Brian, If he is finished with that last post to me, then I am finished also. I don't mind not having the last word. Sorry to the thread for having to witness this discussion, and for my behavior as well if I was out of line in any way. As I mentioned a few times now, my reply to the post on the article was due to having received several replies from Cary before that I did not appreciate. It seems that I can not emphasize this enough. I am going back months here with this reference. I decided not to reply to any of them until just now. I think my statement: "You seem very critical of other people's views and very negative overall." is perfectly valid. I stand by that, and others here have agreed.
Brian, I think you made a very good point in mentioning that you know of several other cases where posters have either stopped posting, or thought of doing so as a result of Cary's attacks. It is obvious to me from some of the other posts that Cary is appreciated by some of the members of this thread for his contributions. However, how can we measure the non-contributing effect that tends to occur when someone stops posting as a result of constant harassment, or whatever, from some other member of the thread? I responded as I did partly because I strongly believe that the best atmosphere for a forum like this is one in which ideas are welcomed. That means not only being respectful of differing points of view, but also encouraging them. The old "Theory X" style of management has been put in its proper place for the same reason. In Tom Peter's classic book on organizational behavior, "In Search of Excellence", he pointed out the importance of encouraging ideas, and how environments that do not encourage them tend to be ineffective, and lacking in creative insight. I think this is relevant to our situation here on this thread. If one person is a skillful investor, but causes 10 others to not contribute because of the way they are received on the thread, then I think the net effect could very well be negative.
I think the following statement he made sums up the sort of attitude that I have commented on:
"Obviously, my posts and points of view demonstrate that I have little in common with most of the people who post on these threads."
Message 16195240
It seems that we threaders are the common folk, lacking in "quantitative" "expertise". Sure seems to me like we were put down here, and I don't think statements like that contribute to the team atmosphere and positive exchange of ideas. This fits in with his use of the ignore feature:
"...many of you are ignored..."
Again, it does not seem to me that his intent is win-win, instead it seems like the intent is to reinforce his own views, and to block out opposing views. Do we see a pattern here?
I would like to make another point. It is much easier to criticize than it is to contribute. The style Cary employs seems to be one analogous to shooting from a slit in a stone wall. It is easier to argue if you keep people on the defensive, taking shots at whatever they produce, while at the same time providing little information about alternative courses of action. If someone posts an article that someone else disagrees with, the person who posted the article should still be recognized for having found and posted the article. Posting relevant articles helps our discussion here. With someone like Cary taking broad shots at such contributions, I think the net effect will be fewer articles being posted. Also, I would like to point out that there was only "hand waving" in his criticism of my article. He did not provide any "quantitative" data to explain why the author had made so many errors in his analysis. Also, now that I think about it, I don't recall Cary posting any articles at all on this thread, seems he just likes to take shots at them and those associated with them instead. Also, if he is so negative on the stocks mentioned by the author at these levels, why doesn't he short them? He could put his money where his mouth is. Finally, I think it is worth noting that the author seemed somewhat humble to me, and was not deserving of such harsh criticism. The title of the article was "You May Think I'm Crazy...". The author was recognizing that his view is going against the crowd, as he did when he bought stocks like AMAT months ago when nobody liked them. I will repost the link to my post here for reference:
Message 16187886
Having said all that about the effect of turning off posters, I hope nobody minds if I do not post here as often. I am actually quite busy now, and yes, this exchange was indeed a "pain in the ass" for me. Thanks to all who have been supportive. I will continue to post, but probably not with the same frequency.
Regards,
John |
