Update from The Motley Fool…
Non-financial boards are closing soon.
We will be closing non-financial boards in the near future. Once closed, these boards will continue to be accessible in read-only form. If you’re disappointed, we understand. Thank you for being an active participant in this community. We have more community features in development that we look forward to sharing soon.
I am so sad. Have made many good friends here, learned so much. Was it so much of a burden TMF to keep these boards going???
Hi Y’all
This board is NOT closing, nor is any board in the Your Money column on the main board page (https://discussion.fool.com/ ), including ones about Help with this Stupid Computer, Home/Car Ownership, Personal Finance and giving the Fool feedback. The boards in Your Life column are closing though for a myriad of reasons.
Please keep the conversation going here.
Jen
" The boards in Your Life column are closing though for a myriad of reasons."
How did you find this out?
Hi canonian,
Because I helped move this board out of Your Life and into Your Money last week as part of the project. You can see it’s in the Personal Finances Folder if you look at the string above these messages.
You’ll also notice that the message saying it’s closing is gone…it is only showing on the boards in Your Life now.
Jen
The boards in Your Life column are closing though for a myriad of reasons.
Jen, I very much appreciate your increased information, but wish you would take it a bit further and state those “myriad of reasons.” Many of us have put decades of information onto these boards and have developed friendships here. Is it really too much to ask for an explanation of why you are pulling the rug out from under our feet? No doubt because it is economically beneficial for you to do so, but is there no way to avoid the loss?
IP,
who can see now the flooding of these boards with political posts that were otherwise contained to Atheist Fools
Hi IP,
Well, basically it has to do with the age of the boards. I remember seeing a demo of the board system in 1997 at Fool HQ - 25 years ago! The backend is archaic and there are few developers left that even know what to do if there is a problem. I’m half surprised the boards survived Y2K to be only slightly flippant. Moderating “features” are lousy compared to what’s available today…adding a word to the filters is practically impossible so we rely on folks to Report a Post and then someone has to review it and delete it and until that happens the post is still out there for everyone to see and interact with. In a more advanced system, reported posts can be automatically removed from the system and put into a review queue for moderators to examine and release or remove.
So, the boards need a technological refresh. That starts with removing anything that doesn’t fit into one’s “financial journey” and then, once the current pilot program and design work is complete, migrating to a new, more sustainable platform. There are tons of boards and posts staying and those will migrate over. The boards that don’t migrate will be accessible in read-only format.
I hope that helps a bit. I don’t know when the new boards are going to debut…I’m guessing this summer based on what I’ve seen.
As for the potential flooding of political posts into the other boards…we recognize that’s a possibility and will delete the posts as fast as we can (so Report them like crazy) but every project plan has steps and closing the non-financial boards is the one we’re at now.
Jen
I appreciate your feedback, Jen. Frankly I’ve always thought the boards were on a decline when you went to a free for all format. Became more of a quantity over quality approach that was minimized with the small fee you once charged. But that ship has sailed in today’s internet.
A problem I foresee, if I may, is that there will be an increase in the rate of decline of posters as we go from a total community, one stop shopping if you will, to something that only addresses the financial side. As to being able to read the archived boards, with all due respect that is an air bone with no substance that you are throwing to us, given the existing state of the so called search function on TMF.
You are a sales machine, selling premium services. Number of eyeballs matter when it comes to selling premium content. If they don’t see it, they won’t buy it. As those of us who have been here for decades decide it’s time to move on, you will lose a considerable amount of response to questions, and those most in need of help negotiating the ins and outs of investing will have a lower quality reception, unless of course TMF seeds the boards with their own experts. If their reception is not up to historical standards, will they still buy premium content? Who knows. Perhaps the goal is to get rid of the free help on these boards, though IMO that is the treasure chest of TMF, and thus force newbies to head to premium content. But why would they then go to this website rather than another? Your stellar articles? Pure sales spiels. Click bait.
I appreciate your frankness and am trying to respond in kind. I dearly miss the old TMF where the primary goals were to amuse and educate, not the evolved boards where you have become what you once despised…financial advisors for sale. The decline in quality began long ago, but I suspect this will become the final straw that sends me out the door. I don’t say that with rancor and am not naïve enough to think I will be missed or that you won’t survive without me, but I doubt I am the only one to feel this way. Multiply me times how many? You will absolutely no longer be my go to site to recommend to people. I guess TMF has also wised up to the reality that it’s hard to be different, and has instead turned into a duplicate of what is out there.
IMO it is a mistake to narrow the scope of these boards. You want people to have one stop community and not be spread out over the internet. There is less risk of the subscribers discovering a better place that way. It is not clear to me why your transition to new boards has to eliminate large swaths of this total community, but given I am not a decision maker, I understand that on a need to know basis, I am deemed not to need to know. I wish TMF all the best. These boards allowed my fellow posters to guide me on my financial journey and I have greatly benefitted from it. For that I am grateful, and hope the fractionated community manages to survive.
All the best.
IP
Jen, may I suggest that travel is also an important focus for “Your Money”, esp. for retirees. Can we get the “Best Travel Spots/Tips” board moved over, also, please? That board rarely requires babysitting.
Mahalo!
I doubt I am the only one to feel this way.
Shout it from the mountain tops, because you’re talking for an enormous multitude.
=sheila