usually waited to see if they were a one trick pony. When they demonstrated that they could not or would not contribute to a discussion on any of the many alternate subjects I listed above, I officially ignored them. OTOH, there were some people who I disagreed strongly with on a particular subject, but we remained civil and we found out there were other subjects that made for enjoyable conversations for those involved.
The FOOL built a community with their boards. They certainly had no legal obligation to keep things going as they were. It brought them a lot of traffic and attention at the start. They never really figured out how to monetize what they created. Some of that probably goes back to the early days when TMF warned average investors (who populated their boards) to beware of those trying to sell you financial instruments that you either didn’t need or didn’t need at the prices (commissions) being offered. Eventually, they turned into a version of the very thing they warned us about.
Best wishes to all.
BG
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Most of us ignored those ridiculous boards and their political rancor.>
I share your sentiments…
some boards were long time cesspools of vile posters. I avoided those places
-BGinNJ
That’s an interesting comment coming from someone who posted monthly on conservative fools.
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“interesting comment”
Comments tend to tell different persons different things.
Howie52
This is one of the reasons why open speech and open discussions are so interesting.
Responses tell you as much or more about the folks responding as they do about the
original poster’s ideas.
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Responses tell you as much or more about the folks responding as they do about the original poster’s ideas.
Perhaps.
Aristotle is said to have insisted that “Man is by nature a political animal”
The “polis” (p???) is essential to (man) humankind. Residing within the community is innate to being. I do not deny the political nature that inevitably arises from discourse
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