Appeal for calm. Nothing to read here people. Stay calm!

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peteyperson
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Appeal for calm. Nothing to read here people. Stay calm!

Post by peteyperson »

:lol:

Ah. My British idea of levity and a dash of humor to calm irritated nerves.

I have to say that discussions here of late have been stimulating, particularly as my own reading has sufficiently expanded my understanding of the topics discussed to now be able to bore everyone else silly with my own ideas. This can only be seen as a "bonus" for investing in the reading time :D(For those Americans amongst you, that was "irony", a type of humor few Americans understand apparently)

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=irony

:roll:

An interesting thread where a nice discussion of the benefits of international and alternative investing over mostly domestic investing has been hijacked (for want of a better word) by a rant about who said what to whom about somebody and let me clarify and reiterate over and over and over and <yawn> haven't we seen this somewhere before? :cry:

Without pointing any fingers, assigning any blame, I will simply say that from my singular point of view, this has to stop. It wastes everyone's time and distracts from the interesting, educational and enjoyable discussions that for the most part take place. I consider most here to be friends in the sense that I respect their opinions, intelligence and general manner. As such, for those interested at some later time I have considered suggesting meeting up with whomever was interested on my planned travels through the States. I think this kind of community of shared discussion for mutual benefit creates that level of trust and generosity of feeling.

The kind of arguementative discussion that broke out following another one of hocus's pronouncements helps no one and fractures the high level of communication and community that is being fostered successfully thus far. This is why I ask that hocus and JohnR in tow, cease from taking threads off on a tangent, in a tit for tat, one up against the one, I want to win fashion. I no longer read your replies when they have such substance, as BenSolar said so well, they long ago stopped being of interest. If you cannot avoid this then please post it on your own board and not spoil what is here. It strikes me as something like a playground fight where if we won't play your game then you're determined from time to time to come over to us and spoil & break-up our game so no one succeeds. Only problem there is that we're adults and all should know better. :shock:

Warm wishes to all,
Petey
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Post by hocus »

if we won't play your game then you're determined from time to time to come over to us and spoil & break-up our game so no one succeeds

The type of tactic that you are describing above is wrong, Pete. If this is what were going on, I would very much agree with you.

People have a right to differences of opinion. People have a right not to agree with me and JWR1945 on the subject of SWRs. Neither of us has a right to do anything to stop others from having the discussions that they want to have amongst themselves. The name of the posting abuse that you are referring to is "Disruption" and it is a cardinal sin in my book. It should not be tolerated.

It is because of my strong views on this question that I offered my support for the raddr suggestion put forward earlier today. It sounded to me that he was saying in his earlier post something much akin to what you are saying here. He was not attacking me or any other poster. He was saying "let us discuss things amongst ourselves in peace." That is a valid desire, and I was expressing my support for what he was saying.

ES is right to say that JWR1945 and me are in the minority. We need to observe the rights of the majority, and the majority certainly has a right to post in peace. We have our own board to post on for each other and for anyone else who seeks to participate there. We do not have a right to demand that our views be agreed with at this board as well.

The points above are points that the entire board is in agreement on, in my belief. If I am not able to get any other posters to post at the SWR board, that is just too bad for me. No one is obligated to post there, and a good number have said they will not, and that is their right. I believe that I will be able to get a few others to join us next year, but that is my job, not anyone elses.

So what is the problem?

The problem is that the minority has rights too. The minority does not have the right to disrupt the majority, but it does have the right to expect some minimal level of civility from it.

To keep this reaonably short, I will give but one example of the sort of post that I feel obligated to respond to when I see it appear on this board. If a post goes up saying "hocus made a mistake," that is a serious charge. This claim has been posted at this board, not once, but a number of times. It is not reasonable for members of a majority to think that they should be able to put up that sort of post and not have a response posted.

Now, if there is a genuine mistake, then there is not only the right to post that, there is an obligation to do so. However, if there was no mistake, it is wrong to say that there was. People using these boards have a right to expect minimal levels of honesty, even from those in the majority.

I want to attract people to the SWR board over time, and it is reasonable to expect to find candidates for that board among the community that reads the FIRE board. I have no particular desire to post at the FIRE board now that the SWR board is available to me. But I have an obligation to that board community (small now, but hopefully due to grow over time) to protect it from unfair comments made at this board re what goes on over there.

