To: William H. Ferguson who wrote (14315 ) 11/15/1997 3:53:00 PM From: Tom Trader Read Replies (4) | Respond to of 50167
Good day William--thanks for you balanced response >>It seems to me that IQB is a man of basically good heart and motivation, with a considerable and sophisticated grasp of the global marketplace<< I agree with you completely >>But it appears that he has scant subjective insight into the personality traits reflected in the frequent inconsistencies of his market posts<< At the risk of being judgemental let me say that Iqbal's weakness is his inability to recognize when he is wrong--as a trader, that can be problematical >>Most human beings are warmed by praise. Most of us find disagreement with our cherished convictions to be highly distasteful. Thus our reactions --- when an objective observer diagnoses accurately the flaws in one's facade --- are, as you noted, more predictable by far than tomorrow's market opening<< I think that is a very succinct and true observation; I rarely get into the kind of exchanges that I have had over the past couple of days. In the case of Iqbal's misstatement of the facts, I (and Mohan) started with some gentle prodding and thereafter raised the sound level a decibel or two over several postings. >>And, yet----suppose that IQBAL posted ONLY the original generative message, and then subsequently was never heard from again Would the Idea of the Day thread be as pregnant, interesting and populous as we now find it?<< I think there is value in subsequent updates as long as they do not twist the facts. This is a vibrant thread -- which is what attracted me to it. It remarkable in that there is an almost cult like attitude to criticism of Iqbal's comments--whether valid or not, whether supported or not, whether stated with civility or not. I fear that Iqbal is in large measure the cause of this intolerance. I recall vividly--just as I was about to leave on vacation--the venom with which he attacked Kevin over a difference of opinion, calling him a charlatan and all sorts of names--the type of vindictiveness and nastiness is something that one would never associate with Iqbal--and it does not surface except when one challenges him in direct terms. Well Kevin -- a talented trader-- left the thread. Lisa, who has excellent trading instincts--who came to Kevin's defense was castigated by others on this thread for not joining in the attack on Kevin---and she left the thread. Don was ridiculed by Iqbal--with not one person challenging Iqbal for doing so -- and he left the thread. Iqbal has this tendency when he is criticized/challenged to indulge in self-pity, complain that he is being persecuted, that he is horribly hurt and on and on--this may wash with some, it does not do so with me. It is not a healthy thing when a person--Iqbal, in this instance-- who leads the discussion on a thread cannot tolerate criticism and/or contradiction -- and it is worse still when there is an almost blind acceptance by others who feel a tremendous reluctance to say anything that will upset him. >>"Let us agree to disagree without being disagreeable." I entirely agree--I have tried to maintain a level of civility through these exchanges---difficult though it has been. I reserve the right to be less than civil with those who are the same. Finally, those who have followed my postings are probably surprised to witness these exchanges--since this is really out of character for me. Regards