Earlie, I have sort of a different attitude about posts on financial sites. IMHO, each post stands alone, whether readers want it to or not. We are letter writers and pen pals, not newspaper columnists or newsletter writers. I don't think that any of us purport to be gurus who should be followed blindly. Now, you were a guru at one time when you wrote the Tech Letter, but that was a regular publication and you certainly followed up on your ideas. I also hold Mish and Russ to a higher standard for the things they post on their blogs or on Whiskey and Gunpowder or in The Daily Reckoning or Financial Sense than for their replies here. Posting on SI is a different game. Since it doesn't pay and most of us do other things full time to bring home the soybean bacon substitute, SI posting has to take a number in the deli as a priority.
So, the question is, if you post an idea, are you tied to that idea and required to follow-up? If so, for how long? What is the obligation of the reader who takes the idea and runs with it? Now, this has never been a problem for me, as I steal everyone else's ideas and claim them as my originals. But others who need to follow somebody else's lead may expect more. IMHO, this is the wrong forum to expect that. Even trying to operate that way could lead one of us to an Anthony at Pacific moment.
That being said, I've not been posting ideas since I went to work for The Kremlin, so I'm an observer. Box has some solid ideas, but I think this forum is more of a flea market of ideas than a Pottery Barn. And if somebody breaks it, they own it, not you. |