What I am saying is that this entire enterprise loses integrity if the rule becomes "the majority may say anything about the minority, and the minority may not respond." Minorities are sometimes proven right in the end. Minorities are often a source of long-term growth, the place where new ideas are incubated. The majority here needs the minority. The minority should not be calling the shots, but the minority has the right to insist on minimal levels of respect and civility.

Raddr made a plea to be able to post in peace; I seconded it; and you have thirded it. I believe that this is the common ground--a desire to be able to post in peace. The way that ES said it a long time ago is that we need to learn how to disagree in an agreeable way.

I do not agree with BenSolar on SWRs. But I do not dislike BenSolar and I do not smear him in my posts. Nor do I dislike Wanderer. Nor do I dislike raddr or ataloss or any others.

I do not know whether these posters dislike me or not. It sometimes sounds that way to me, but it is for them to say. What I know for certain is that each of these posters has engaged in posting practices that should be prohibited at this board. There need to be lines that are not crossed.

You don't agree with me on SWRs? Fine. Disagree,. You don't want to post at my board? Fine. Don't post there. But what is it that motivates a poster to put up a post saying that I have made some sort of mistake when the poster knows darn well that this is not so? Whatever it is that drives posters to do that sort of thing is the problem that we need to address.

I don't agree with everyone here on SWRs. I think I am right.. Others think that they are right,. We need to be able to co-exist with our diffferent views on the same site. I have no desire to come to this board and get involved in discussions that you want to have amongst yourselves. But I am forced when certain sorts of statements are put forward.

I am not going to convince Ataloss of the merits of my views no matter what I say, OK? I understand this., My purpose when responding to an Ataloss post is not to convince him, it is to provide the other side of the story to the lurker who has not made up his or her mind. There are people trying to figure this stuff out, not every poster has made up his or her mind as definitively as the regular posters. Those are the people I am concerned about when someone puts forward a smear post saying that I made a mistake when I did not.

If a poster has not made a mistake, it is wrong to say that he has on a public message board. Period. I don't care if your name is Ataloss. raddr, or JoeSchmoe. That must stop. All are free to disagree. But there must be limits to the ways in which that disagreement is expressed.

If your desire to post in peace is sincere, your goal should be to see that the minority is here is treated with the respect and civility it has earned. JWR1945 had worked hard to build this community. So have I. We do not deserve the nonsense that has been dished out around here of late. You want to live in peace, that's fine. Then act towards others the way that you want to be treated. Let others live in peace too.

The fact that someone else believes something that you do not believe does not mean that they have made "mistakes." It means they disagree with you, that's all. You don't have to destroy all voices of opposition. The community is healthier if you allow alternate voices to survive.

There is no ill will on my part toward anyone in this community, and I am certain that there is no ill will on JWR1945's part either. But I am going to respond when posts are put up that improperly discredit the work being done at the SWR board. I don't care what the name of the poster is. I like them all as people, but I feel the same responsibility to protect the community from the effects of abusive posting regardless of who it is putting up the abusive posts.

We all are in this together, and we all have a responsbility to police those who break the rules. It's better when it is someone other than me doing the policing; it counts a lot more when it is someone other than the same old tired voice saying the words.

The more often you say it, Pete, the less often I do. Peace comes not from jumping on the bandwagon and getting in a few cheap jabs at the minority, Peace comes from asking your friends in the majority to respect the rights of those with whom they do not agree.
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Post by therealchips »

Another calm English comment:

"For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?''

http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/ppv3n57.html
He who has lived obscurely and quietly has lived well. [Latin: Bene qui latuit, bene vixit.]

Chips
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ataloss
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Post by ataloss »

Sorry Petey I know you wanted to end this but I have to respond to hocus on this part:

I am not going to convince Ataloss of the merits of my views no matter what I say, OK? I understand this., My purpose when responding to an Ataloss post is not to convince him, it is to provide the other side of the story to the lurker who has not made up his or her mind.

Actually I am eager to learn. I haven't really seen a real response to my question:

In order for the intercst SWR numbers to be accurate, his assumption that the investor will sell no stocks even in the event of a worst-case scenario also needs to be accurate.

How will you correct for this?
Last edited by ataloss on Mon Sep 22, 2003 9:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Have fun.

Ataloss
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karma
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Post by karma »

therealchips wrote: Another calm English comment:

"For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?''

http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/ppv3n57.html


I just have to say, I didn't even have to look this up (or look at the URL). Mr. Bennett, after one daughter runs off with a wastrel? All from memory.

karma
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Post by peteyperson »

Hocus,
hocus wrote: People have a right to differences of opinion. People have a right not to agree with me and JWR1945 on the subject of SWRs. Neither of us has a right to do anything to stop others from having the discussions that they want to have amongst themselves. The name of the posting abuse that you are referring to is "Disruption" and it is a cardinal sin in my book. It should not be tolerated.


