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To: tejek who wrote (23415)	2/23/2006 2:05:38 PM
From: Dale Baker	Respond to of 32883

SI doesn't get paid per post; they get paid per page view with an ad attached. As I understand it, the political threads exist to give people a place to vent and not corrupt the stock boards with all the political diversions. The people who come to SI to post only on the political boards generate a great deal of heat among themselves, but they are more or less a quarantined nuisance in a broader sense. Dave can correct me if I overstated the case.

To: tejek who wrote (23415)	2/23/2006 2:12:27 PM
From: SI Dave	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 32883

>However, that's not the point I was making. Rather, it has to do with SI's attitude towards its political threads. Instead of seeing them for what they really are..........a relatively safe place for political discourse at a time when this nation is badly divided over what is the best way to go forwards, SI treats them like they are a necessary evil. They are an accommodation to long-term members, and are also made available to recurring subscribers, even though most recurring subscribers choose to neither read nor post to them. What I don't think you realize is that on any given day, on almost any thread or board on any website on the net no matter what the chosen topic is, its not unusual to see a political discussion break out. I have seen such discussions on asthma boards, stock boards, entertainment boards, etc........and it takes a lot of effort to stop those discussions once they have started. Tell me something I don't know. <g> There was no segregation when I started as Admin. With Bob's approval, my highest priority mandate for the first year was to segregate the political discussion from the rest of the site, and not without a great deal of criticism at the time. There were many "political" posters who did not like being deprived of that captive audience. I suspect (and hope) that few people now believe that was the wrong thing to do. >That's why SI's political threads are great and that's why I recommend them to all who are interested. They are particularly attractive to those who invest in stocks AND like discussing politics. That's why they are here... as an accommodation to those who wish to participate on them. The fact remains that they have a tendency to be very-high overhead and undesirable content from the perspective of advertisers. Yours and others' comments are reasonable and appreciated. Nonetheless, the success of our business model is dependent on the topic of investments and not on politics. That's why we choose to place emphasis the Investment forums for purposes of awarding contest prizes.