For once, we agree. I don't object to anyone disagreeing with me. My fellow Brit here frequently disagrees with me on investing and a variety of subjects, I don't get upset with him over it. He has a right to his opinions and he may well be right to boot.

You don't actually do that though. You drag threads off-topic to bold names left and right, saying this person said this and that and intercst blah blah and none of it has anything to do with FIRE investing, any related subject or the thread you're posting in. It is all talking around the subject and creates disputes that get personal. You do it every time. Other people don't systematically annoy and frustrate raddr, ataloss, FMO, wanderer and others here that find you unmanageable. Only you succeed in doing that. Repeatedly.

Your method of posting just took over an interesting thread on international investing and a discussion I was enjoying exploring. The discussion is now dead, lost in 4 pages of drivel that you put out. No one wants to wade through chatter that is off-topic (indeed many have adandoned the REHP Fool board because of the level of off-topic posts).

You need to show respect and restraint. Post a new thread with a discussion that is off-topic rather than bombard the thread with reams and reams of he said this, i said that, i was first with SWR analysis etc etc. You seem only to want to score points and claim gold. There is no score or medals handed out and you don't seem to understand that. It's a mutual exploration. To that you always reply that you are all for the community and then a week later you post something else claiming or requesting credit and people just think, " Not again. " I'm trying to be as polite and reasonable as I can and not be mean spirited but after having gone through this with you several times now, you're just not taking it in and thinking, " Maybe I need to change the way I communicate and my attitude to mutual exploration of the subject matter. " You need to do one of two things, either not post on this board or turn over a new leaf. I cannot say it plainer.

Petey
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Post by peteyperson »

:lol:

I thought the situation could take a bit of a lighter tough. The last time hocus started up I got very frustrated and quite angry at his manner. I didn't want to let him make me feel that way again so I was adding something lighter to lead in with.

Petey :P
therealchips wrote: Another calm English comment:

"For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?''

http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/ppv3n57.html
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Post by therealchips »

Right, Karma, and Mr. Bennett has just heard, but cannot believe, that Jane will soon receive a proposal of marriage from rich Mr. Darcy, financially independent from birth. :lol:

[See how hard I struggled to get back on topic?]

How about this one?

Some folks get grey hairs,
Some folks do, some folks do;
Brooding o'er their cares,
But that's not me nor you.
Chorus:
Long live the merry merry heart
That laughs by night and day,
Like the Queen of Mirth,
No matter what some folks say.

Some folks toil and save,
Some folks do, some folks do;
To buy themselves a grave,
But that's not me nor you.
Chorus:
Long live the merry merry heart
That laughs by night and day,
Like the Queen of Mirth,
No matter what some folks say.

[Hint: the writer never achieved FIRE but countless millions love his work.]
He who has lived obscurely and quietly has lived well. [Latin: Bene qui latuit, bene vixit.]

Chips
peteyperson
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Post by peteyperson »

Isn't that usually because the wonderful artist never achieves notable recognition during their lifetime and lives in abject poverty, only to be discovered and celebrated later..

Petey
therealchips wrote: Hint: the writer never achieved FIRE but countless millions love his work.
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karma
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Post by karma »

[quote="therealchips
How about this one?

Some folks get grey hairs,
Some folks do, some folks do;
Brooding o'er their cares,
But that's not me nor you.
Chorus:
Long live the merry merry heart
That laughs by night and day,
Like the Queen of Mirth,
No matter what some folks say.

Some folks toil and save,
Some folks do, some folks do;
To buy themselves a grave,
But that's not me nor you.
Chorus:
Some folks get grey hairs,
Some folks do, some folks do;
Brooding o'er their cares,
But that's not me nor you.


[Hint: the writer never achieved FIRE but countless millions love his work.][/quote]

I cheated. I googled it. Stephen Foster. Didn't know that one. Thanks! And it's a great FIRE motto:

Long live the merry merry heart
That laughs by night and day,
Like the Queen of Mirth,
No matter what some folks say.

karma
therealchips
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Some Folks.

Post by therealchips »

Karma, did you find Some Folks here http://www.stephen-foster-songs.de/Foster28.htm? It's a site in Germany. If you mouse on Melodie you can hear the song in a MIDI transcription. A human voice is better, but the MIDI gives you the idea. I was a little surprised to find Foster appreciated in Germany. I thought his style was echt American.
He who has lived obscurely and quietly has lived well. [Latin: Bene qui latuit, bene vixit.]

Chips
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Post by WiseNLucky »

Without pointing any fingers, assigning any blame, I will simply say that from my singular point of view, this has to stop. It wastes everyone's time and distracts from the interesting, educational and enjoyable discussions that for the most part take place.


Petey:

I appreciate your efforts to return some civility to this board. I am beginning to wonder if we are not adding to the problem by responding to any posters who attempt to hijack a discussion.

I am reminded of our time-consuming and fruitless attempts to educate Belairpatrol on the old TMF Index Funds board. I know you weren't over there at the time but, trust me, it was not fun for anyone involved. It's kind of like trying to unravel a bowl of spagetti -- difficult and, even if successful (which we weren't), unsatisfying. I don't think anyone will be any more successful in changing existing opinions here.

I think we should just ignore the problem instead of continuing to feed it. Maybe it will go away. Or just starve to death.
WiseNLucky

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hocus
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Post by hocus »

Your method of posting just took over an interesting thread on international investing and a discussion I was enjoying exploring.

Pete:

You ascribe to me powers that I do not possess. No one can "take over" a thread from others. If others are interested in discussing the international investing question you are interested in, they will do so and there is not a thing in this world that I can do to stop it (nor would I want to).

The problem we have here is that people want to talk about hocus on Monday morning, hocus on Tuesday afternoon, and hocus on Wedenesday night. People are saying with words, "oh, leave us in peace, we don't want more of this," but with their actions they are saying "more of the hocus stuff please!" People post when they want, and nothing causes people to post as much as a discussion mentioning hocus.

This is not a good thing. There are people who were saying in a thread from a few weeks ago that they wanted to discuss "the soft side" of FIRE. They should be doing that. Instead, there are posters who are bringing up the name hocus in almost every thread, including the one about international investing that your cite above. You are right that this is a problem. You are wrong in pointing the finger at me.

If someone puts forward a claim re another poster ("Posterx made a mistake") and this claim is unfounded, PosterX has a right to respond and correct the record. That's basic. That's all I do here. I never start a thread here. I never come here and say "hey, why don't we talk about SWRs?" I have gone for weeks without a single post here from time to time and at the end of those weeks I look at the threads and there is still a good percentage of them talking about the hocus question.

hocus does not agree with Ataloss about SWRs. We all know it. We need to come to accept it and move on. If you want me not to post here much, the reasonable way to achieve that goal is not to mention me by name in every other thread. That's what needs to change.

There is a post just above yours in which Ataloss asks me a question about SWRs. I love explaining to people the realities of SWRs. It is a suibject that I have been studying for eight years now and I have developed many powerful insights on this subject that I love to talk over with people. So I am tempted to respond.

But I will not do so because of the concerns you cite in your post. Instead, I will repeat an offer I have made to Ataloss before. If he wants to know my views on the question posed above or any other SWR question, I will respond to a post by him put up at the SWR board.

Now how much do you want to bet that the Ataloss response to my effort to address your concern is going to be to make a derogatory remark about the SWR board or about me? You know. And if you don't do anything about it when it happens, then you are the one causing half the threads at this board to be about me. I am asking you to help change this.

I want to be left in peace too. I have a right to correct the record when misstatements are made about me or about the SWR board. If you really want these other sorts of discussions to proceed as they should without interruptions to discuss the hocus questrion, please ask your fellow posters to learn to agree to disagree.
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Post by hocus »

I think we should just ignore the problem instead of continuing to feed it. Maybe it will go away. Or just starve to death.

Exactly! I don't agree that my ideas re SWRs are a "problem," of course. But to those who don;t want to hear them, I suppose they are perceived as that. The obvious way to solve the "problem" is to stop talking about it. Stop insisting that it be the center of attention each and every day, and it all magically goes away.

There may come a time in the future when people want to explore the ideas that I have put forward in a different sort of atmostphere. If that happens, great. If not,. so be it. But it serves no constructive purpose whatsoever to bait and bait and bait. That leave me in a postion where I have no choice but to respond because if I do not the newcomers reading the threads containing the false statements will think that if I did not respond there must be some truth to them.

You have the answer, WiseNLucky. Please consider posting little reminders when others forget.
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Post by raddr »

hocus wrote: You ascribe to me powers that I do not possess. No one can "take over" a thread from others. If others are interested in discussing the international investing question you are interested in, they will do so and there is not a thing in this world that I can do to stop it (nor would I want to).


Now I've heard everything. :roll: This great insight comes from the same person who has incessantly accused intercst (and others) of hijacking threads and not allowing free discussion over at TMF. Sheesh.
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Post by wanderer »

ah, the irony...

Now I've heard everything. This great insight comes from the same person who has incessantly accused intercst (and others) of hijacking threads and not allowing free discussion over at TMF. Sheesh.

You are so insightful, raddr.

no one has made the slightest attempt to hijack hocus' thriving SWR research 'community' (only in the broadest definition). he had to have his own board. and be the moderator. and be properly recognized. and remind us of our obligations in helping him gather material for his book. i mean, of our duties to the 'community'. yet here he washes up, again and again, on our doorstep. he is the quintessence of bllishut!
regards,

wanderer

The field has eyes / the wood has ears / I will see / be silent and hear
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Post by wanderer »

for jwr:

I was just thinking that you frequently make sense to me. when you don't make sense is usually when hocus has put you in the awkward position of defending his really poorly chosen words (weird for a person who carefully chooses his words - didn't really mean it when he mocked 1HF, said raddr used 'weasel words', interposing himself on the otherwise pleasant thread bensolar and i and jwr were having in order to fish for compliments, and so on and so on...)

i did want to put this to bed: you may not believe this, but i do (honestly) appreciate your looking at the 'q' thing. and i agree, it seems to have problems.

maybe because it just looks at valuation (which was the focal point of the last 10+ years)? since i won't post at hell, i mean hocus' board, maybe you could factor in dividend yield in some fashion and get more reasonable answers.

if you elect not to perform this work, i totally understand. as you are aware, at a draw rate of 1/60th of our nest egg, we'll likely ('weasel word')be fine. but perhaps some less affluent members of the community will benefit. after all, hocus tells us that the community is all our responsibility.

:shock:
regards,

wanderer

The field has eyes / the wood has ears / I will see / be silent and hear
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ataloss
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Post by ataloss »

hocus responding to petey:
There is a post just above yours in which Ataloss asks me a question about SWRs. I love explaining to people the realities of SWRs. It is a suibject that I have been studying for eight years now and I have developed many powerful insights on this subject that I love to talk over with people. So I am tempted to respond.

But I will not do so because of the concerns you cite in your post.


so we have several possible explanations for hocus not responding to questions about swr:

a. this isn't the proper time/place
b. he doesn't have an answer
c. petey told him not to (I can't actually find this in anything petey wrote)

To keep this reaonably short, I will give but one example of the sort of post that I feel obligated to respond to when I see it appear on this board. If a post goes up saying "hocus made a mistake," that is a serious charge. This claim has been posted at this board, not once, but a number of times. It is not reasonable for members of a majority to think that they should be able to put up that sort of post and not have a response posted.

And it appears to hocus that the best way to respond to a question about an apparent contradiction or unsupported statement in one of his posts is to start ranting about disruptive posts and how he was wronged at tmf.

perhaps we should adopt wnl's suggestion and treat hocus as a troll in an attempt to starve him out. There is a lot that is troll like in hocus' posting but at times it seems that he has a sincere interest in fire/swr. It is an unresolved issue in the field of hocusology.
Have fun.

Ataloss
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Post by BenSolar »

hocus wrote: I do not agree with BenSolar on SWRs. But I do not dislike BenSolar and I do not smear him in my posts. Nor do I dislike Wanderer. Nor do I dislike raddr or ataloss or any others.

... What I know for certain is that each of these posters has engaged in posting practices that should be prohibited at this board.


I'm curious to see which of my posts contained a practice which should be prohibited. I suspect it was this one or this one or this one .

I guess hocus doesn't like it when he is identfied as the 'Disruptor', but that is what I was describing in these posts, and that's how I saw it. No 'compromising between truth and falsehood' there, a bit of behavior which hocus attributed to me, but which I've never done consciously on this or any other message board. (Though in real life I can't claim to be so pure :wink:)
"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things only hoped for." - Epicurus
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Post by caseynshan »

Petey, I have found a wonderful advantage of these insane posts (my simple rule is to ignore anything over 2 paragraphs. These posts are usually just arguing about junk).

they allow me to spend more time at work working. Hopefully I will become more knowledgeable in my field and make significantly more money. Thanks for FIRE help folks.

Although I really do enjoy reading and learning about FIRE.... Maybe next week....

Casey (whoops, this is a three paragraph post)
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